Tuesday checkin
the normal early practice for Tuesdays. 6-8 a.m. A lot of players have 9 a.m. classes, plus today they had to be out of their locker room because of the NBA preseason stuff.
Not much more to add from last night’s update
Higgins in walking boot, did some setting reps while seated on a bolster, tossed some balls in during drills, said she’s feeling fine. But still questionable for the weekend.
Greeley did passing and defensive stuff but nothing that required her to jump. She’s cleared to practice on limited basis, likely cleared to play Friday.
Burns still not cleared, will be re-evaluated in three weeks so pretty much makes it official that she is redshirting. Still very upbeat, is enjoying her classes, and does as much as she can during practices. Said the doctor doesn’t want any pressure being put on her palm, which would happen if she were blocking or hitting.
Ah Mow-Santos set the second side and, as always looked great doing it.
All the middles took reps on the right on the second side because of the lack of players. Thought Magill looked really good but Shoji said that will not be an option in a match.
Outsides played both left and right, which they do during a match. So nothing new there.
Think that’s about it.
“Thought Magill looked really good but Shoji said that will not be an option in a match.” Cindy, do you know why? Is her primary role to block the middle first?
We have a lot of options. Imho, Shoji needs to be more flexible and be willing to try different things, maybe out of his comfort zone. Nothing ventured, nothing gained?
Cindy: thanks for the update. good to have you letting us know that status of things. I agree with the comments that the testing of the players to different positions is a real positive sign. This allows Dave more flexibility in presenting different lineups for different opponents. I have been advocating testing a big lineup to prepare for the NCAAs. This could be the start. Would love to see Mitchem at LOH or McGill or Castillo at Opp. Be fun to watch.
Hawaii leads the nation in blocking as a team. Individually, Olivia Magill is ninth, Emily Maglio is 27th, and Nikki Taylor is 39th in the nation. Yes, a middle blocks from pole to pole while an outside blocks only on either the right or left. Why move a potential All-American in the middle to another position unless absolutely necessary? A more logical choice would be Annie Mitchem who played both middle and outside at the JC level with a great deal of success. Still, moving players from one position to another is always a bit problematic. In Volleyball, like most other sports, one gains skills by drill, repetition, and game experience, especially in terms of timing between hitter and setter.
2.
To me Shoji is a hall of fame coach for a reason. We are all entitled to our opinions, but I think that it’s easy to say making a certain change would better the team, but there’s a lot that we don’t see as fans on the outside that probably goes into his decision making.
#4 agree with you as to McGill. However, unless players are tested in different positions and given time in practice or in games, how will we ever know if a different combination wouldn’t have helped the team in the big picture (Final Four)? earmakring players into one position at the beginning of the season and not being flexible enough to move them or at least try them out does not seem like a sound coaching alternative. Mitchem was both a middle and OH at JC. She has the talent and skill to play both positions at this level but needs to have more game exposure.
#Agree, don’t mess with the starting lineup as attack, blocking, and passing schemes/assignments will need adjustments. Delighted that they are adding Mitchem as another pin option. Annie is too talented to be sitting out.
Shoji would never move Olivia from middle so the discussion is moot. Cant see wasting a talent like Mitchem for a year playing 1/2 set per game. She is too good. I say this bc Shoji opened the door. True, he vacillates and may have been thinking out loud. Can only hope he follows through.
#8 Agree that Mitchem is too good to sit but I don’t see any vacillating from Shoji. It was reported that the coaches had Annie hitting at the pin positions when she first arrived but Annie said that she prefer the MH position. At the time, Burns had not hurt her hand. Nevertheless, it is all fortuitous that it is working out for all. Her multi-talented skills and reps at MH and Pin gives us a big-player option when the player match-ups do not favor us.
Cindy, since it seems there’s reasonable chance that mitchem might see right side duties, how did she look there? You specifically said that Olivia looked great there’s what made Olivia looked great there as opposed to Annie? Out of curiosity did the three middles also have to practice serve receive on the right or was it mainly blocking and hitting? Thanks
Hope we don’t need to use Greeley this week. She needs to get healthy and remain so for the rest of the season.
I think both Castillo or Granato could fill in, but neither have shown that they can terminate against the better teams UH has faced. Greeley herself has admitted that she has to improve her scoring numbers at her position. The 2 freshman have the potential to take that spot from Greeley, but I don’t think they are at that level yet (I would love to be proven wrong, though).
