Recap of Shoji on BC; Higgins, Manu-Olevao captains
Team has a late practice (4-7) today, think in consideration of those who have afternoon labs.
See recap of Shoji from Bobby Curran’s show at bottom.
updated at 7 p.m. Team voted for Manu-Olevao and Higgins as captains.
Also today Shoji said there would be a decision about Manu-Olevao in regards to playing or not playing on Sundays. Probably won’t be in the form of an official ‘release’ from the SID but you never know. Might just be Shoji telling media members.
will keep you updated but may not know anything until this afternoon.
Also if you want to read the Big West’s first release of the season
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Recapping Shoji: said he has seen a lot of coaches come and go during his 41 years, and Ads as well. said it wasn’t really a profession when he started, something more you did because you enjoyed it. Said it has changed.
said attendance is up everywhere and it is a major sport for high school girls.
said with a veteran team he didn’t expect stage fright. hopes they’ll look sharp although usually the first weekend things get a little sloppy.
Most dramatic improvement: Taylor, now 100 percent; Magill who has increased her vertical; Manu-Olevao more dynamic. Huff probably the most improved, looks like a volleyball player except for wearing basketball shorts at practice. Said she’ll help them at some point but she’s playing behind Taylor on the right so not sure how much she’ll play early.
Said Higgins has better delivery, still has a ways to go but making better decision, has worked very hard.
Barring something unforeseen happening before Friday ,he’ll go with his veterans and Kahakai at libero.
Mitchem still not cleared to play, something mentioned yesterday. (from me, that should be resolved by this afternoon). very physical and she and Maglio are having a battle for the second middle. Said Mitchem should play but still has to learn the new system and adjust to a bigger block, not the 5-8 she saw at IVC.
Liked his freshman, thought everyone would play this weekend. mentioned Granato who can play the game but the question would be consistently putting the ball down. could give a spark if someone struggles on the outside.
still gets excited about a new season. players continue to inspire him. loves th enthusiasm.
talked a little about his week’s opponents. Idaho lost a lot, Wichita has everyone back plus some taller players who make them more physical than when they played the two years ago. UH will have to play well to win.
OSU with Liskevych, who is as old as Shoji, the national coach of the year who had a really good season last year.
As for retirement, said it’s going to happen, might be sooner than later but he’s still enjoying it. said the program is in great shape another will be a good coach that replaces him when he goes.
If Olevao is not available, I think it would be interesting to see Taylor and Greeley at OH, Magill and Maglio at MB, and Mitchem at OPP. Guinasso as the primary DS and Ponce as the serving sub. Would love to see Huff get more time as well, instead of just a blocking sub. So many talented players, too few spots!
Cindy, is redshirting Castillo a possibility or does Shoji think she’s ready to contribute?
2. we will see what happens this weekend. He said he wants to give everyone in.
3. He said he hadn’t planned to redshirt anyone. He discusses redshirting with players but has never forced them to. But I guess when he doesn’t play someone that might be the hint.
Thanks, Cindy! It will be an exciting season. Lots of talent.
There was no call in questions on Curran’s talk show. I was planning to ask Shoji why not move Taylor to the left as he intended to do prior to Nikki’s injury last year. Out of all the outsides Nikki showed that she has all the tools to be the terminator that UH needs on the left and skilled enough to play the backrow not to be taken out for a DS. Cindy, perhaps you could ask him that question?
I think Mauna brings up a good point. IMO, Nikki at left-side OH makes the Wahine stronger. Tai sometimes can be inconsistent and there’s always that “Sunday” problem.
Thanks for the recap of the interview.
Looking forward to Friday night. I hope that Dave will develop this time to compete in December when he has to face the big fast teams like Texas and Stanford. I think that this will mean that he needs to play Mitchem, Greeley, Taylor on the outsides.
Plus, Manu-Olevao has a career hitting percentage of below .200, which makes her unsuitable as the go-to OH. In the past, when UH had OHs hit below .200 (Waber, Ferrell) they were either underclassmen or playing opposite OHs like Danielson and Hartong. Besides, moving Taylor to OH solves the logjam in the middle and the versatile Mitchem can play OPP. Or maybe Huff can. Wishful thinking. Quite possible that Manu-Olevao is the best go-to OH for the Wahine, which is why Shoji has been starting her for the past three years.
At this point, I’m not sure why everyone is putting pressure on Mitchem. She said it herself that she really needs to learn and get use to the speed of D1 volleyball. So can all back off a little about Mitchem. First thing first, she is a student athlete, so she have to get use to being a new student in a new school and state.
But I would love to see her playing more – more in to the season.
I just can’t wait for the season opener Friday.
#LetsGoBows
ferrell actually was in the lineup at opposite, but whenever she was in the front row with otineru … ferrell would shift to the left, and otineru would hit on the right.
they could do a similar thing this season. still have taylor in the opposite position, but have her hit from the left more. they actually started to do more of that at the end of last season, but then seemed to go away from it during post-season play.
just having the flexibility to move taylor right or left is great. and let’s not forget she’s a big asset on the right as a shutdown blocker.
