Strong 2-0 start for VB

[levance2]

The chemistry and playmaking is night and day from that Syracuse series.

If they close it out today, they still have a really good shot at winning the ACC title.

Nwokolo has been impressive.

 

[LVNVPanther]

This game is actually being broadcast on ESPN2 if anyone wants to tune in.

 

[Black Panther]

So far the Ladies are back to kicking butt.

 

[ThePanthers]

Crapping it away

 

[ThePanthers]

Going to a 5th.

 

[TJFAIRLIE]

Don’t typically do well when it goes to five sets

 

[levance2]

Wow. I have been a Pitt fan too long and should know better than posting mid-game. What a choke job

 

[ThePanthers]

Lost in the 5th 17-15.

Lund just doesn't look like lund anymore. Went to her 3 times in a row at the end and hit 2 oob and got stuffed.

Also service errors are killing them. Killed them against cuse and killed them today.

 

[haberton13]

Wow. I have been a Pitt fan too long and should know better than posting mid-game. What a choke job

This team is fundamentally so bad. Service errors, poor blocking technique, terrible coverage on blocked ball, and terrible first passes. They spend half the match out of system. They miss Van Buskirk.

 

[mike412]

They got progressively worse as the match went on. They don’t have enough options on the attack, they make far too many service errors and they don’t have the depth to substitute effectively. No young players contributing at all.

 

[Black Panther]

Lost in the 5th 17-15.

Lund just doesn't look like lund anymore. Went to her 3 times in a row at the end and hit 2 oob and got stuffed.

Also service errors are killing them. Killed them against cuse and killed them today.

Lund looked good in the first two sets.I think they got hosed on a couple calls as well.

 

[pittizit]

Not the same team as last year for sure

 

[PittAU]

This team is fundamentally so bad. Service errors, poor blocking technique, terrible coverage on blocked ball, and terrible first passes. They spend half the match our of system. They miss Van Buskirk.

That was a huge deal tonight. I don't know a ton about volleyball but I was thinking that during the match.

 

[Black Panther]

That was a huge deal tonight. I don't know a ton about volleyball but I was thinking that during the match.

I think they said they had 12? That's 12 points to the other side and lost sets.And eventually lost games.

 

[PittAU]

I think they said they had 12? That's 12 points to the other side and lost sets.And eventually lost games.

Like points off turnovers in football & basketball. They will learn from the loss. Sunday's match will be interesting.

 

[ThePanthers]

I think they said they had 12? That's 12 points to the other side and lost sets.And eventually lost games.

Yeah it was 12.

 

[mike10003]

They still haven’t replaced Steph and Layne. Nobody has elevated their game from last year. Zoi is still eh. Lockwood wasn’t even on the court in the last few sets, or if she was, I didn’t notice her. Don’t even recall the announcers mentioning Sabrina’s name. It’s all Lund and Ndee.

 

[Black Panther]

Williams was my favorite.Her and Layne are big holes to fill.All the players they lost from last year have been missed greatly.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

They got progressively worse as the match went on. They don’t have enough options on the attack, they make far too many service errors and they don’t have the depth to substitute effectively. No young players contributing at all.

They still haven’t replaced Steph and Layne. Nobody has elevated their game from last year. Zoi is still eh. Lockwood wasn’t even on the court in the last few sets, or if she was, I didn’t notice her. Don’t even recall the announcers mentioning Sabrina’s name. It’s all Lund and Ndee.

To be fair, I haven’t watched a game yet this year. That being said, last year Ndee was the clear second best hitting option behind lund. I dont want to sound harsh but i never thought Williams brought that much to the table...too much reliance on tips and tools and not enough pure power or athleticism. Layne really was a good hitter but was a 3rd or fourth option depending on the rotation. Besides, at that level, no one relies on middles for hitting all that much relative to the outsides.

With all that said, the two best hitting options are still on the team. Is the passing that bad? Not enough blocking? If you cant block and/or cant pass that really puts a lot of pressure on hitters.

 

[gary2]

They still haven’t replaced Steph and Layne. Nobody has elevated their game from last year. Zoi is still eh. Lockwood wasn’t even on the court in the last few sets, or if she was, I didn’t notice her. Don’t even recall the announcers mentioning Sabrina’s name. It’s all Lund and Ndee.

Yeah that seems to be the problem. Only two players and both are only trying to score in only one way.

I don't know anything about volleyball, but is there such a thing as revering the ball.
If the outside hitter rather than trying to hit trough a double block, passed across the court to the other side...

 

[gary2]

To be fair, I haven’t watched a game yet this year. That being said, last year Ndee was the clear second best hitting option behind lund. I dont want to sound harsh but i never thought Williams brought that much to the table...too much reliance on tips and tools and not enough pure power or athleticism. Layne really was a good hitter but was a 3rd or fourth option depending on the rotation. Besides, at that level, no one relies on middles for hitting all that much relative to the outsides.

With all that said, the two best hitting options are still on the team. Is the passing that bad? Not enough blocking? If you cant block and/or cant pass that really puts a lot of pressure on hitters.

I think we actually need mid hitting.

Our game is way too predictable.

 

[mike10003]

To be fair, I haven’t watched a game yet this year. That being said, last year Ndee was the clear second best hitting option behind lund. I dont want to sound harsh but i never thought Williams brought that much to the table...too much reliance on tips and tools and not enough pure power or athleticism. Layne really was a good hitter but was a 3rd or fourth option depending on the rotation. Besides, at that level, no one relies on middles for hitting all that much relative to the outsides.

