11-8 Beach postmortem
Best to discuss on new thread rather than wade through last night’s game stuff.
And to get this out of the way first … the amount of crude comments and personal attacks last night were inexcusable. I apologize that some of the comments got left up until I could get to them and delete. I understand the frustration but the lack of civility will not be tolerated.
As mentioned, The beach has pretty much clinched the title at 10-0. UH at 8-3.
49ers 2 1/2 up over the Wahine with 6 to play (for them). Hawaii has five with tonight’s match against CSUN.
IMHO, Hawaii needs to win out to get an at-large, At the moment, they only thing they can control is on the court, wins and losses.
People have criticized the setting. Agree that Higgins might have gone to the outsides too many times but it’s a split-second decision. The Beach was very quick to move to the middle. and there several times that the OHs had wide open looks and hit long or wide. Also saw how many tight passes there were to the net. Higgins 5-0-10 on dump shots, several because she had no choice.
Mendoza likely back at libero to start tonight.
As some have said, not only is Jackson the best libero in the conference, she could be the best in the country.
Some people thought the 49ers setter was great. I thought it lucky that she wasn’t called for more lifts. The up ref was very generous and completely missed some calls, one that was clearly a double but that was my vantage point from floor level and not her vantage point from above the play.
Going to be a tough turn around after a very disappointing loss. the schedule maker was very unkind this season.
Agree that we need to win out. I don’t see that as being a problem. Even a win would probably not of changed where we will be sent for the play-offs. Our setter has improved, she just needs to improve more. It was nice to see Adolpho do so well. Kahakai looked lost out there but she played better when she went back to D/S. Long Beach is a top 20 team (IMHO) and we were good enough to almost beat them. The season is not over yet.
Thank you for your sanity. Agree with your assessment, especially Kahakai. She is solid but the 49ers’ attack had the Wahine defense confused at time. There was a lot of misdirection and they took advantage of their athleticism. Hawaii had chanced to beat them twice, lost both in 5. If Hawaii eliminated their service errors in Set 1 (3 SE vs. 1 ace, the Beach with 3 aces, 0 SEs). they win that one. couple of the Beach’s aces hit the tape and fell over, one in particularly took an odd angle. hard to defend that.
Norene Iosia commits to Hawaii
https://twitter.com/mizunolongbeach/status/531195758356488194
Awesome news vballfreak808
Just what the doctor ordered wish she was coming next season.
Can anyone provide a player evaluation of Norene Iosia? For example, is she the real deal? Strengths and weaknesses, etc… I’ve seen or read little, read she was a great floor leader and plays for Redondo. -thanks for sharing
Game Assessment: Know your enemy and know yourself – Sun Tzu, Art of War. -Both LBSU and CSUN have much more digs than Hawaii; during rallies both have an edge. To counter this edge end points quickly, before the dig comes into play. (Solution: speed sets, quick sets, slides)
-Both LBSU and CSUN run a faster attack than Hawaii; which tends to end points quicker. (Solution: tough serving to take them out of system.)
– Hawaii has issues with set location. (Solution: lowering the height on sets allows more accuracy to the pins.)
– Hawaii hitters hit for low percentages. (Solution: run quicker sets to beat the block, giving the hitters split blocks and open seams.)
– Hawaii has trouble digging. (Solution: bolster the block, use Kendra Koesch.)
Hopefully UH can win out and get that at-large…but Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC & WCC all having a strong season…No doubt those conferences will eat up most of the at-large bids…
Good news about the commitment of Iosia. Scott Wong has proven to be a great recruiter.
She must know that Dave probably won’t be around to coach her in 2 years, so I wonder if this points to Scott being his successor. Ben Jay is probably going to be preoccupied with hiring new football and mens basketball coaches soon, so at least with Scott their can be a smooth transition if he indeed will be the next coach.
great match last night. win or lose, there was some fabulous volleyball being played by both teams. the Beach played really well, but Hawaii should have won in four. yes, the setting was not great by Higgins, but Nikki Taylor needs to step it up. after that last Sunday home match when she was just dominating, i thought that is what we would see the rest of the season. she had too many errors last night, the critical one being on match point in game one. we win that game, different story. LBSU was lights out in game two, but the Wahine dominated in three and four. maybe it is the setting, but Nikki seemed off balance on a lot of her shots. with her height and reach, she should be contacting the ball at a much higher level than she does now. their libero was very good, but i have seen a couple this season that were just as good or better this year.
Hard to blame nikki when the sets she gets are complete garbage, setting was awful plus she hit a lot better than olevao or greeley. The middles were the best attackers but they weren’t set that much even on good passes .