It’s sort of a moot discussion, since only Cindy has seen all 3 players hit from the outside for an extended time (during practice and scrimages). Castillo has seen only brief PT at the end of sets against weak teams, and Mitchem has only played middle.
@ 9. We agree on Mitchem. Great!
As a player on a team, wouldn’t you welcome the opportunity to challenge yourself , improve your skills, contribute to the team and earn some playing time? I think fans would welcome these changes. Might work, might not. Success doesn’t come overnight. But if you don’t try different things, even when you feel you don’t have to, isn’t it true that you will never have the chance to succeed? We haven’t made it past the second round post season for quite a while now. For the level of talent this team now has, I don’t think it’s much of a risk to try different things. So Shoji judges by what they do in practice. But sometimes, beyond just practice, you need to be able to see that something special in a player, because given the chance, they will suprise you with what they can do. Wish everyone on this team could play, they all can win. So, sometimes coaches need to be flexible in their thinking, even very successful coaches.
Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but the only one that matters
is Coach Shoji. Does anyone seriously think he not doing everything that is for the best of the team? Does he not want to win? I am not putting him on any pedestal, He, along with Russ Rose, is already up there, by virtue of all his wins, national titles, all-americans coached, yes he hasn’t won one for quite a while
but the landscape of woman’s volleyball has changed with bigger and better athletes. Use to be a west coast dominated sport, but now great teams and parity
are across the country. How many other mid major universities stay relevant
year in and year out, just a few. So the moral of this story is; you all just keep blogging your hearts away, and Coach Shoji will keep trying to bring a national championship to Hawaii. Go Bows!
With the foundation Wahine volleyball has built over the years, fans will always support this program, like they always have, year in and year out.
#6 You’ll never know because you’re not in the practice gym with the players, you don’t know all the personality straits of each player and that is why coaches coach and fans speculate and think of all the reasons why the coach should do this or that.
2016 Warrior schedule released
http://hawaiiathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=mvball&
OK. So, no one knows who is the best players in practice except for UH coaches. Very astute observation. Especially since they are the witnesses. However, it is equally true that fans share with coaches which players are not doing the job in matches viewed by tens of thousands. These fans also observe reserves who look good in matches and do not have significant PT. But, I guess their eyes lie and are not “certified” UH coaches eyes. Look, you do not have to be a UH coach to recognize talent. That is silly if not preposterous.
@ 14., 16., Agreed. Yes, we all have our opinions, of which most prevalent is trying to play Mitchem OH because she’s 3rd MH behind Maglio and won’t get much playing time. Remember folks, she barely got in and missed most of camp and came from a slower, shorter Community College circuit. She admitted herself that she’s got a lot of adjustment and learning to do on a faster, taller D1 system. I really believe that Annie doesn’t think she’s wasting her time and neither does Dave believe he’s wasting his time with her presence. The optimum word for me here is “faith”. We need to believe that a man with his record and reputation has pushed all the buttons in his career to make things work. We may not agree with all his actions, but he’s the best we have. And I for one, have “faith” in him, his staff and his players. GO BOWS!
Jimmy the lock, thanks for the language lesson , I went to a State school and need all the help I can get!
1-et al. Sorry to get people excited but
Please go back and read the original post. Said that all 3 middles took reps on the right BECAUSE OF LACK OF PLAYERS. Basically they were doing a mini scrimmage and this being the first practice of the week, they wanted all front row players to get reps hitting and blocking
They are down to 12 players, four of which are L/DS and 1 setter. Leaves 7 attackers to be split on two sides. (plus Greeley who was in and out playing back row on defense.
They had 6 players on one side that Koelsch was setting, alternating the 3 middles on that side . There was only one middle working on that side with OHs alternating left and right.
Ah Mow-Santos set the other side that on some rotations had Magill and Maglio in the front row with her or other combinations of the two MBs. So there was two middles on the side with Ah Mow-Santos, sometimes one in, sometimes both in..
They are not doing a major change to the lineup but what they are doing is contingency planning and getting everyone back in practice mode. I mentioned Magill looking good because I has rarely seen her hit on the right side. Did not say she looked great but guess that is semantics.
Mitchem did well as well but we know she can hit over there. As can Magill.
They have practice Wednesday 3-6 p.m. Will check in tomorrow.
