VB: vs East Carolina - 9/20 Match Info
- Thread starter HOF Coach
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I just looked at some ECU stats. On paper this is a mismatch. ECU entered the week 7-0 but was soundly defeated by 8-2 South Carolina (25-20....25-9....25-9) in straight sets. SC delivered an ungodly .507 hitting % and held ECU to .158. I just hope Pitt doesn't come out flat after the emotional high in their big win Wednesday. Pitt is also now scoring 19.3 pts/set vs their opponents at 12.2.
I agree with the mismatch angle. I suspect the starters play the first set but then you see more Nisa, Blaire, Bianca and Dalia. Especially with Marquette in 2 days.
Boy what a big dropoff from Fairbanks to backup setter. Please let Fairbanks stay healthy. 🤞🙏
She’s so slow. She can’t get to some good passes with her hands so she ends up bump setting a lot and letting the opponent get their block up
Yeah the whole pace is so slow bc of her. Her sets are too low and tight. Too easy to block.
By far the ugliest set of the season. But good to say that when we’re still undefeated in sets
Yes, but Pitt played without 2 starters, including the most important player, the setter.
Just returned from the match a little while ago. Thoughts....
- This was not the mismatch it could have been if Fairbanks had played. Her value to this team can't be overstated.
- As pointed out earlier in the thread......Buzlutepe's setting lacked the quickness and precision we are used to with Fairbanks. It was hard to watch.
- VVG may have had the worst night of her career.....hitting a - .143 %. She accounted for only 2 points for the whole match.
- Babcock hit at a .552 clip and Jones .800. They accounted for 34.5 points....60 % of Pitt's total
- Set 2 was a mess. Pitt created their own 'perfect storm' to almost lose the set by committing 9 errors (almost 50% of the errors for the entire match) and scoring only 17 points compared to 21 points each for set 1 and 3.
- Fisher inserted Stafford in place of Gomez for set 3. She hit .390 % and contributed 4 kills and 1 block assist.
I agree with all of the above --- but one thing not previously mentioned was how aggressively ECU served. Clearly, not having Fairbanks and Stafford made a big difference in our service return game and staying in system, but (other than far too many long serves), my guess is that ECU's deep serves with lots of pace (no floaters) had something to do with Pitt's issues. Besides Buzletepe's lack of quickness as compared to Fairbanks, I thought Bayless started out pretty rough returning serves. She eventually settled in. She definitely has a bigger arm than VVG, but her total floor game is not nearly as good...at this point.
Wasnt Nisa a late addition to our roster? I guess I assumed Haiti was really going to be the backup setter until she got hurt. Dinn is on crutches too so Nisa is our only backup option I guess. There is no doubt that Nisa is nowhere near Rachel's level but Im glad she got some work. Honestly, I dont mind that we are protecting Rachel a bit in matches like this. We are screwed if she goes out. My guess is she may not play against UMBC next week either.
That tight second set accomplished what Fish wanted...to see how seldom used reserves would respond under pressure under the big lights. This is best to occur in an out of conference match, where a loss doesn't impact the team's chances for an ACC Championship.
It is unfair to compare Nisa with Rachel, one of the greatest Panthers ever (including all sports) and who has won international gold medals in her career.
Nisa got the job done. She also went on a serving run of 7 consecutive points for the Panthers, the longest of the season to date.
One has to factor in that she's so new to Fish's program and has had very little game action this season. Naturally her timing wasn't going to be perfect. Even so, Nisa led the team with 30 assists and was second in digs with 8 (Emmy had 10).
On to Marquette...
You make very good points.....but just to argue back for a moment. I think it's perfectly fair to compare Nisa to Rachel. She's a 4th year senior....the same as Rachel....and has been playing division volleyball for 4 years. Her shortcoming is her slowness. Many of her sets were nerve racking. But as you say..."on to Marquette"....that's all that matters. Time to move on....last night is in our rear view mirror!
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