Pitt vs Cin WV

[levance2]

Outside of four teams (UNL, Wis, Hawaii, and Minne), no one is averaging 4K. Only the top 10 average over 3K. So aiming for an average of 2 to 2.5K, is more than reasonable with expectations of 3-5K for big games. Pitt was 43rd nationally in attendance last year with 1,140 per match, but that was third in the ACC behind UNC and Clemson and behind the conference averages of the B10, Pac, B12, Big West, and SEC. This year Pitt averaged 1,113 (not counting the NCAA games, but including OSU at PPG Paints). So it does appear to be down even with the massive PSU crowd.

I was talking peak attendance not average. We weren't all that far behind PSU last weekend, but they aren't hosting their games in a 12K seat arena like we are. Clearly Pitt holds it there because they think it is a nicer, more appealing building for fans and it holds more people. If you aren't going to need 3,000+ seats, then there's nothing stopping them from having it at the FFH now. Clearly they were anticipating the Pete being an advantage in receiving the Regional but they were wrong.

As far as your attendance numbers, I give very little credence to anything Pitt reports. I am just stating that after attending the majority of matches, I thought it was a healthy crowd this year. They do have some issues like the opening weekend afternoon games and I highly doubt anybody showed up to the OSU match at PPG.

I will relay my experience being in town and going to the UL game before Thanksgiving. There was only one ticket window open (at the top of the Pete) and a long 15-20 minute line outside in the cold to get tickets from that window (and it would have been longer if some people weren't passing out their extras for free). There were also no signs at the main entrance of the Pete about tickets and that led to some confusion by those entering from the lower campus side going through security, who then had to go back out and up to the top and outside to wait in the long line. Many in the ticket line were late to the start because of the wait time to the window.

This is why I argued on the BB board that the conventional wisdom of nobody buying single game tickets is a myth. VB is almost solely single game tickets.

 

[levance2]

It would be an exaggeration to say that there were no students there for the Howard game, but only a slight one. While Saturday was better, I'll bet it still wasn't higher than 50 or so (not counting the pep band). There were a group of about 20 sitting, oddly enough, right behind the Cincinnati cheerleaders, and I'm sure there were others who didn't sit there and were scattered about the building, but the lack of student attendance was kind of shocking.

Which is why the huge draw for the PSU match is so confusing to me. The Zoo was packed for that game.

 

[CrazyPaco]

As far as your attendance numbers, I give very little credence to anything Pitt reports. I am just stating that after attending the majority of matches, I thought it was a healthy crowd this year. They do have some issues like the opening weekend afternoon games and I highly doubt anybody showed up to the OSU match at PPG.

Less than 1K reported for OSU. I don't think Pitt is fudging number for volleyball. Why would they? Seems silly. And there aren't tickets sold numbers like they seem to be reporting for football and hoops. But you are in the arena more so you would have a better feel.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Which is why the huge draw for the PSU match is so confusing to me. The Zoo was packed for that game.

Heading into finals. But they clearly don't seem to have pushed student attendance. Since it was the NCAAs, they may not have been able to let students in for free as prices may be set by the NCAA. Not sure how that works.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Since it was the NCAAs, they may not have been able to let students in for free

Student from any of the four schools participating in the tournament at the Pete could get into the games for free by showing their student IDs at the ticket office.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I'm not sure why you would think that volleyball is far more popular than soccer, but rest assured it is not. There are far, far more kids playing soccer in this area than volleyball. There are a combined 164 WPIAL/City League schools playing boys or girls volleyball. There are a total of 208 playing boys or girls soccer.

I was talking about the sport of college soccer vs the sport of women's volleyball. Women's volleyball seems much more popular given its TV coverage and attendance. Plus NCAA women's volleyball is probably one of the best volleyball "leagues" in the world. NCAA soccer doesn't seem to have anywhere near that popularity. Throw in the fact that Pitt soccer was outdoor up against Pitt bball and Pitt volleyball was indoors and had a National Championship contending team, I was extremely surprised that the Pitt soccer attendance numbers were close. It makes me think maybe Pitt should put more effort into promoting Pitt men's soccer. They return all their key players next year and could be a legit NC contendor.

 

[bwh05]

Student from any of the four schools participating in the tournament at the Pete could get into the games for free by showing their student IDs at the ticket office.

I think a limited number of free student seats were allotted. The rest had to pay

 

[mike412]

There was one player who legitimately served a 90 mph curveball for a serve. She happened to be serving for the crucial swing of the game where Cincy overtook the lead late into the 5th set.

She also served in the second set and got six straight points on her service. That gave Cincy a big lead in that set which we never recovered from.

