Thinner at OH now, Passi not making the trip
Interesting practice this morning. Manu-Olevao sent home with ‘flu-like’ symptoms. Passi not there. Shoji said Passi won’t be making the trip. no reason other than ‘personal issue.’
so what does that mean? Taylor took a lot of swings on the left, Huff had reps on the right. Shoji said he had been thinking about moving Taylor to play more left. And that they are prepared to play without both Manu-Olevao and Passi, although it sounds like they intend to have Manu-Olevao on the trip depending on how she is feeling.
Shoji said he wasn’t prepared to announced the travel roster yet. If he takes 14, as he has done, means that they take three DSs in Mendoza, Kahakai and either Ponce, Anderson or Guinasso.
Good scrimmaging this morning. I’d give the play of the day to Maglio on a bang-bang play where she used her foot to keep the ball alive and her team able to attack it. Looked like a hockey goalie sticking a leg out to deflect a shot. ended up being a playable ball.
Team lifts Wednesday morning, afternoon practice, redeye Wednesday night.
someone asked about the signings. they have paperwork on Granato and Mitchem. Not Castillo. not worried about it since she’s signed. it just hasn’t been submitted.
Tomorrow (19th) is the last day in this signing period. I’m assuming that the school has to have the signed paperwork in their hands by midnight the 19th. So far all she has done is make a verbal commitment which isn’t binding and even though it was reported that she sign at a ceremony nothing is legal until UH receives it. Could she be having second thoughts ?
Cindy, I see Emily Maglio still has her hockey in her, being on a boys ice hockey team before she focused on volleyball. That was about age 13 or thereabouts.
As usual, teasing the fans.
She told me she signed. The NLI is a legal, binding contract. Breaking an NLI means a player cannot receive a scholarship from any other school for a year. A player could decide to play for another school but would receive no scholarship. But, agree, it does need to be received by UH to be valid and enforced.
Shoji is aware that it needs to be in by tomorrow. Otherwise it would have to be done in spring.
2. been meaning to do a story about the hockey connection. which is why I described it as a hockey move and not a soccer one. she is sooooo quiet.
5. Sooooo true. Ron and I sat with Emily and Ana P. and Emily is, Ana is not.
4. Via fax?
7t That Is the SOP
Looks like they can take 4 defensive specialists, if Passi not going ? Last time they left 2 at home, with three on the trip .
passi may not be an issue since ucsb is a digging team not a blocking team that would need passi to deliver her heavy punch through. if tmo isnt going then looks like they will need to have a repeat of the last sunday game and nikki taylor needs to be as though she unleashed the awesome power from her arm by removal of that brace again. long would be in manuolevaos place ready to dig bullets again and make the kill where it counts. may as well bring all ds in since the allotment is available maybe needed to counter a digging team.
Hope no one swooped in at the last minute n stole Casey from us. Hope her commitment is strong with us. Were there any other schools she could be considering late?
In the case of Castillo one must wonder why so late ? Granted around the first day for this NLI period (12th) she was playing in the CIF playoffs but they were eliminated fairly quickly and club hasn’t started yet. Her life isn’t that busy.
Going up to the last day is curious as is putting it off to spring,why would you do that ? Faxing, even if you don’t have a fax machine, isn’t hard, Kinkos, Fed X ,Staples,UPS are just a few places you can get it done. Until UH receives the document it isn’t binding, who she told or what she was seen doing is irrelevant.
So lets see what happens today.
9. wrote in the original post: They may take a third DS. They may not. Shoji said he’d announce the travel roster later today. They practice at 330.
11. think it would be very odd if someone ‘swooped in.’ She signed Wednesday, announcing it was Hawaii. But still not binding until UH receives the paperwork.
12. Don’t know. She signed a week ago on the 12th at her high school.If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
Switching Nikki Taylor to the left is a huge loss in production which will jeopardize the post season.
Against UCSB Nikki Taylor had 22 kills out of 39 attempts with 4 errors (.462) from the right side. The next highest score was Olivia Magill at 10 kills. Kalei Greeley had 10/42/6 (.095). Long had 7/36/7 (.000).
UCSB is another good digging team and Taylor will not duplicate her numbers from the left for 2 reasons: the UCSB block is too good on that side and the sets to the left have been irregular at best.
If Shoji goes through with this mistake, UCSB will win.
14. don’t see it that way. IF Manu=Olevao is out, Taylor becomes the L1. she’ll hit right once.
most of her success vs. UCSB came from the right back. That won’t be affected by her playing left for two rotations.
Besides, didn’t say it was a done deal.
14. guess my question to you is: what do you suggest they do if Manu-Olevao is unavailable, which she was against UCSB on a Sunday, and they won’t have Passi?
Don’t think you can strictly go by the stats. UCSB camped on Magill and I don’t think they were expecting Taylor’s attack from the right back because that was a change in the lineup done that match. She served instead of being replaced by Kahakai.
People need too stop worrying about Castillo. It is EXTREMELY RARE for a girl to switch schools after NLI signing. Jennifer Salemua is the only one I can think of. Castillo will play for the wahine.