Good night.
hmm…lets see between 2 days it was about rpi, about how shoji dont use players to fans liking (despite not knowing the limitations), and even some whining about power 5 football/basketball bull
first off, rest well to tayler and kalei.
now lets see rpi…who cares? na wahine needs to go out of the (false) ‘comfort’ zone of their ‘fans’ including at fans expense by beating every opponent found/dont like in their opponents own backyard. collar penn st or sc in the championship playoffs, whatever.
unfortunately indoor volleyball is now about positions isnt it? each player plays their position ‘by design’ for specific purposes. challenge the players you say? they will suprise you with what they can do? well what about shoji putting courtney lelepali in as a middle hitter one time in a match 2 years ago? didnt u-dub try to pull a ds/libero in front row stunt vs sc i heard?
as for power 5/bcs…bs. yeah someone should put them and ncaa in a federal anti-trust suit maybe a congressional while theyre at it. oh theyre getting rich and making it unfair to everybody else? title ix was a double-edged sword wasnt it? make ncaa and such conferences forfeit 2/3 their pay for numerous months to fund a ‘special’ stash for a title x, specifically make title ix stronger. otherwise why is the always losing football team and deemed unreliable, untrustworthy mens basketball team gets special treatment over na wahine?
21. didn’t quite follow your line of thinking.
but when there was a limit on substitutions teams did sneak back row players through the front row. One instance UH did was that marathon match against BYU for the WAC championship.
No way you can sneak a libero through the front row because she’s limited there, no setting overhand in front of the three-meter, no attacking in front of the 3 meter. DS a different story.
One suggestion: Read up on the difference between Title IX and NCAA gender equity mandate.
one last thing about a practice such as today. Everyone knows that UH is very easy to scout given the quality of the TV broadcasts from the SSC.
Shoji always throws wrinkles into the offense the later the season gets. Just because they don’t get used until later in the season, doesn’t mean they aren’t trying different things.
Looking forward to this week’s matches. Kendra should be sharper and have better chemistry with her hitters, after a week of practice. Greeley will most likely see less time, so hope to see more of Granato and Castillo. Would love to see one of them have a break out performance.
Was confused as to the difference between a “sprain” and a “strain” so I looked it up:
A sprain is an injury to ligaments, while a strain is an injury to muscle or tendon tissue.
A sprain is an injury to a ligament — a stretching or a tearing. One or more ligaments can be injured during a sprain. The severity of the injury will depend on the extent of injury to a single ligament (whether the tear is partial or complete) and the number of ligaments involved.
A strain is an injury to either a muscle or a tendon. Depending on the severity of the injury, a strain may be a simple overstretch of the muscle or tendon, or it can result in a partial or complete tear.
Congratz to Arizona State’s senior Macey Gardner, who helped the Sun Devils snap a 28-match losing streak to Stanford with 22 kills and 11 digs, on being named AVCA National POW. But it was the 13th kill against California that gave Macey Gardner 1,872 for her career, a new ASU record, surpassing Christine Gardner’s mark of 1,871, set 20 years ago.
Gardner is the first National POW chosen from the Pac-12 this year. ASU, which was chosen in the Preseason Pac-12 Coaches’ Poll to finish 2nd to Stanford, is now a program-best #5 in the AVCA Coaches’ Poll. Next up for ASU: Trip to Washington.
I’m a newbie on these threads so I know no one will take what I say seriously. Or should I say, “but seriously” (no relationship to that show whatsoever). Anyway, I agree that it is always fun to see someone have a breakout performance. It’s not hard to see how much they have improved over last season and I would go so far as to say they have upped their play to the next level. And if they keep improving, I would bet that nearly everyone on this blog would agree that they like this team’s chances. ??
Agree with #22 re:RPI, not playing any ( or very rarely) regular season,non-conference matches on the road is likely a significant factor in our low RPI year in and year out. Only surprise is that anyone is shocked, including the coach. Especially when you factor in that the WAC and now a not what it used to be Big West are viewed as weak conferences. It could be argued that this is revenue driven ( more home match revenue), and that’s fine and maybe how it should be considering the financial situation of the Athletic Department. But there is a trade off. Counting the number of matches on this year’s schedule I only come up with 27, one short of what we are allowed. Perhaps a non-conference road match against a good team would have helped. Beating up on conference teams not going to change much, if anything, RPI wise, regardless of the fact that we have an outstanding team. This has been the MO for many years, so to expect a different outcome is akin to Einstein’s definition of insanity.
