Week 2, practice 2
First, thank you all for the comments on the other thread. just doing my job.
The normal practice routine for about 3 hours. Small groups by position serve and pass, then a couple of 4s on 4s and 3s on 3s min scrimmages.
next session had two courts of 6 being served to, running plays and alternating hitters taking swings. Onc court had Uiato setting, Longo as libero, Kastl and Harong Ls, Vorster MB, Goodman RS. The oterh Higgins setting. Adolpho and Tuaniga running middle. Taylor used LS and RS.
They swithed setters. Uiato wored on a couple of inside slides to Tuaniga, Higgins on her connection with Vorster. Adolpho continues to impress me with her improved quickness.
Shoji wasn’t pleased with some of the ‘guess blocking.’it wasn’t ‘read blocking’ because they were more waving their hands instead of set and pressing back over.. He said to stop the ‘Lovely hula hands’
They did a couple of 6-on-6 scrimmages being in a set in a certain lineup with rotating. Long hit some nice line shots from the left. Whoever lost the set had to run lines instead of doing the pushups they had been doing this past week.
the side that had Longo, Kastl, Long, Tuaniga, Adolpho and Taylor won both times, once with Uiato, the other with Higgins.
Think that’s about it. They will practice twice tomorrow (Sunday)
Wow, the team that had Hartong, Olevao, Goodman, and Vorster, did not win at all. Thank you, Cindy for the recap.
it was two short scrimmages. the team that won, won by a point. Not a big deal.
It may be too early and too little practices observed by you Cindy, but so far what is your opinion of the progress of Nikki Taylor. Is she adjusting to the speed of Shoji’s faster D1 play and what position does she seem more comfortable LOH or RS. Also is she able to handle the defensive side of the backrow so her 3 meter attack comes into play. Said a lot but hopefully she is the start of taller OHs and with Kalei Greeley coming in 2014, the Wahine will need these taller, athletic types of players to compete with the top 10 teams.
It’s not surprising at all that the team with Longo won all the time, she’s a difference maker.
Anyone have any info on the Ann Kang?? I know Punahou won it but I would love to hear how future wahine Kendra Koelsch looked for second place Hungtington Beach.
Watching the US now, Miyashiro has never really wowed me.
Wish Kanani was there, Hill really isn’t that good.
Hill is good. Her offense needs more heat but she’s a good passer and a six-rotation OH, which is what international VB needs. I’d like to see Kanani on the national team too.
Everytime I’ve seen Hill play she gets blocked off the court, she seems slow to me in her approach too. Not impressed.
I think this fast offense Alisha Glass runs for the US is perfect for Kanani. I hope she decides to play next year, gotta impress and get some playing time before Logan, Jordan Larson and Megan Hodge come back.
kanani may not be on the radar for team usa. i don’t have any inside info, but the makeup of the rosters under karch seems to suggest that the wants to go big and fast. kanani only fits one of those two molds. (maybe libero for team usa? but that may limit her trying to get professional contracts as an outside hitter.)
as for hill, she’s had a rough going the last few matches at the WGP… but really, it’s impressive that she has so quickly risen in the ranks at team usa. her passing has surprised. she needs to get stronger still, and also get used to the faster offense. that may come in time as she gets more int’l vball experience. consider also that the nat’l team is using her as a passing left side hitter, and she never played that position in college (where she was a middle, and then later, at times a passing opposite). given those circumstances, her development in such a short time with the nat’l team is really quite remarkable.
Well on this roster Hill’ s only really ahead of Hood, Newcombe, Kilineman ( who’s game isn’t suited for international play imo) and Lichtman. I don’t think she’s risen that much to be honest, I still think Larson, Richards, Hodge and tom obviously are ahead of her and I think Kanani and Hartong can move ahead of her as well for a spot.
Well, nobody has heard of Hill before this tournament and for everyone to be aware of her now (in a good way, despite her struggles in the last few matches) says a lot. Richards? Girlfriend has been in the pipeline forever, and only recently started to show her worth. Still, very, very consistent. If Hill continues to develop, I see her passing Richards. Hodge? Will forever be a sub. She cannot pass.
WF — hood, newcombe and klineman have all been playing professionally for at least a couple years now. (hood is 30, and has had a few more years.) i still think it’s impressive that hill has made an impact just a year out of college. the outside hitter position is probably the toughest position to transition to from the college to the professional ranks. even hodge continues to struggle passing at the int’l level. it can take a few years or more for an outside hitter to truly get acclimated to passing at that level.
