Saturday scrimmage live blog

B side is down own hitter. So who position is not being played?

Love that uniform.

Excited to hear how Mitchem connects with Higgins. And how Castillo and Granato play.

I really hope Huff gets some serious looks and playing time this year. I have loved her since last year. Really hoping she can have a breakout year and be a player like Christina Houghtailing from Nebraska. She came out of nowhere to be the player of the year her junior year. Huff has the athleticism and work ethic to become that type of player. Dave…please give this girl a legitimate look, not just when the game is at 22-15 for a few reps.

Sounds like Huff much improved and might be the sleeper on the team this season.

Was Huff jump serving? I remember her having a pretty good jump serve in high school.

I saw the stats…..Mahalo! How has the connection looked with Higgins and the middles? Looking great….or still more to work on?

Thanks again!

Dave still has his favorites. Period. Hawaii will not advance unless he losses his bias.

Here’s what I took away from the green-white: Megan Huff is my most improved from last year. Her velocity and placement of her kills, mostly from the 10ft line were very impressive. Nikki Taylor is playing like an AA first teamer, had the hardest hit balls from the right and left that landed inside of the 10ft line. Really the most impressive kills of the scrimmage. Her problem last season with her right elbow, which to me held her back a bit from swinging all out, is now a thing of the past. Taylor Higgins quick sets to the middles were all spot on, I recall at most two that was set too low, a problem to the middles last season. Emily Maglio seems very comfortable and playing with confidence. Her strength is her blocking, she has that natural ability to sense where the sets are going. I also saw and improvement in the quickness and velocity of her kills. I don’t see that Annie Mitchem has shown enough in her present game to displace Maglio from M2. We’ll see what happens to the starting lineup as the season goes along with the middles. Tai was Tai with a more consistent jump serve with velocity. McKenna Granato and Casey Castillo both played like vets and I don’t see any huge downgrade of quality of play if they get into the match. They both are fearless and hit the ball with a lot of velocity. This is the most deepest and well balanced team in all positions that I have seen ever.

This is the first year in all my 35 years witnessing two units playing against each other and they both looked like a ranked team. This is by far the best Hawaii team and not much seperating the 12-13 women (from Setting, MH, and OH…) We are deep that if an injury occurs to one of our players (which I pray doesn’t happen anymore) the next player to fill in is very competent, confident, and ready to go….The back row of Kahakai, Guianasso, Anderson, and Ponce are all vacuum cleaners back there. We highly anticipate a season that Hawaii will witness the potential of a National Championship since 1987. We are really good? How good? In the next couple weeks we should have a better picture of this relentless team…Buckle your seat belts…we will be going on a great ride…..Go Bows!!!!

To add, after watching tonight’s scrimmage we may have found out go-to hitter in Nikki Taylor. Shoji saw this at the start of last season when he planned to revolve the offense around Nikki on the leftside before her right elbow injury.

33. As will the quality of the passes, which will help determine how effective a setter has the opportunity to be; the ability of multiple players to terminate versus one dominant player; putting up an effective block against the bigger opponents. In other words, the Wahines’ collective effort will determine how far they go, IMHO. Of course, I am assuming there are no serious injuries/losses of players.

Cindy, two quick questions:
1. Can you provide a box score/stat line for the scrimmage? I only found bits and pieces online.
2. Besides height and experience, how would you compare this team with the one from two years go that beat Texas? I know that team had a great camp like this one, and started very well. My impression is this team has many more weapons, but would like your perspective as I have not attended any of the practices.

Thanks for all the updates. Gives us lots to look forward to. This scrimmage validates what all of us were hoping for. This is truly outstanding. Kudos to the girls for working so hard in off season and the summer. I think Mitchem will bring a lot more additional fire power once she is acclimated to D1. So happy for Nikki as she is finally physically able to show us her A game. The progress of Maglio and Huff shows a lot of commitment. So happy for the all the girls.

All well and good; however, are last season’s issues resolved? For example,
serve receive (aces given up), “soft” middle to dinks and tips, serving accuracy into areas 1, 2, 3, dump shots, utilization of roll shot, tip shot, line shot (.244), D set hitting percentage, blocking consistency? Unfortunately, soft middle is an issue every year. UH shrugs it off as a necessary evil to their perimeter-wide defense, but it doesn’t have to be.

“not his favorites, they’re his veterans and they are farther along than the newcomers after 2 weeks, and for Mitchem 5 days.”

Disagree. Im talking about the 2 Punahou starters vs Huff and Kendra. Your explanation is generalized. Both mainland girls are in their second year, they are not fresh face yearlings as you suggest.He did the same last year and the year before.

#43 Yeah, Dave is consistent. Some coaches like to play more girls – some don’t. Some want to see what a player can do in the game while some insists on seeing the player do it in the practice gym first. Maybe the next coach – but not this coach. It also appears that certain assertions, are also pretty consistent.

42. I agree with this move of Taylor as LOH1 and Huff to the RS. Last season before the injury to Nikki, Shoji was projecting Nikki on the left and revolve his offense around her. Last night both Huff and Taylor showed terminating and blocking dominance at the net, and with their physical size can take over the matches. My starting lineup would be Taylor and Greeley OHs and Huff on the right, but knowing Shoji………………………………………………..

43. Wait, so the team hasn’t played a regular season match yet this year and you’re already complaining that Huff and Koelsch aren’t getting playing time? Or are you referring to last year, when they WERE true freshmen?