Again, watch the difference in substitutions the other three final four teams make versus us. Bayliss came in once a set to give a short break to a hitter. Jones and Kelly replaced each other. Fisher took Fairbanks out for one point. Other than that, the only substitutions are at server.
Louisville substitutes a little less than PSU or Nebraska but more than us. Diaz-Maldonado, usually their fourth outside hitter, had a monster game. 14 kills. Robins had 5. They had 10 more kills than our third and 4th hitters. D-M also was effective in the back row and at setter.
It’s a long season. Players are tired. We are less used to playing long matches than any other team because we had so many sweeps. PSU and Nebraska shuttle 2 or 3 players at a time in and out consistently. They are going to stay fresher than our players. Babcock is a machine but even she could use a rest. Stafford clearly was less effective hitting in the final two sets.
If Bayliss is not good in the back row, don’t play her there. Our middles don’t play in the back row. Very few middles do. I have never seen Reese Robins play in the back or serve but she had 5 kills against us in the front. Diaz-Maldonado is good from the back so she plays there.
Louisville had an extraordinary match in serve-receive. They probably have never matched it against another opponent. Two serve-receive errors, both by DeBeers. (We had 8. 4 by VVG.)
We needed more pieces and to get over this hump
Excluding designated servers, PSU and Nebraska each had 10 players who played in all 5 sets. Louisville had 10 players (plus one designated server) who played in all 4 sets. We only had 8. And Bayliss had less touches than any of the non-starters for the other 3 teams. She played one rotation in the back row and had two touches — both receiving errors. She played one rotation per set in the front row and had one kill and one hitting error on two swings. Hitting percentage 0.000.
I would love to know how many points we scored on Cat Flood’s serves during the tournament. She has been an important factor for Pitt all year, but without looking at the box scores it seems to me that we lost most of the points she served during the tournament. Meyer was our only designated server who, just based on observation, was effective. There were times during the year when Fisher went with the hot hand. But, it seems to me that in the tournament, Flood served more than she should have based on results.
We have some holes to fill. Fisher needs to hit the portal.