The scary part about Olevao being sick and maybe unable to play and Passi not making the trip is that Dave may decide to play Ginger Long. I cannot believe how many chances he gives her and she continue to be a disappointment. Last game, she comes in and promptly boots two service returns. She should concentrate on sand vb and Dave should play Huff instead.
14- i think it is a smart move that they have Nikki @ L1… she is more potent than say Ginger… and Huff will still bring the big block on the right… losing Passi, isn’t much of a big loss IMHO.
@Cindy,
The left side numbers do not lie, the UCSB block on that side is well formed. That being the case, I’d put Megan Huff on the left side. Megan Huff is not a power hitter but more of a touch/finesse type player, well suited for “dinking” over a solid double block. The right side is more effective due to the setter being closer to the right side hitter, meaning quicker more accurate sets. Consequently, UCSB had trouble blocking Nikki on the right. Besides, the last time Nikki was put on the left she hit .091 (due to the committed double block).
The last time they put nikki on the left was at the dons game. Yes she did not hit in a good percentage but nikki was way way far from a 100% that time that was her first start of the season. She actually started that game pretty good, she just got tired at the end of the game and you can see it on her swings. Things have changed. If you watch her last few games she is in a better state now. I think she can handle that left side especially if tai can’t make the trip. But still hope tai can make it.
So I guess one could say that Castillo is holding up that “Shoji Inks ” announcement article.
Cindy, loved your “survive and advance” reference . That is where we are at this point in the season. Roofer and I did get Emily to say that her grandparents were from Naples and that she needed to study for a chem. test all night. When we told Dave, he said that was more than he knew about her. Really a lovely kid, soft spoken but extremely nice. Agree with RM , this is the new and improved Nikki we have been waiting for and she will be fine on the left. LC is one of my favorite bloggers because of his scoops but he knows how to pound something into the ground on occasion.
18. ginger long dug bullets vs the ucsb match. the 2 she missed during the last match was because they werent bullets which were what she was expecting 😀
anyways she sure dug bullets and passed them better than mendoza and kahakai. mendoza and kahakai got easily sundered from said bullets. that panicked look on long when the ball is vertically dropping down means that it also got her attention and she certainly makes more a priority getting that ball back up than mendoza and kahakai sometimes does. finally she still killed when it counts.
#25 I have been to every home game and have seen Ginger live and in person and she clearly is not the player you describe. she is not better than kahakai or Mendoza as you seem to insinuate. last game when she made two consecutive errors on returns, Dave immediately took her out of game and she never saw any action since. I think that she tries as hard as she can but her errors and inconsistency affect the entire flow for the team.
22 it is holding up UH announcement because shoji wanted to do all at one time
20my point is you are only looking at the final numbers One needs to look at set by set to have a better picture
26 you cannot compare long and kabakai They play different positions and have different assignments
Cindy: if your last comment was to #25, I am not comparing them. 24 was indicating that and I was just responding. We were discussing return of service so the different position issue is not what is being discusse.
“Expecting” Nikki to come through with a high percentage on the left, contrary to the stats evidence, is unrealistic. 1) the 20′ high sets to the left have been anything but consistent, 2) Nikki has trouble improvising on a bad or trap set, 3) the UCSB block on that side limited Greeley to .095 (42 swings) and Long to .000 (36 swings), 4) Nikki does not dink the ball, she hits flat (it’s usually a kill or a block), 5) in the BWC UCSB has the same blocks/set as Hawaii, 2.1
“Hoping someone defies all the evidence”, is tantamount to poor preparation and strategy.
30. Overall season, Hawaii 3.09 b/s, UCSB 2.09 b/s, —-Big West, Hawaii 3.10 b/s, UCSB 2.02 b/s.
blunite — i would disagree on the the issue of sets to the left vs. right. the backsets to the right pin have been far more spotty and inconsistent than on the left. higgins had a good match setting taylor on the right, and also setting the D-set, at the ucsb match. but every other match, higgins has struggled on her location and tempo with those sets, as evidenced by the awkward swings that taylor has often had to take, chasing sets that are too low and/or tight to the net, sets dying inside, or sets shot past the right antenna.
31. true, that is the average but there have been several matches were UH was outblocked. Last meeting with the Gauchos. UH finished with a 10-5 edge in four sets
Outblocked Cal Poly 7-5 in a sweep
Pretty good I think, 2 out of 5 freshman supposedly on scholarships starting. However many times when a freshman starts they will usually have the goods to have a good career. Not many starting in their sophomore or junior years have become dominant players. There maybe a few. If they got it as freshman they are playing unless there is a talented senior usually ahead of them.
see new thread about Castillo’s paper work in. Shoji said they probably won’t have an official announcement until they get back from the road since they leave tonight and the compliance stuff won’t be cleared until at least tomorrow.
34. the freshmen on scholarship this year: Greeley, Kahakai, Huff, Maglio, Koelsch. The freshmen walk-ons are Guinasso and Anderson.