With all that said, the two best hitting options are still on the team. Is the passing that bad? Not enough blocking? If you cant block and/or cant pass that really puts a lot of pressure on hitters.

That’s the point. Last year’s 3rd and 4th option, Williams and Layne, and even 5th option Nika, were all solid attackers. Lest we forget, Steph and Layne were both all-ACC with all kinds of accolades and stats by the ends of their careers.

This year, there is no reliable depth (yet) behind Lund and Ndee. It just feels like a 2 man team attack-wise.

 

[mike10003]

As I was writing this, the stats from the ND game just went up. Lockwood played 1 set tonight.

 

[gary2]

As I was writing this, the stats from the ND game just went up. Lockwood played 1 set tonight.

Obviously a recruiting miss

 

[haberton13]

To be fair, I haven’t watched a game yet this year. That being said, last year Ndee was the clear second best hitting option behind lund. I dont want to sound harsh but i never thought Williams brought that much to the table...too much reliance on tips and tools and not enough pure power or athleticism. Layne really was a good hitter but was a 3rd or fourth option depending on the rotation. Besides, at that level, no one relies on middles for hitting all that much relative to the outsides.

With all that said, the two best hitting options are still on the team. Is the passing that bad? Not enough blocking? If you cant block and/or cant pass that really puts a lot of pressure on hitters.

The middle hitter is a huge key to successful blocking. Van Buskirk was outstanding at
setting the block up with the outsides and getting her hand over the net which is the proper blocking technique. Watch this team block, their hands are all over the place and thus
the large number of "blocks" that turn into opponent points.

As far as Williams goes, she may have not been the most powerful hitter but she scored points. Her decision making and accuracy of her spikes were above average.
Just like Kessman in football tries to over kick the ball, our hitters this year do the same thing all the time and when the other team figures that out, they set their blocks
with no worries about anything else. Lund had the final three misses in this match.

 

[gary2]

The middle hitter is a huge key to successful blocking. Van Buskirk was outstanding at
setting the block up with the outsides and getting her hand over the net which is the proper blocking technique. Watch this team block, their hands are all over the place and thus
the large number of "blocks" that turn into opponent points.

As far as Williams goes, she may have not been the most powerful hitter but she scored points. Her decision making and accuracy of her spikes were above average.
Just like Kessman in football tries to over kick the ball, our hitters this year do the same thing all the time and when the other team figures that out, they set their blocks
with no worries about anything else. Lund had the final three misses in this match.

I did notice the difference on where the hands were in blocking for ND versus where they were for Pitt.

Pitt hands seemed to be on the Pitt side of the net and they were absolutely vertical and flat.

 

[haberton13]

I did notice the difference on where the hands were in blocking for ND versus where they were for Pitt.

Pitt hands seemed to be on the Pitt side of the net and they were absolutely vertical and flat.

You are absolutely right and that is why we lost. They knew where we were going since we did not use the middle at all in the final three sets. Poor decision making by our setters.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Well, after last season, this one is appearing like it will end very disappointing.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I don't know anything about volleyball, but is there such a thing as revering the ball.
If the outside hitter rather than trying to hit trough a double block, passed across the court to the other side...

Then you'd play the ball four times in a possession, and you aren't allowed to do that.

 

[levance2]

Then you'd play the ball four times in a possession, and you aren't allowed to do that.

They certainly wouldn't see that play coming

 

[gary2]

They certainly wouldn't see that play coming

So it is impossible to move the ball from one side to the extreme other side without taking four touches ?

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

So it is impossible to move the ball from one side to the extreme other side without taking four touches ?

Do you ever watch any matches? The first pass is always supposed to go to the setter. Then the setter passes it to one of the hitters. When that hitter touches the ball that's the third touch. You're proposing (I guess) that a team play the original pass to a hitter on one side of the court and have them set the ball across the court to a hitter on the other side.

Yeah, there's a reason that no one, literally no one, does that.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

They certainly wouldn't see that play coming

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

 

[levance2]

So it is impossible to move the ball from one side to the extreme other side without taking four touches ?

It is possible for the setter to set the ball in a non-obvious direction (i.e., backwards) which Akeo does quite often.

Your original point was to fake out the blockers, but the blockers are never trying to block the second hit. On occasion, you will see the setter quick hit (tap) the ball over on the second hit for this reason.

 

[levance2]

I haven't been able to give the last two matches my undivided attention. Is Faki basically out of the rotation?

 

[levance2]

It's really too bad they blew it on Friday. One could argue Pitt was the stronger team for the weekend.

Set wins: Pitt 5, ND 4
Total points: 106, 106; 98, 84

Pitt scored 20+ in every set. Pitt held ND <20 in 3 sets.

 

[ThePanthers]

Yeah. Really wish pitt didn't blow it on Friday.

Win for women soccer and vb today. Hopefully get the sweep tonight with men's soccer.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Is Faki basically out of the rotation?

I only saw the 5th set on Friday, but she did play then.

 

[gary2]

I haven't been able to give the last two matches my undivided attention. Is Faki basically out of the rotation?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/pittsburghpanthers.com/documents/2020/10/18/6_VBBoxScore_NotreDame.PDF

 

[levance2]

I only saw the 5th set on Friday, but she did play then.

She definitely seems to be in the process of being passed over. She used to sub in just to serve and on Friday she only served twice.

VZG looks promising and Nwokolo certainly deserves her starting opportunity. I'd like to see Browske get more touches but I understand playing @ND wasn't the time for it.