I just watched Wisconsin v Nebraska in a quarterfinal match. There were three things which I thought differentiated Wisconsin from us. First was their libero. She was terrific and her digs really were the difference in all 3 sets. She seemed to get to everything and not only dug it but made a good pass to setup their offense. She was worth 6 or 7 points a set. Second was their ability to hit from the back row. I have noticed that Ndee comes out of matches when the rotation would put her in the back row. Stephanie Williams seemed like the only hitter we had who could hit successfully from the back. That makes us easier to block. Third, and I have said this before, but Lexi telegraphs where she is going to set the ball a good 40% of the time. She was a freshman and hopefully that will improve. But, that, when combined with the limitations on the attack from the back row, made us easier to defend. Cincy always seemed to have two blockers on whoever was going to be the hitter.

It’s really a shame the way this season ended because next year figures to be a major drop off for the program. We graduate four seniors including two hitters, the libero and our middle blocker. We seem to have a replacement for the middle blocker and we have two big hitters returning, but when you don’t have a talent like Jordan Williams — and we don’t — you need the maximum number of options available to keep the defense guessing.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

Turn out the lights. Pitt-ed.

Pitt fans who use that term are jagoffs.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

but when you don’t have a talent like Jordan Williams

She's so talented that people keep getting her name wrong. Is "Thompson" really that hard to remember?

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

By the way, for people who stopped following when we got knocked out, Cincinnati had a 2-1 lead over the nitters before Penn State came back and squashed them in the 4th set and beat them in the 5th 15-11. Stanford then easily swept the nitters to make it to the Final Four.

Baylor vs Wisconsin and Minnesota vs Stanford in the Final Four.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

By the way, for people who stopped following when we got knocked out, Cincinnati had a 2-1 lead over the nitters before Penn State came back and squashed them in the 4th set and beat them in the 5th 15-11. Stanford then easily swept the nitters to make it to the Final Four.

Baylor vs Wisconsin and Minnesota vs Stanford in the Final Four.

Watched Stanford a bit last night. Sweeping PSU after PSU played that B1G schedule to toughen up is a big deal. I guess in hindsight we weren’t gonna get through Stanford. What an athletic program they have. Their women’s soccer team was markedly better this year than anyone else.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Watched Stanford a bit last night. Sweeping PSU after PSU played that B1G schedule to toughen up is a big deal. I guess in hindsight we weren’t gonna get through Stanford. What an athletic program they have. Their women’s soccer team was markedly better this year than anyone else.

When Kathryn Plummer came back healthy Stanford went from being one of the best teams in the country to the clear and obvious favorite to win the championship. She's the national player of the year twice, and the only reason that it won't be three times is because the AVCA apparently has a rule that you have to play so many matches to be eligible to win, and with her injury she missed one or two matches too many. That's why not only getting the six seed for us was bad, but it also put us in a position where we were going to have to beat the best team on their home court to get to the Final Four.

 

[levance2]

I have noticed that Ndee comes out of matches when the rotation would put her in the back row. Stephanie Williams seemed like the only hitter we had who could hit successfully from the back. That makes us easier to block.

Not sure what your point is here. The reason she subbed out every rotation for Nika is because Nika was way better in the back. What you are suggesting would've made us much worse.

 

[mike412]

Not sure what your point is here. The reason she subbed out every rotation for Nika is because Nika was way better in the back. What you are suggesting would've made us much worse.

My point was that she apparently is not a good hitter from the back row. You confirmed that. I never suggested playing her there. What I suggested is that next year we will be without Williams and Markovic, two of our best hitters from the back, and that will be a problem.

If a team has a dominating back row hitter, they are very difficult to beat. Blocking a shot from the back row is almost impossible because of the trajectory of the ball. Yesterday, Plummer was 8 for 10 on kills from the back row, and another Stanford hitter was 5 for 7. All 4 misses were wide or too long; none were blocked. PSU did a decent job of blocking Stanford when the set was to the front row but they were helpless against those shots. That was a big difference in the match.

 

[levance2]

If a team has a dominating back row hitter, they are very difficult to beat. Blocking a shot from the back row is almost impossible because of the trajectory of the ball. Yesterday, Plummer was 8 for 10 on kills from the back row, and another Stanford hitter was 5 for 7. All 4 misses were wide or too long; none were blocked. PSU did a decent job of blocking Stanford when the set was to the front row but they were helpless against those shots. That was a big difference in the match.

Stanford and Plummer are the best in the country. That's a silly comparison. Most teams are going to favor their front hitters because that's simply a more probable scoring play. Even when Ndee subbed out, we rarely ever setup plays for Nika to kill from the back, and likewise when Lund or Williams rotated back there.

Pitt had very good front row players and that's why they used them. I would suspect someone like Faki will take Nika's place and probably only play in the back next year. The other wrinkle is nobody really knows what Fish will do with two setters. Levers is much taller than Akeo.