Latest on Taylor
Taylor has been cleared to pass in practice. It will be the first time in six weeks that she’s allowed to do that. She’s very happy about it.
Team is in Gym 1 today. Pretty sticky in there so lots of hydration.
Men’s volleyball team having open gym. Lot of new faces.
Averill looking very fit after his stint with the national team.
COMMENTS
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thanks, Cindy, sounds promising !
What is happening postings not getting posted.post disappering from other threads ?
So whats the deal? Saw 28 comments on previous thread now 11.I had to post this via wireless to get it through.
Thanks for the tidbits, great to hear about Nikki.
Any surprises for the men ? or is it just the newcomers we all know about , Pukahi, Namahoe and Owens.
Apologies all: We are troubleshooting some spam issues and, in the process, have lost a handful of comments from today.
The good news is, we think we’ve got the issue solved. The bad news is, it doesn’t look like the missing comments are coming back. We’re still working on it, but it looks like they’re gone. I’m really sorry about this.
Coaches show is running late,1420 says 15-20 minutes.
No worries, .5. Thank you for providing the fixes.
How did she get this injury to begin with? I was too busy to follow earlier in spring/summer so I may have missed this.
Will Saturday’s match be shown online or not? I’m trying to make plans for that day. When I visited the Big West TV website it claimed that there would be a TV broadcast on Saturday. But the UH Athletics website claims there will be no TV shown. Is the Big West website wrong? Check this out:
http://www.bigwest.org/tv/
Is it possible to have a Big West TV broadcast online but not on a TV channel? Please clarify.
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9 I’m betting Big West has it wrong. OC 16 will have their crew out at Aloha.
My post still not going through using computer whats the deal ?
9 Big West probably has it wrong.
LC, read post 5 from the webmaster.
9. as far as i know, no TV Saturday, just radio.
4. don’t know who the new guys are. open gym means no coaches. only recognized the returnees.
Is Nikki’s injury a result of when she was on the sand team? How did she get this injury? Sorry if its been hashed out.
Realistically when do you think she’ll actually be back playing in an actual game?
Mahalo!
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Good to hear about Nikki…hopefully she’ll be ready to play by next week…hopefully…
Nice article by Cindy on Magill in today’s paper, she’s such a pleasant person, it appears. The picture shows her way above the net.
Cindy, I enjoyed reading your article on Olivia. It’s impressive that she’s already leading in blocks and kills. She’s done this in spite of the numerous complaints about inconsistent setting. Just as I must remember that these young women are more than just their athletic abilities, I am fond of her on-court demeanor. After a short celebration after a block/kill, she quickly settles down, business-like to get ready to play the next point.
Back in 2012, my brother and I talked about Ali Longo being a gift to UH. Olivia is such a gift this year.
I saw Olivia change her hit in midair a couple of times, if the timing or the set was off and change it to a sort of underhand lift shot over the defender .
Granato named 3 team all USA pre season team.
Test- All bugs gone yet ?
Does anyone have any quotes from yesterday’s call in show w/ the Coach?
thanks in advance!!
20. That explains Olivia’s productivity. Thank you for the insight.
annie mitchem is quick and touches about 10’5.
if you think magill is quick, mitchem is just as fast and hits a heavier ball.
excited for next year because it definitely will be a battle day in and out for a starting spot. I don’t think hawaii has ever been a situation where they will have top quality playerS riding the bench.
everyone needs to stop being so hard on higgins.
people need to realize that we aren’t a premier passing team this season therefore there’s only so much the setter can do. uiato had it made because longo passed half the court and made it look so easy.
mendoza and long, two PRIMARY passers, have been doing a horrible job at feeding higgins a pass she can feed to her 4 hitters. koelsch had played all of 5 minutes and you are all quick to jump on the bandwagon. I think higgins is doing an amazing job and like every other wahine setter, she will soon prove to be great.
Guess it has been awhile for a setter controversy at Hawaii…….
This is not about bashing Taylor Higgins. Rather, it is about which setter can make the wahine better. Isnt that the purpose? No one should be given entitlement or shown undue favoritism. Kendra clearly has assets. She needs to play more. Wahine need to put it together in the preseason. After evaluation of match play, a decision or adjustment can be rendered for the better of team chemistry and performance.
Agree with Kimo. We are lucky to two such good setters. I would also like to see what Maglio can do if given the opportunity.
I’m all for open competition and playing the player that makes the team better. But, what are people basing Kendra’s skill set on? What she did in high school and club?
Good thing the coaches are at practice everyday so they can see who deserves to start come game day.
^^^jimmy :>)
Some notes from Call the Coach.
– took Mon off. Worked on skills Tue in 20 min sessions. Dave, Robyn, Scott, & Longo each took a group then rotated.
– Rubio steered Magill to Hawaii. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out between a coach/player.
– not feasible to do a men/women double header. Can only practice/play so many times out of season.
– could implement a high 2 set to Magill next year, but that could create 3block situations for her. Needs to work on slide, blockers stacking on her. Needs setters to jump set & set her quicker.
