Scrimmage recap, Taylor update
think those who came today saw what I’ve been seeing the past two weeks.
Tall, talented, somewhat raw in some places. Improvement by Long and Manu-Olevao and really good freshmen in Greeley, Maglio, Huff, Koelsch and Kahakai.
Magill is still getting used to UH’s system but Shoji said they hope to be able to her the ball and take advantage of her quickness and ability to get up over the block.
Shoji said Greeley is close to being in the lineup, said a little slowed by that ankle injury from last Monday and sore shoulder.
said they were solid in the middle. Adolpho had an off game, but he knows she’ll be better.
Ah Mow-Santos said the setting was better than she expected and that Koelsch was developing quickly, especially on the back sets.
As for Taylor, sees the doctor Monday. They hope she’ll be cleared to practice this week. Definitely out this week but the hope is she can practice in another week. Despite all the rehab she’s been doing, still not the same as being on the court. It will take a while to get her back into game-playing shape.
Thanks for the report Cindy. How was the defense today, haven’t really heard about that by any poster.
To those that went to the scrimmage, how would you put the players in the depth chart?
Outside
Nikki Taylor
Tai Manu-Olevao
Ginger Long
Kalei Greeley
Megan Huff
Middle
Kalei Adolpho
Olivia Magill
Emily Maglio
Megan Huff
Setter
Tayler Higgins
Kendra Koelsch
Opposite
Keani Passi
Ginger Long
Megan Huff
Libero and DS
Sarah Mendoza
Katiana Ponce
Savanah Kahakai
Gianna Guinasso
Clare Anderson
And no, that’s not my depth chart. I just listed the players by position.
2. I would say first you have to take Taylor out because she likely won’t play for the first two tournaments
think you have the RSs in the right order
Passi
Long
Huff
and the setters
Higgins
Koelsch
and the middles
Adolpho and Magill
Maglio
Huff
DS/L
Mendoza
Kahaka
Guinasso
Anderson
Ponce
It’s the LS that is really tricky. Depends on if Shoji wants to go big and young, or small with experience
Greeley may leapfrog Manu-Olevao and Long but with Manu-Olevao missing this Sunday that likely moves Long into the position
Huff can also hit left if needed and Passi.
1. Shoji said he was happy with the defense. they kept a lot of balls alive and in play. a lot of stick-arm reaction digs that popped the ball up and playable.
Hot, whether you listed the player, by position, by accident, you are not that far off give a player, or two.
The depth on the left is a bit scary, is it too late to add Lara Schreiber?
I just hope the defense can read the hitters and get to those tip shots at the start of the season, instead of waiting until almost the end of the season to start reacting to them.
WF, the depth, not only on the left, but outside period, is scary, especially on Sunday, until Nikki is available. The OH need to stay away from any more injuries. The one consolation is that Kendra can play the Outside, in an emergency situation.
Great color, Cindy and fans! Mahalo!
There is no way you can keep Greeley on the bench. I also think that Adolpho and Higgins need to step it up to stay ahead of two other very talented freshman. I know, Dave always goes with experience. The over all blocking is the best I have seen in the 13 yrs. since I switched my allegiance from LBS to Hawaii. At $.50 a pop for every roof I might need a loan at the end of the year.
Interesting report and analysis. Can hardly wait five more days for season debut.
Meanwhile Brazil won the World Grand Prix beating the host Japanese team that won its previous four home matches. I’m still amazed at how USA could defeat Brazil in the friendlies four times in a row. Guess Brazil hadn’t jelled as of then. Only surprise in the Grand Prix was that they lost in five sets to Turkey. So did USA. Turkey has vastly improved.
Turkey also had a distinct advantage in the WGP… they had a lot of home matches and/or had to travel very little throughout. Some teams were shipped all over the the place week to week. That, and yes, Turkey has improved a great amount, it seems.
The USA was without four starters from 2012 Olympics with harmotto and hooker out. And tom and berg not returning to the team. Hooker is still “suspended” but I hope we get her back. Murphy is amazing, but hooker is other worldly
The Friendlies went to 5 sets several times and when it does that, it’s a tossup. didn’t check the roster for Brazil. was it the same as they used for the USAV Cup?
Brandon could you explain “suspended” in regards to Hooker? Players usually are cut from the team, sometimes asked to leave before the cuts.
Now this is all according to volleytalk, so take it with a grain of salt, but several people close to the situation said hooker is not on the team right now because she broke some rules with karch and she had an “attitude’. she is welcome back on the team at anytime, but she needs to get back into the correct physical and mental shape.
Cindy — I didn’t watch a lot of the WGP matches. i did catch a bit of a usa-brazil match. it looked like jacqueline rejoined the the brazil squad. she’s an OH. with her experience and skill set, i’m guess she brought a little more stability and reliability to their passing and offense.
Re: #16. To be more specific, it seems that Karch instituted a rule that friends and relatives could not be at the practices. Destinee Hooker, being a new mom, wanted her baby and husband there. Her strong disagreement with this rule led Hooker to be suspended from the national team for being insubordinate. I’m not too sure how serious one should take anything from Volley Talk but more than likely this account is accurate. Too bad. Hooker, with her high jumping background, is an impressive athlete and became a great right-side hitter.
more on hooker…. from what i recall, there’s been some folks posting links to hooker’s twitter posts on VT. it looks like she has started a volleyball camp, and i remember seeing a twitter post with a picture of her camp schedule, stretching into next year. based on that, it didn’t seem like she was contemplating playing pro again or rejoining the team soon. if i’m also remembering it correctly, some people have asked her on twitter if she wants to be try and part of the team in Rio, and she’s been vague about her responses. i can’t recall exactly how she responded.
Just wanted to add that it seems, with comments from both Karch and Hooker, that both want to resolve the conflict and Hooker can come back if she can get back in shape, given the long break from the game.
Cant wait for the season to start. im really excited to see Passi the girls need someone with an aggressive attitude to get the girls going…too much nice nice last season on the court