Hot — ur right, Hill has had the benefit of being a relative unknown to the int’l teams they’ve played. she’s struggled the last couple matches, in part because she’s probably not used to playing and traveling this much at this level. but also because these teams have more film and scouting on her now, starting to see her weaknesses and tendencies. it remains to be seen whether she can make the adjustments to her game accordingly. her ability to do so will determine whether she will continue to be named to rosters for A versus B level tournaments for team USA.
12. What I saw from hill she aint that great of a passer either and at least Hodge brings good offense.
At least she can pass. Which is more than you can say for Hodge. Hodge has a place on the team – as a sub. Hill has the potential to be more than that.
With competition at setter between Uiato and Higgins, is it possible that Dave may run a 6-2 this season?
Lets get back to the Wahine
We all know that ticket sales have suffered greatly with football but I haven’t heard anything about volleyball although I have seen signs that it also isn’t doing well. I asked the ticket office but couldn’t get much out of them except-it’s been so so.
Cindy, you have a patience of a martyr and I apologize for the knucklehead who doesnt have a life outside of this blog.
I for one would like to see Dave use a 6-2. I think its one way to see how much Higgins can impact the team right away.
3. I think Taylor is progressing well. She takes big swings from all places on the court. L, R and 3-mter. Has a lot of power
Serves pretty good as well. BR defense … haven’t seen enough of her to really gauge that. I doubt she’d play all the way around. They have some very good DSs in Lelepali, Kawamura, Mendoza Ponce
4. WF, if you read my description of the scrimmaging it wasn’t a true scrimmage but didn’t want to get into the convoluted scoring system. I get confused by it but this might explain a few things.
They start tied at 23. First team to 25 wins. you have to win 3 consecutive points to get a real point otherwise it’s a wash and they start all over again.
players are in a set lineup at LS, RS, MB. they don’t rotate but they do bring players in and out of the set lineup, calling it by number as to where in the match they might be at, such as Rotation 4, Rotatioin 5. Setter is usually front right or back right. Only certain players serve.
You mention you aren’t surprised that the team with Longo won. She wasn’t in there half the time.
She served and played back row then alternated with Kawamura one set, Mendoza and Ponce another. Think Passi was back there to serve as well.
One side will serve. If they win the rally, next ball is thrown in from the sideline by a coach to play. It’s all done very quickly with very little time to recover.
And I got asked to make one call from where I was sitting, which did help Longo’s team eventually win the the second ‘match.’ Shoji yelled to me, asking if ball was in or out. I was sitting on the opposite side of the play but had a good sightline on the sideline. I signaled in was in. the good thing (for me) was that Ah Mow was taping it and went to the video replay. I had made the right call. that was a lot of pressure. it wasn’t in by much, as I later told Shoji.
I don’t think that they actually went to 25. it was getting close to 6 p.m. so Shoji yelled, Next real point wins. As I said earlier, wouldn’t read too much into the outcome.
5. WF, surprised for you to say that about Miyashiro. She was the player of the match the other night. As for Danielson, there’s still plenty of time for her to make the national/Olympic team. She chose not to try out this year.
Can anyone tell me how you were able to watch the USA Women’s Volleyball Grand Prix matches online? I wish I could have watched. Are there any replays? What’s the URL of the website?
Cindy, thanks for your insight on Taylor. The reasoning for me asking is that I see her as the future go to LOH and staying in 6 rotations with her development of her backrow play, as Hartong did from last year. Lacking the skills of backrow play, starting on the RS would be ideal and being subbed out before or after serving. Guess we’ll find out real quick like, what kind of impact she has in the first three tournaments at home.
Cindy, you may be getting paid (“it’s my job”) but with all the hits (and the misses) you have to read through whenever you post, I for one do really appreciate that you are going way beyond for us and sharing so much interesting and ellucidating information on the Wahine that we’d never get anywhere else. A million mahalos for your work and much aloha for keeping us ‘in the loop’. Go Wahine!
ps. I too think a 6-2 offense or the strategic blocker/setter double subs would allow Tayler to be inserted at key points in games to bring her along. Fingers crossed on that.
23 Guess i should clarify … I do get paid for the blog if it’s part of my 8-hour work day. But don’t get paid for when it’s not, like my day off.
I think they may experiment with the 6-2 at some point and think you’ll see Higgins in during some of the minor Big West matches to get her some experience.