So let’s throw out the AVCA Coaches’ Poll for a minute. Let’s just look at the stats that the NCAA should be looking at since it’s their own stats. Let’s compare the #1 RPI Southern California with the #36 RPI Hawaii:
Aces Per Set
USC: #32
UH: #40
Assists Per Set
USC: #4
UH #27
Blocks Per Set
USC: #17
UH: #1
Digs Per Set
USC: #58
UH: #205
Hitting Percentage
USC: #3
UH: #9
Kills Per Set
USC: #3
UH: #12
Match W-L %
USC: #1
UH: #5
Opp Hitting %
USC: #10
UH: #11
Team Assists
USC: #144
UH: #179
Team Attacks Per Set
USC: #202
UH: #211
Team Digs
USC: #193
UH: #280
Team Kills
USC: #147
UH: #171
Team Service Aces
USC: #84
UH: #117
Team Total Attacks
USC: #277
UH: #285
Team Total Blocks
USC: #59
UH: #11
When you compare the above, IMHO only the ranking of the Digs Per Set, Team Digs, and possibly Team Total Blocks separate #1 RPI from #36 RPI. If the Bows can keep improving their stats, the NCAA’s own team ranking of the 329 D-1 schools will make the case for inclusion just as strongly as the NCAA’s own RPI will make the case against inclusion of Na Wahine as one of the subregional hosts.
Volleyball IQ is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Hmm, sounds familiar…. Passing and serving is also one percent inspiration and 99 per cent repetition. Add athleticism and you got yourself a volleyball player. On a totally different subject, I always remember Logan Tom who I believe was six feet tall and she played against the best in the world in the Olympics. Just saying and rambling on and on.
Of course I don’t mean it’s their own stats. I mean it’s the stats they post on their own website, and which they use to come up with the national rankings for each category.
22. Wildcard, I don’t know what you were implying when you said. “unfortunately indoor volleyball is now about positions isnt it? each player plays their position ‘by design’ for specific purposes. challenge the players you say? they will suprise you with what they can do? well what about shoji putting courtney lelepali in as a middle hitter one time in a match 2 years ago? didnt u-dub try to pull a ds/libero in front row stunt vs sc i heard,” but if Courtney Lelepali indeed played middle in a match two years ago, it was because of substitutions running out. IIRC, Lelepali was a serving sub for one of the middles. Yes, it is legal to use a DS in the front row. They are regular players. Only liberos are not allowed to block, attack, etc. As for the Washington player, Condie is a 5’5″ DS and I believe she was forced to play front row because substitutions ran out and it was at the end of the set. I don’t see Shoji using a DS in the front row, unless a lot of front row players are injured and he has no choice but to use the taller DSs in the front row (Guinasso, Kahakai). I don’t think Shoji will ever use someone like Katiana Ponce (5-3) or Jayme Lee (5-2) in the front row even if the set score is something like 24-2.
re #22. I had to smile when you mentioned players like Katiana Ponce or Jayme Lee not suited for front row play. I watch the Wahine Alumnae match practically every year. One of the most striking things about the match is that the teams often use former DS’s and liberos in the front row. Many of the Wahine DS’s played as outside hitters and even middles when it high school. Many made all-conference or even all-state in those positions. I’ve seen many a DS’s hit bullets in the Alumnae matches. I think I remember Jayme Lee hitting in the front row in one match and she really hit the ball hard.
#29 Very impressive. Thanks for sharing. And I agree.
I recall the match where Lelepali played in the middle. My recollection is that she got confused about what rotation it was and ran to sub in for Adolpho. Shoji realized it was a mistake, but the ref had already initiated the Sub procedure and told Shoji she HAD to go in. Lelepali looked terrified…she had no idea where to stand (I recall Hartong quickly telling her where to stand and what to do). UH won the point and Lelepali immediately subbed out for Adolpho.
-Aloha!
Does anyone know if Burns is granted a medical redshirt year does that mean she still has an additional regular redshirt year? Only asking because though she is part of the team this year, she hasn’t practiced and really wouldn’t necessarily beat out next years freshmen as she probably will be on a similar level with the exception of having spring camp under her belt.
Medical red shirts aren’t granted until applied for after a senior season. Much like Kuehu being granted a sixth year last year.
37. thanks for getting to that question first. you get five years to play four. and after that eligibility is exhausted, one can apply for a medical hardship season which, if granted, restores your fifth year since you lost it due to injury.
going to start a new thread for Wednesday well because I can ‘-)
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=33639
new thread up