– Greeley needs to earn her spot when Nikki comes back
– Nikki touched vb Tue, gotta get in vb shape. Maybe back next week, not redshirting.
– Tai not confident in serve. Someone (missed the name) jump served in HS, but the velocity isn’t hard enough yet for matches, not confident in float
– serve specialist audition continues. Gianna, Clair-Marie, Savannah need to score on their serve & play defense to win the spot
– middles need to serve in case they get stuck in the lineup. Magill’s never served.
34. jump serving in high school, my guess is Kahakai, she was and her float was shaky in the SDSU match.
With Nikki back, Longs going to be sitting. If Tai’s play keeps up, Greeley or Passi will be standing on the sideline. Good situation, tough decision.
@hollycow
Sorry, but not impressed with Passi at all. Very inconsistent. Greeley should play on the rightside, Hawaii needs a big block on the right to stop the big hitters!
Mahalo, 34. Pouncer84!
Could someone explain, “could implement a high 2 set to Magill next year, but that could create 3block situations for her.” Thank you.
35. not that tough a decision, Passi will be sitting, greeley can hit just as a good but is a much better defender and passer and puts up a bigger block.
Many thanks Pouncer 84!!
ohanaInBellingham — it means that type of set (high 2) could mean magill would be facing a 3-man block… she jumps high enough that she’ll have her pick of angles to hit. but since it’s a slower developing play, the block has enough time to move in and set up on her.
pouncer84 — mahalo for the recap!
Cindy — are there still issues with the blog? my posts aren’t going through. is there an approval process now?
my thoughts exactly, you’re basing your judgement of starting kendra over higgins from 5 min of playing time. I guarantee you’ve never watched her play club or hs ball. higgins is the overall better setter. i trust dave… you know, the guy who has coached many many all american setters in his 40 year career.
I love how people think their opinions are much more valid over the coaches lol
when nikki returns, it’ll be greeley and nikki on the outside and tai on the right.
39. You mean the coach who stuck with Sudduth over Willoughby? The one who insisted on Elizabeth Blake at libero? Newsflash: Shoji is a great coach, but he isn’t perfect. I don’t know about Koelsch, but my personal opinion is that Higgins is overrated.
29 . In your fervor, you may be inciting discord and hurting team chemistry by inferring that current starting players are “given entitlement or shown undue favoritism”. We are all so excited to see these outstanding freshmen play. However, have they learned to play the “way” the staff wants them to, and have they earned the staff’s trust to execute their game plan!
Are you at each of the practices to evaluate who is the better player at executing a specific game plan? If not, how do you know that the current starter is not the better player to best execute the current game plan – at the present time? It is three games into the season, and new players – even gifted and talented ones, are still learning the specific system that Dave is establishing this year.
I sense your frustration that one of your favorite new players is not seeing enough playing time. For whatever it is worth, I watched the wahine for 38+ years now, and even the great Robin Ah Mow did not start after just three games! (I believe it took Robin over a year to break in.) Take heed and do not incite unnecessary mistrust and possibly hurt long term team chemistry. Lastly, your accusations are truly unfair to a staff that so willingly work so hard on behalf of the players.
The team needs more leadership to settle the troops. The leadership shoes left by Longo, hartong and Uiato have yet to be filled.
42. The player with leadership ability is nursing her elbow. When Nikki gets back on the court she’ll do her part of the filling.
40. I have a feeling when Nikki is ok to start, Shoji is going to put her on the right. Kalei and Tai on the left.
I don’t think there is much of a drop off between Higgins and Koelsch. We’ve seen what Higgins can do and what she can do with poor passing now lets see what Koelsch can do not based on her limited PT but because we’ve seen Higgins, now lets see what her competition brings. Not trying to be hard on Higgins, I just think it should be an open competition and lets see who performs the best when the lights are on. Just because Higgins has had a year to familiarize herself to Shoji’s system shouldn’t regulate Koelsch to an automatic back up. Thurlby had a year over Kamana’o and we saw how that turned out. I feel like this year is more of a rebuilding year, with so many new faces and no returning starting setter, Higgins and Koelsch are in the same boat in learning how to set their players.
#41
I’m sorry, I didn’t realize u had a resume that trumps daves.
u know nothing about koelsch nor do u believe higgins is a capable setter. so what should we do? play middle school ball and have the middle man set?
hot — has shoji made wrong calls in his 40-year career? of course. what coach hasn’t? but more often than not he’s made the right choice. he would not have accomplished all that he has if he didn’t… just sayin’
that said, i’m excited to see this team progress over the course of the season. heck, there was improvement over the course of the first weekend. case in point — the connection between higgins/magill was markedly better between night 1 and night 3, with still lots of room for improvement.
i agree with you po’okela. i would like to see more of Koelsch, but i don’t think she is better than Tayler at this point. Tayler has very soft hands and a wicked jump serve. Kendra is tall and can block and attack the ball. i think Higgins is doing a good job. she does miss the location on some serves but Kendra has also. someone mentioned that Dave wants them to jump set more to the hitters. Tayler does jump set a lot. Kendra sets mostly with her feet on the court. i think Chris M. pointed this out in one game last week on tv. don’t know if that affects who starts as the setter. would be great if we can play them both at the same time.
