Women's Volleyball Thoughts, Things I Think I Think 10/1/23

[phijo]

Again, these are in no particular order.
1. It is hard to make anything of the dominating performances against Boston College and again Syracuse. Against Syracuse, it was nice to see more of Blaire Bayless and Julianna Dalton. I think Bayless has a very bright future for the lady panthers. She just gets better and better every time I see her.

2, In my opinion, the strength of this team is it's defense. It starts with the block but also includes great back row defense. This is what will determine how far the VB team goes this year.

3. I also watched today, Louisville vs NC State and I gotta admit, I never saw that coming. Louisville looked ..... beatable and NC State looked very formidable. I looked at their schedule, and there was no way to clearly see this coming. If NC State continues to play at an elite level, I welcome that. The ACC needs that.

4. I continue to be impressed with just how good Babcock and Stafford are. I am not quite ready to go so far and say they are better than Lund.....yet. Right now they are both pure power. They still need to learn more nuanced things about being outside hitters. But gosh, they have only played 15 ncaa volleyball games and they are already so good!

5. Emma Monks continues to the linchpin of this defense. She is a different kind of middle blocker than Serena Gray was so I don't know you can compare them. I am not ready to say Emma is better, but she is just a different kind of middle blocker.

6. I now agree that Pitt will probably play a 5-1 against their better competition. Can't really see taking your best player off of the court and they are clearly comfortable with back row hitting from Babcock, Stafford and even Vasquez Gomez.

7. After Friday night, I think we all will have a better idea how good our panthers are.

 

[Black Panther]

Took care of business as they should have today. H2P!

 

[vantheman1976]

Again, these are in no particular order.
1. It is hard to make anything of the dominating performances against Boston College and again Syracuse. Against Syracuse, it was nice to see more of Blaire Bayless and Julianna Dalton. I think Bayless has a very bright future for the lady panthers. She just gets better and better every time I see her.

2, In my opinion, the strength of this team is it's defense. It starts with the block but also includes great back row defense. This is what will determine how far the VB team goes this year.

3. I also watched today, Louisville vs NC State and I gotta admit, I never saw that coming. Louisville looked ..... beatable and NC State looked very formidable. I looked at their schedule, and there was no way to clearly see this coming. If NC State continues to play at an elite level, I welcome that. The ACC needs that.

4. I continue to be impressed with just how good Babcock and Stafford are. I am not quite ready to go so far and say they are better than Lund.....yet. Right now they are both pure power. They still need to learn more nuanced things about being outside hitters. But gosh, they have only played 15 ncaa volleyball games and they are already so good!

5. Emma Monks continues to the linchpin of this defense. She is a different kind of middle blocker than Serena Gray was so I don't know you can compare them. I am not ready to say Emma is better, but she is just a different kind of middle blocker.

6. I now agree that Pitt will probably play a 5-1 against their better competition. Can't really see taking your best player off of the court and they are clearly comfortable with back row hitting from Babcock, Stafford and even Vasquez Gomez.

7. After Friday night, I think we all will have a better idea how good our panthers are.

Well done....the ACC and NCAA stats will update in a day or so. It's officially mid season now. I'm anxious to see how the Panthers' team stats stack up with the other top teams....both in conference and the top 25. On number 3......I had just finished watching the woeful Steelers when my wife called me back to the TV yelling....'you better come and look at this Louisville - NC State game. I couldn't believe it. Oregon also lost today to a very good Washington State team....3 sets to 1.

 

[mike412]

From watching them in HS, I knew Stafford could be a force from the back row, but in the one time I saw Babcock she didn’t do it. But, she has looked very comfortable doing it at Pitt. Stafford also is solid defensively in the back.

Is Jepsen banged up or is she getting less minutes because if the newcomers? I thought she came on pretty strong at the end of last season.

 

[vantheman1976]

From watching them in HS, I knew Stafford could be a force from the back row, but in the one time I saw Babcock she didn’t do it. But, she has looked very comfortable doing it at Pitt. Stafford also is solid defensively in the back.

Is Jepsen banged up or is she getting less minutes because if the newcomers? I thought she came on pretty strong at the end of last season.

Nothing wrong with Jepsen that I have seen or heard about....and she looked perfectly fine to me yesterday. As you suggest....I'll chalk up her lack of minutes to the experience of Monks and Nwokolo staying in front of her on the depth chart. By the way....Nwokolo and Monks are #1 and #2 in blocks/set in the ACC so far.

 

[PittMBA]

Nothing wrong with Jepsen that I have seen or heard about....and she looked perfectly fine to me yesterday. As you suggest....I'll chalk up her lack of minutes to the experience of Monks and Nwokolo staying in front of her on the depth chart. By the way....Nwokolo and Monks are #1 and #2 in blocks/set in the ACC so far.

Yeah - she looks healthy to me- played a good bit of the 3rd set yesterday. Just players in front of her - notably Monks.

 

[Mr. Monaca]

I may be wrong on this, but it looks like the timing on sets between Rachel and Emma is not quite in synch. Hoping they'll adjust to one another as the season progresses. Love seeing Stafford attack from the back line.