Wilhite POY, Dunning COY, Stanford vs. Texas Saturday
sorry to be MIA.
catching up on a few things
From the AVCA today (Friday)
https://www.avca.org/awards/avca-national-player-of-the-year-awards/2016-division-i.html
University of Minnesota Senior Outside Hitter Sarah Wilhite has been selected as the 2016 TeamSnap/AVCA Division I Player of the Year. The award was presented this afternoon at the AVCA All-America/Players of the Year banquet, which was held in Columbus, Ohio as part of the 2016 Annual Convention.
From the AVCA Thursday
https://www.avca.org/awards/national-coaches-of-the-year/2016-division-i.html
Stanford Head Women’s Volleyball Coach John Dunning has been selected as the 2016 USMC/AVCA Division I Coach of the Year, while University of Nebraska Assistant Coach Dani Busboom Kelly has been selected as the 2016 AVCA Division I Assistant Coach of the Year.
As for Thursday’s semifinal recap
http://www.ncaa.com/news/volleyball-women/article/2016-12-13/ncaa-womens-volleyball-stanford-texas-meet-championship
5) Texas def. Nebraska 25-18, 25-23, 25-21
9) Stanford def. Minnesota 26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22
Hello Cindy, commenting on your last post. I recall that turn down of Shoji’s in 1992 when UH went 15-12. I felt the same as Shoji and the entire NaWahine program as this invite was a degrading of the level of success and quality of the Hawaii program. I’m hoping that more top mid-major programs in the AVCA ranking who do no get into the NCAA tournament turn down these offers into this so called NIT for women’s volleyball tournament.
Congrats to Sarah Wilhite! What an amazing transformation from last year. She got so much stronger and and became the Gopher’s terminator. IMO, biggest improvement was in seeing the court so well and developing those well disguised off speed shots that she were place so effectively. It was just amazing to see the improvement in one year.
I’m glad that Micaya White of Texas got first team…she was awesome this year! Lucky Texas, they get her for three more years…
3….Yes I agree with you and they also get the TOP 2 rated players out of High School….Watch out for Lexi Sun! She is Phenomenal! Texas and Stanford will be AWESOME next year!
Texas ran fast!? (Their passing must have been spot on.) It explains Nebraska with only 4 blocks.
” The Longhorns relied on a combination of light passes and powerful kills to catch the Huskers off guard.”
According to the video in this article, LBSU, Cal Poly and UCSB would have been invited to the NIVC, if it were held this year.
http://volleyballmag.com/nivc/
I think the two teams in the final four that needed to run fast and in-system have both lost already. Which I think is the typical outcome when you get into finals play with teams that are taller and more physical. Stanford and Texas are both powerful OTT type teams first and foremost and defensively rely on their block. Stanford can possibly take some of that away from Texas, so the Longhorns may have to rely more on their speed and backcourt defense. That style of play didn’t work for Minnesota against Stanford, and Minnesota was probably the fastest team in the finals with the best setter. If Stanford can play the same high level of serve-receive and passing as they did against Minnesota, I think they could give Texas a tough match.
As Coach would say, it comes down to passing and hitting. Even Minnesota has trouble with passing and without accurate passing there is no fast offense. Just as Hawaii’s passing has been up and down so too do other teams, but to a lesser degree. You don’t see Karch Kiraly and the National team going OTT. In fact, Karch does not recruit purely by height which explains why foreign teams are often taller.
It will be interesting to see next season how well Hawaii fares with MG and KS trying to go OTT on the left side, assuming the passing does not break down.
No one recruits strictly by height. All want to recruit players that can terminate and not fade away when facing height. If not tall, then must have superior hops, arm, quickness, endurance, and court vision. Top college recruit in the country may be Lexi Sun, headed to Texas next year. 6’2″ and touches 10’9″. Weakness, digging and passing. Strengths are OTT w/cannon arm, great court vision and all the shots, super athletic with a high motor. But, this years phenom freshman is Plummer, all 6’6” of her is OTT underlined and in bold. Not particularly quick, but she smashes downhill from all over the court, and blocks out the Sun. Coach of the Year, Dunning from Stanford, recruited and plays OTT with power. Texas, a perennial power, is recruiting OTT-capable players. If you can’t OTT, you have to play superior serve-receive-passing with superior quickness and superior setting. In other words, you have to compensate for your OTT deficit against teams that know how to recruit and play to win it all.
Stanford has a tall team.
LBSU, Cal Poly and UCSB would have been in the new NIVC tourney if held this year.
Per volleyball mag site.
I just got a tweet from @HawaiiSB that Brittany Hitchcock is graduating early. Isn’t she just midway into her Junior year? If so, that is what I call a Student athlete!
Well spoken words by Noblesol. Apparently, it is all relative depending on perspective. (Coach is a firm believer in OTT regardless of talent.)
What is indisputable is that good passing is a pre-requisite for success. In light of the last 3 years, Hawaii’s passing remains a question mark (going into 2017).
I love the volleyball IQ from most of the bloggers. “MERRY CHRISTMAS ” to Cindy and all the posters. May you all have a healthy and blessed 2017….I guess I will be impatiently awaiting 8 months to VB again. Coach Shoji, may God bless and free you from your affliction. Thank you for all you have done for the State of Hawaii……..
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=40698
new thread up with title links