43. You say a lot but fall short of convincing me who is the better setter for the wahine. Your storyline is melodramatic and way over the top. Chill dude. It is what it is…let the setters play, give Kendra more time. Im not saying who is better, just not convinced w Taylor Higgins.
23, 42… I don’t know where they are on fixing the bugs.
obviously people are posting their ‘tests.’
47. and the season is 3 matches old. Give them time to find their identity and the leadership.
48. to be honest, don’t see it that way.
50. there was never a question who the setter would be in 03. It was always going to be Kamana’o
53. Technically it’s not that Shoji wants them to jump set more, he wants them to move to the ball instead of doing a crab imitation (shuffle he called it) and that would require leaving their feet. I regret, as mentioned on the next thread, that I didn’t get a video of Shoji doing his crab thing when demonstrating.
ok, my posts finally show up… in a way this new blog with its issues parallels the new wahine team. we just gotta be patient and have faith things will work itself out. 😉
I suppose, except that those of us who have blogs have no control over what is going on with the website.
butch — i have faith it’s an open competition for the setter position. the only difference is that the viewing public/fans aren’t privy to the entire “competition,” per se. there’s a big part of the competition that happens in the practice gym. and it’s not just for the setter position, it’s all position. decisions on who starts are made based on both what happens in the practice gym and in actual competition. that’s likely why there’s a disconnect for some folks who are questioning why one setter is starting over the other. those folks, including yourself, are basing their opinions on only part of the information that the coaches are evaluating.
that said, i think it’s way too early to start a setter controversy. we’re only 3 matches into the season! let’s see higgins — and really all the players — work through and improve upon their struggles from the first weekend of play.
cindy — no worries … wasn’t blaming you … we all just gotta go with the flow, until everything’s all fixed.
my posts seem to be posting automatically now 🙂
40. Cubicle1126, mahalo for your explanation of the high2 set creating a 3block!
Cub. Thats why I said lets see how they perform under the lights…. Different atmosphere than what we as fans aren’t privy to see. We’ve seen Higgins, I’m not to impressed, I would like an equal chance to see Koelsch.
Cindy I didn’t say if it was a question about the competition between Thurlby or Kamanao. I just said Thurlby had a year more experience with Shoji’s system over Kamanao and Kamanao still started over her. I’m saying just because Higgins have a year experience over Koelsch, it shouldn’t be that mind set where its no question Higgins should start as you pointed out with Kamanao. I don’t feel Higgins is as good as Kamanao and the talent level between Higgins and Koelsch is more equivalent than was Thurlby and Kamanao.
Okay, those that are looking for changes 3 games in are jumping the process here. Higgins has invested time within the system, deserves a chance to succeed, and if she does then we are all happy. Remembering that the team is relatively new, a setter has to get her timing down with each players tendencies. Obviously by Shoji’s comments on Higgins, she possesses the ability, it comes down to execution at game speed and play. I suspect that she is being given time to find that timing, still with the firm guidance of the coaches, as she has been told to pick up her court speed.
IF she fails to move forward, we are lucky to have a very intriguing freshman setter in Koelsch. Her height alone gets everyone excited, but a setter is counted on to give everyone their best chance to finish a play. Given her height, she will get playing time in certain situations, regardless of Higgins play. It is during that playing time that we can better assess her abilities and most importantly, Shoji and company will make decisions upon.
nicely said, pot-of-gold
65. agree their talent very even. was referring more to your comment of “and we all know how that turned out.” Just saying that this is not a comparable situation. Koelsch does not have the credentials Kamana’o did coming in, which meant that even if Thurlby had a year of experience, there wasn’t a question of who the setter would be.
Have watched both setters in practice, both have strengths and weaknesses, and that balances things out. The year of experience does give Higgins the edge in this case but you will see Koelsch in there.
It gives UH very good options, different looks and difficult to scout.
66. Well said and spot on! Give it time, let the evaluation process play itself out, and ultimately, the staff will make the proper player adjustments and/or changes as they always have for the good of the team. It is the reason why the wahines are so successful year in and year out. Circumventing the process does no one any good.
66. In my opinion I was more than happy with Koelsch at the end of set 3 against San Diego State, she brought the team back , tied it, and it wasn’t for a service error and that miss set , UH would have taken it. She has what it takes, doesn’t take much to see IMO, just needs the playing experience.
70. With all due respect for the opposition on that evening, San Diego isn’t the competition that one measures a players value on. San Diego gives you a glimpse to what a young player is capable of after experience kicks in against the top opposition. Koelsch will get her floor time, but to think that she is the better setter, well that will be founded only when she plays the tougher opponents.
70. Wait, wait, wait, WHO had the missed set at the end of set 3?