Appreciate the kind words, Grammy.
21 VBF, fivb.org had youtube available.
The U.S. match will be on ESPN at some point, don’t know how delayed. coverage been hit or miss with them.
14. Hodge played amazing against China and Japan in the olympics.
We will just have to agree to disagree, don’t see Hill doing much for the US indoor anyway after this tournament when other players like Danielson and Hartong decide to try out I think she will be lost in the shuffle. Hartong and Danielson are both more athletic and have more pop in their hits only thing Hill has over them is height but she doesn’t seem to be that great of a blocker.
WF — i don’t get why ur so down on Hill. a great many players making these rosters won’t make the ultimate olympic roster. someone posted on VT that of the 18-20 or so players named to the WPG roster back in ’09, only about 4-5 ended up making the ’12 olympic roster. part of the goal of these tournaments is to establish and add depth to the national team program, which hill — and a great many players — are certainly adding to.
i’d love to see hartong and kanani on the national team some day. i think kanani is actually playing it smart. the way to get international experience is through the pro leagues. focusing on that will do her well, and those seasons are long and tough, and wearing on the body. here’s hoping karch finds a place for her on the national team at some point.
I just am not impressed by her every time I’ve seen her, but I guess she played well in earlier matches??
I disagree that Kanani is playing it smart now, she might make rosters for tournaments in the upcoming years but thats when Larson and Tom and Hodge will all be back as well, playing time and chances to prove herself might be hard to come by. This year would have been perfect, with Richards and Hill being the two she would have had to beat out for serious playing time.
Thanks, Cindy for letting me know how to find the video broadcast. I got to watch the match between USA and Brazil, the only one that USA lost so far. They got ahead in each of the three sets they lost, but then skidded big time toward the end. What they need to practice on the most is consistency. Well, it’s a young team. As for the critical remarks on Kim Hill and Tamari Miyasharo, those were valid as for the Brazil match. I’m sure that Tamari played much better against Japan as they had shorter girls and she could dig them up more easily. There was a great shot of her in the USA Volleyball website photo gallery where she made a flying dig. I was so impressed.
I’d like to see the USA team try out more liberos next year.like Natalie Hagglund, the star libero from USC who’ll graduate then. She was a two-time first-team All-American.
I have one curious question, though, wonder if anyone can answer. What happened to UCSB’s star libero from last year, Taylor Formica? She’s no longer there and I can’t find her new team on Google. Anyone who knows, please inform.
29. Taylor Formico transferred from UCSB to Oregon. I believe she is with the team but she is not able to play due to academics (That is what I remember) but she was on the roster but I guess since she cannot play this season they took her off.
thanks for getting to that FBF. I don’t usually keep up on transfers. think VT has a thread up.
28. Yes, Hill was impressive in the earlier matches. As for Hartong, I think she is in the radar, but to be honest, not sure her passing could hold up in international competition.
29. Natalie Hagglund is a great defender, not that impressive a passer. Sadly, Nicole Davis is still the best option for Team USA. Just like most of the liberos on Team USA’s program, she is not the most precise passer, but she’s a great defender.
33. Lots of players on the USA radar. Many veterans did not return for the first year of the quad (the four year period leading up to the next Olympics). They know that there is plenty of time to return for their chance to make the national team.
Disagree about Hartong’s passing. She has greatly improved and is 1 of 2 in the current Wahine passing scheme. The other is Longo. Shoji is looking for a third, which will take pressure off Hartong so she isn’t doing so much Serve-Receive then having to set up for an attack.
Thanks Cindy for being on top of your job.
You mentioned Adolpho has “improved” her quickness. Any improvement would help her. Many times court “quickness” comes with improving Court IQ. Same in any sport. Perhaps, Kalei is on a steep learning curve and anticipating where she needs to be rather than actually gaining foot speed. She is in her third year. If your observations are correct–she may have the type of breakout season we have all been waiting to see….thanks again and Go Wahine.
IMHO Adopho has played herself into being a volleyball player, not a basketball player who is playing volleyball. She has added quickness to her lateral movement. I not just relying on athletic ability but improving her volleyball IQ.
Cindy, if your post regarding Hartong’s passing was a response to mine, I’d just like to reiterate that I meant in international competition. Great that she has improved, but she tends to struggle even against college teams, what more in international play? Kim Willoughby was a better passer, but on the NT, they used her mostly as a non-passing opposite and occasionally as a left-side sub (I am aware there were matches where she received serves).