7. guess you could have called with your question but they likely would have said save it for whenever they do Call the Coach.
I have asked him and have mentioned it before. The answer is Taylor is on the right, Manu-Olevao and Greeley on the left for now. He is considering other options but for now this is what it is. Taylor can attack from the back row from the right.
7. doesn’t necessarily make UH stronger with her on the left. not when the offense is drifting to a right-side attack and she’s been pretty dominant over there.
Not to be grumpy about this but the bottom line is: They are looking at various options and we’ll see how it all plays out.
Can’t say this often enough. Mitchem is NOT playing on the outside this weekend. She has only practiced at middle. That could change during the season but not by Sunday.
Gotta go. Be back before practice.
Following the national trend, UH has transitioned from a defensive (Japanese influence) to an offensive team. In the process digging fell off (5th in conf) and passing became ordinary. That said the .244 hitting percentage relegated them to “also-ran” status (through the saving grace of their blocking). The beauty of defense is that it takes less energy than offense. Less effort to dig a ball than to jump up and slam it, less effort to block (go straight up) than to spike (jump forward, cork your body, and spike.) The majority of sets go left, so a good blocking opposite is invaluable. An example of the power of defense was the first match against Northern Arizona. Greeley had 7 kills, and Olevao had 4 kills but UH was ahead by 10 points in every game. The reason was defense. Taylor, at opposite, had 5 blocks and NA hitters could not find the floor. It might pay dividends to revisit our defensive roots.
I second mauna’s point. After watching the scrimmage, I would rate the effectiveness of the outside hitters in this order, 1-Taylor 2-Huff 3-Greeley and the last 3 about even. Taylor showed no signs of her right elbow injury and brought some major heat in her kills. And with her height and power, she’s the terminator on the left that Shoji envisioned last year prior to the injury. Huff on the other hand is a much different player from last year.
13. Good points. With these 3 outsides in their last seasons position can improve on their numbers, especially Olevao with her hitting percentage. I strongly feel that Tai will play Sundays, she seemed from the interviews, very motivated emotionally for this, her final year.
15. ……last seasons position (they) can improve…………..
I thought it was pretty unnecessary for Bobby to ask the retirement question again. Dave answered it as well as he could like he always does, but it’s apparent he’s getting tired of responding to that question over and over. I get it that it’s on everyone’s mind, but c’mon does anyone really think his answer is going to change? He’s going to retire when he decides to and I doubt it’s going to be announced on a radio interview.
I had a dream last night, no kidding, that Megan Huff led our team to the final four. I don’t remember what happened at the final four, it got pretty vague at that point. But Megan was our star player and our go to hitter on the right. She was unstoppable, I think it was like 32 kills, no errors in 35 attempts. I visually saw her stat line. Nikki was on the left with Greeley and Nikki was just as unstoppable. I think the middles were Magill and Maglio. Can’t remember the setter, she was faceless….lol.
I am now convinced that Huff, Nikki and Greeley should be out pin hitters. And if Mitchem can reach her potential we all know she has, I know Hawaii can pull out a national championship. Plus, height wise, that is a devastating lineup. I wanna go back to sleep now and finish the tournament. 🙂
Last year Shoji said that the offense was supposed to revolve around Nikki Taylor, however, did I miss something? Did he say that it would revolve around her being on the left because that’s what some posters are making it sound like.
Taylor’s skill set fits more as an Opp since she isn’t the strongest ball control OH, an imposing block, as well as hitting the D set effectively. That is why she would not line up in the rotation as a (Left) Outside Hitter. She may take swings from the left in whatever rotation, but as far as line-up/serve-receive formation purposes she would remain at Opp.
Its sounding as if Huff will be the front row player in the double sub, which will limit her time far more than if she was back up to one of the leftside’s. Unfortunate since she is one of the most improved players. Then again, the skill sets (mostly passing and ball control) of Granato and Castillo possibly match at left more than Huff.
I see Granato in a Boogard/Arnott type of role, coming in to serve and play backrow to get her feet wet and then either rotating or eventually subbing in to the front. She is NOT 6 ft as listed. So when one of the other posters commented on that one OH from Redondo headed to a Big West school and her height (5’10”), same could be said about Granato if we are basing things on height. Granato is not an Aneli, she is very physical but not in that “natural talent/feel-of-the-game” type of player that Aneli was and definitely not that vocal sort. She is not a Kanani as far as explosiveness. So hearing all these comparisons (previous posts/pages) of Granato and Aneli/Danielson makes me wonder what people have seen.
Granato will be a very physical player, who is coming in more polished, more complete skill set to the program than how Tai came in as a Freshman. Granato will be spectacular in her own right and not one of a cookie-cutter mold of a wahine before her.
18 – that was quite entertaining! 🙂 hope your dream comes true!!!
