Happy to see the VB team advance to the National semi finals, but I have a question. Why wasn't Ndee, who is one of the team's best players, in at the end of Game 4, when they were working so hard to finish off Purdue? I don't know anything about player rotations, so could someone help me out with this.
Ndee
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Because Rachel Fairbanks was playing like an assassin. She was doing it all: kills, blocks, digs and sets.
What a brilliant performance by the freshman!
And take out the other outside hitter, Member-Meneh, who was the Pittsburgh Regional's MVP instead?
N’Dee doesn’t play full rotation. I’d have to re-watch but assume she was out of rotation (she doesn’t serve or play the back line).
What a lot of people don't understand about volleyball is you don't have free substitutions like in basketball. A player must rotate through six positions on the floor, and most of the players play only the front three rotations or back three rotations (most outside hitters like Lund play all 6). In Pitt's current rotation, Ndee plays in the front row for three turns while Fairbanks plays in the back row. Then Ndee subs out from the RS position and Fairbanks takes it over, while Akeo subs in as server in the back row. After three more rotations, Fairbanks goes back to serve and Ndee subs back in. You aren't allowed to play Ndee only in the front row for the whole match.
Think of it like a batting order in baseball. You can't just send up your cleanup hitter whenever you want. After you use him once, you can't use him again until you go through the entire lineup.
Pitt uses something called a 6-2 rotation which means they are relying on two different setters across the six rotations. Before the Fairbanks Experiment, every three rotations you'd see Pitt sub out a RS (Ndee) and a setter (Levers) and sub in a RS (Lockwood) and a setter (Akeo). Likewise, you always have one MB in the front row, so when Nwokolo subs out, Gray subs in. Gray only plays in the back row when she is serving, because she is a far better server than most MBs.
There's a finite number of subs you are allowed in each set, so every once in a while you will see a coach forced to have his front row players serve out of desperation. In one of the Baylor-Texas matches this year, Baylor ran out of subs and was forced to play several points with the same six players on the floor until the set ended.
Think of it like a batting order in baseball. You can't just send up your cleanup hitter whenever you want. After you use him once, you can't use him again until you go through the entire lineup.
Pitt uses something called a 6-2 rotation which means they are relying on two different setters across the six rotations. Before the Fairbanks Experiment, every three rotations you'd see Pitt sub out a RS (Ndee) and a setter (Levers) and sub in a RS (Lockwood) and a setter (Akeo). Likewise, you always have one MB in the front row, so when Nwokolo subs out, Gray subs in. Gray only plays in the back row when she is serving, because she is a far better server than most MBs.
There's a finite number of subs you are allowed in each set, so every once in a while you will see a coach forced to have his front row players serve out of desperation. In one of the Baylor-Texas matches this year, Baylor ran out of subs and was forced to play several points with the same six players on the floor until the set ended.
This is the rotation information that I didn't know but suspected might be the case. A big help. Thanks.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Starks get run Thursday, though. Nwokolo's talent - for whatever reason - seems to heighten comes Nationals, but I can envision needing Starks' defense, at some point.
Her presence at the net is one piece, but she also has a knack at staying with junk ricochets at the net, winning jousts, and getting deflections up for her teammates that doesn't get praised enough.
I was intrigued the few times earlier in the season when they experimented with Starks & Gray on the floor. With both of them out there, you started seeing slides from the Middles that brought back good memories of Layne killing teams with that move.
But they are both good players.It shows the overall depth we have.Hopefully Starks comes back next year.She will still be a valuable player.Either starting or off the bench.
I think Levers was dealing with some sort of injury and that's when they experimented with Fairbanks. She added a really different flavor to their offense with her dual-role and I think now she owns the starting spot whether or not Levers is healthy. I actually thought they might have to sub her in when Akeo was falling apart against Purdue, but Fish stuck with her and she played really well after that.
I've actually liked a lot of what I saw from Starks this season. She still seemed as effective as ever, she's just buried in the depth chart. I have thought they might play her in a 3rd or 4th set in the tournament just to add a spark, but obviously that hasn't happened.
Not sure what this means, but sounds positive:
With players like Kylee Levers returning to form after battling injuries for most of the year, the Panthers are, as Fisher sees it, “as healthy as we’ve been in a while.”
www.post-gazette.com
With players like Kylee Levers returning to form after battling injuries for most of the year, the Panthers are, as Fisher sees it, “as healthy as we’ve been in a while.”
Pitt volleyball confident heading into first Final Four
It was late in her sophomore year — Nov. 11, 2018, to be exact — that Chinaza Ndee realized the Pitt volleyball program’s success was...
www.post-gazette.com
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