At this point in the season I’m surprised at the inconsistency in the setting. Not just the selection, but the location as we’ll. too many sets close to the net.
As for Taylor, I was curious how she would be once she returned from her injury. Many posters were hailing her as the star to put her team on her back. She has played great at times and not so great at times. She too needs to work on her consistency.
Tai….love her power. She just needs to learn how to control that power during critical times. She has been a pleasant surprise this season.
Not giving up on this team. Pass, serve and set the middles! We are going to bust brackets if we get in to the NCAAs!
Who else is UH recruiting for 2016?
Sealy for coach
IMHO LBSU’s defense is better than ours. Their transition from defense to offense is better than ours. When LBSU digs a ball its goes right to the setter. When we dig a ball Taylor Higgins has to chase it down which limits who she can set to. That’s the bottom line….
Examples of Brian Gimmillaro’s coaching:
1. LBSU never once even attempted to block Taylor Higgins dumps. It was imperative to stop Magill & Adolpho (together they had only 16 kills). If Koelsch was inserted she could have dumped all night and no one would have touched her.
2. Majority of Chisom Okpala’s (MB) kills were throws, not hits. When the ball goes straight to the floor a few feet in front of her it’s obvious. This is one call that is rare, and to Brian Gimmillaro’s credit it was never called.
3. LBSUs back row played back in order to better dig balls. Hawaii’s ineffective dinks (apparently Hawaii never practices dinks) were so high, none of them hit the floor.
4. LBSU middles had 30 kills, LBSU pins had 31 kills (Hawaii middles had 16 kills, Hawaii pins had 41 kills).
blunite not sure what your point is regarding #1 but I think you are suggesting a setting change. Our setting is NOT our #1 problem. Passing (ball control defense) is.
#2 I agree that a number of Okpala’s kills (attempts) were throws (lifts) and some should have been called because the ball rested way to long in her hand and in one instance she even changed the direction of the ball! I’m not sure why BG should be given credit for that. Actually the R1 should be calling that.
#3 LBSU’s defense including their libero was very good last night and their wing players picked up a lot of those. You have to give them credit for playing good “d”.
#4 Our middles were actually more effective and hit for a higher percentage than LBSU’s middles. They just didn’t have enough attempts due to our poor passing. LBSU’s middles had 62 attempts to our 37. This stat is a perfect example of how poorly we pass. We pass so poorly Taylor is unable to set our middles…..
Iosia is a game changer, folks. If Hawaii wasn’t already an established program I would call her a program changer. She is big time. Dave got the best setter not just of her class but the best setter, other than Carlini of Wisconsin, in probably the past decade. Super excited to see her play 4 years in a wahine uniform. And yes, I do believe she could beat out a senior Higgins when she arrives on campus. Of course all depends on how both progress over the next 2 years, but this comment is just because of how good Iosia is. Wow…..
IMHO, LBS and UH are very close — witness two 5-set matches. But, LBS has more experienced upperclassmen — result of Croson and Waber (among others) not panning out. The Manu-Olevao and Ginger Long class also have not met optimistic expectations. So, we are relying on freshmen and sophomores playing key roles, while they are honing their game and improving in their craft.
Both UH and LBS had good recruiting classes this year, but UH’s are playing and learning on the job this year, while LBS takes advantage of their upper classmen – 3 seniors & 1 junior starting, I believe. May be a role reversal next year. With UH having a good class next year, and Iosia’s commitment in 2016, things are looking up. But, Shoji now needs to add a MB and OH to Iosia’s class. Maybe Plummer will be in the mix. That would mean 3 good classes back-to-back to-back.
Totally agree re upref. Blatant lifts by Hudson on several occasions. And they weren’t even close. Too bad crowd didn’t react as expected. Some boos, but not enough.
2. you know those drop over the tape balls? higgins had her back turned against one and its not the first time that existed also none in the front row got ready to attack the ball in case that should happen. forget digging or trying to dig and then set but slam it down just like an overpass (or reverse overpass).
It is illegal to attack the serve.
20. you cannot block a serve. used to in the old days but they decided that it gave an advantage to taller players.
someone also complained about tai in the back row. yeah probably shoji should of brought ginger in for defense rather than sub tai for kahakai particularly in set 5. ginger may as well be the better counter against reid and then some.
i guess also na wahine cant win against anyone who is or is made nationally ranked this season can they? is there really lack of priority there?
good job on some of the ‘smurfs’ with their tricky aces, sarah and ana.
now onto vs csun. wahine better be ready.