To all the “Left-side” advocates: a successful kill requires: a) a good pass, b) a good set, c) a good hit. Now, who passes the ball? Greeley did most of the passing. Should she get the set too? That depends on whether she can get into position in time. Next, where is the setter standing? Higgins stands to the right of the MH. How far is the set to the left? (maybe 20 – 25 ft.) The closer the setter is to the hitter, the better the odds of a “good” set. Note: the set to the right is maybe 5-10 ft. Lastly, a good hit is needed, what was Taylor’s hitting percentage? FYI, the highest paying positions in professional volleyball are: setter and opposite.
19 – i thought the same thing about what shoji said about taylor.
while i agree that taylor on the left is the lineup i envisioned when shoji said last year that he was designing an offense around her, he never actually said he wanted to move her to the left. he may have thought of keeping her on the right and still running the offense through her as the men do where the opposite is often the go-to hitter. she is also a shut-down blocker for the opponent’s best hitter. when the opposite is more involved in the offense, it spreads the defense from pin to pin rather than having them camping out on the left, which seems to be the standard game plan against previous incarnations of the wahine teams. what this also does is takes the opposing setter out of the offense when hitting cross court from the right side, where the sitter often has to dig the first ball. this will also allow two viable back row hitters rather than just one which would further diversify the offense when the setter is in the front row. this year is different though, since we have a LOT more options. if huff has improved as much as everyone is saying, move taylor to the left and huff (or mitchem once she gets up to speed) on the right could be a really strong line-up. plus, i would really like to see what koelsch can do at setter.
Nicely put WaWa- Taylor has the skill set of an OPP, same with Huff. A good Left OH can pass, play defense and hit. As for Mitchem, she is a middle. It will take awhile to train her as an OH.
An pretty spot on for Granato. She is her own player in her own right- very skilled.
Granato looks a solid 5’11 to me,probably 5’11.5 so her height got rounded up.
High VB IQ in this blog. Thanks for the insight and all the nuances that I take for granted.
I just watch, cheer, moan, celebrate, groan, get amazed, get frustrated, but in the end it’s all worth it to see the Wahine run to the Aunties.
GO WAHINE VB!
Love Wahine V-Ball.
Just wondering if you were going to discuss Iowa next week with Loxley Keala coming back home with the Hawkeyes. She’s my niece and my mom likes to keep abreast of all the stuff written about her. Anyway, I told Loxley I’ll have to just sit on my hands at the match with my UH attire and Iowa baseball cap….or shirt. LOL So difficult. Anyway, thanks. And GO WAHINE!!! 🙂
i also remember (or think i remember) that taylor was going to be on the left last year. i think it was in a tv interview by shoji and/or taylor herself (maybe in one of those pregame canned interviews?). i think it was also discussed on VT, and even on this blog.
i just remember discussion of taylor training on the left during the spring and off-season. and all of that changed with the injury.
when you think about it too, shoji probably had passi penciled in at opposite last year. but with passi not working out, when taylor came back from her injury, the opposite position became the logical place to put her.
I think people are underestimating Tai in the same way they did Dani (Mafua).
Tai’s inconsistency has been disappointing for 3 years now and I would be very happy with improvement from her. however, with her height and history and inability to put down kills consistently, I think that the only way to compete with the good teams is to get height and strength in the first team, which means the other girls need to start.
25. won’t get to Iowa until Thursday’s paper. very busy with our preview that was scheduled to run Wednesday but now likely Friday. Some you may have noticed the press issues have cut our sports section down a few pages.
My memory isn’t the best about last year. other than Shoji said the offense would revolve around Taylor. I thought it was right side but it might have been L1. kind of moot now. There might have been thoughts of Passi on the right but obviously didn’t pan out
I think Casey Castillo is very similar to Greeley and has a nice arm swing and has the height too.
Granato and Castillo are both athletic and can cover lots of ground/area on the court. Kendra Koelsch will bring a good block and great energy to the team when Higs needs a breather. I know these two setters (always hanging together) root and supports each other . That is so great to see their friendship and attitude towards one other regardless of who plays. “TEAM 1ST”…The next few weekends when the lights, crowds, Wichita St. OSU, and Florida will be here we all will see which athletes (veteran and new) will step up and preform in prime time. It will be exciting to see so much talent on this team and the crowds should be rocking amazed!!
29. true about Manu-Olevao’s over percentage but if you look at most games, she started out very poorly, hit negative, and got better as the match went on. was very effective at the ends of matches in some cases and most always got out of negative.
Huff “looks like a volleyball player except for wearing basketball shorts at practice.”
LOL.
BTW Huff not wearing basketball shorts at today’s practice.
They have not voted on captains yet, likely after practice.
No decision by Manu-Olevao. Shoji said tomorrow
Dave will go with Tai as he did last year. Only sometimes, if she isn’t hitting too well, he will sub her out, as he does for the other starters sometimes. But later on or for the next match, she will be back to her position.
10 I agree with you about Mitchem.
BTW, captains are Manu-Olevao and Higgins.
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=32765
new thread up for Tuesday afternoon..
37. much to the chagrin of all these internet coaches lol