GT Vollebees

orientalnc

orientalnc

Helluva Engineer
Retired Staff
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Question for those of you who know volleyball better than I do. Soares appears, to my untrained eye, to be improving considerably with her increased playing time. Her sets seem much better in the last few matches. Am I correct?
 
laoh

laoh

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
805
orientalnc said:
Question for those of you who know volleyball better than I do. Soares appears, to my untrained eye, to be improving considerably with her increased playing time. Her sets seem much better in the last few matches. Am I correct?
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You know I was thinking the same last night. She is now the starter over D'Amico. D'Amico is now coming in for 6-2 like Soares was before. In Soares' previous matches, I'd see her making bad sets (where our hitters can't make a solid hits) but last night, esp from whatever re-energized the team mid-4th set and on, she was rock solid. It can't be easy for D'Amico to lose the starting position (reminds me of when Kaiser lost hers to Morissette) but when things weren't working last night, Michelle brought D'Amico back in and then gave her a pat, like "hey, I believe in you" and seeing that was nice.

One thing that was very clear from last night's match - we simply do not have the blocking this year. Just glancing at the scoreboard in the 4th set, we had a total of TWO blocks and that one was from a combo block from Mendes and Engeman so it was really just one block. On the FSU side however, they had 10 blocks at that point. It's a clear difference maker. Hopefully Mogridge will return 100% soon and if we can get our blocking level to that of Morissette, we're gonna see this team go on a tear.
 
78pike

78pike

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
899
My two cents on this. First of all Soares is very experienced for a Freshman. As the setter for the Brazilian U19 team she has played against some very experienced competition across the globe. It makes sense that she would be and should be improving as she learns the timing of the other players. As a setter she needs to understand where each hitter prefers to be set. Where she and D'Amico seem to have the greatest difficulty is setting the middle. Too often we are seeing our middle hitters having to make weak kill attempts because the timing has been off.

Regarding our blocking, losing Mogridge has been a big loss. There is a big difference between her at 6'4" and a powerful build vs. that of Pierce at 6'1" and much more slender. Also, as middles, they need to be able to slide to the pins to assist in the blocking. Mogridge's wingspan at 6'4" makes that slide much easier than someone a few inches shorter. My question from yesterday's match is where was Manyang? I felt like she was giving us some good minutes on the court as well as some good energy in our previous matches.
 

Home Park Jacket

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
345
Just a fan, don't know volleyball, but my thoughts:
  • Soares is coming along as she is better and exudes confidence, but still has a lot of improvement on placement and timing. There were many times when I saw FSU sets that I knew for sure would be kills and they were. Good placement to the net, good arc and timing. I don't see that execution yet for GT.
  • Agree with everyone on Mogridge
  • Manyang came in early with D'Amico, and made an error on an imperfect set. I'm sure Coach had good reason to go to the sub pattern she did the rest of the game. Hopefully, she gets more chances today and comes through
 
78pike

78pike

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
899
GTNavyNuke said:
Yup, we got schooled.

I never should listen when Demetra is announcing. Just adds to my displeasure.

Life goes on.
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I'm with you on Demetra. Maybe we got spoiled with Wes. Something about Andy when I listen to him it sounds like he is trying to hard. Just like when he calls basketball and says "bottoms". It feels like he is trying to force a catch phrase for himself. I never got that feeling with Wes or even Wiley who I think would have been a better replacement.
 
forensicbuzz

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
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9,052
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North Shore, Chicago
78pike said:
I'm with you on Demetra. Maybe we got spoiled with Wes. Something about Andy when I listen to him it sounds like he is trying to hard. Just like when he calls basketball and says "bottoms". It feels like he is trying to force a catch phrase for himself. I never got that feeling with Wes or even Wiley who I think would have been a better replacement.
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Andy Demetra needs to be banned from doing Volleyball. He's absolutely horrible. I mean HORRIBLE!
 
78pike

78pike

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
899
forensicbuzz said:
Andy Demetra needs to be banned from doing Volleyball. He's absolutely horrible. I mean HORRIBLE!
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I wouldn't mind if they turned down the volume on the analyst also. I know she is a former Tech player but nobody should get that excited on every single point.
 
forensicbuzz

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
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9,052
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North Shore, Chicago
78pike said:
I wouldn't mind if they turned down the volume on the analyst also. I know she is a former Tech player but nobody should get that excited on every single point.
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Andy just doesn't know enough about volleyball and says cringy things or totally flubs the pay-by-play. Wiley is much better about letting the color person who knows more about the game actually provide knowledge about what's happening. Also, Andy seems to try too hard to come across as impartial and goes too far.
 
78pike

78pike

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
899
forensicbuzz said:
Andy just doesn't know enough about volleyball and says cringy things or totally flubs the pay-by-play. Wiley is much better about letting the color person who knows more about the game actually provide knowledge about what's happening. Also, Andy seems to try too hard to come across as impartial and goes too far.
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Andy is more nerd than even we can handle. I swear, give him a pocket protector.
 
laoh

laoh

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
805
Well my issue was more with Kele. She kinda does play by play instead of providing a technical analysis of the plays... but this season I noticed she's doing more of the analysis so maybe someone talked to her off season. I have no issues with Andy. I think he gets too much flak from the fans sometimes...
 
forensicbuzz

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
Messages
9,052
Location
North Shore, Chicago
laoh said:
Well my issue was more with Kele. She kinda does play by play instead of providing a technical analysis of the plays... but this season I noticed she's doing more of the analysis so maybe someone talked to her off season. I have no issues with Andy. I think he gets too much flak from the fans sometimes...
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Then you're not listening to him and comparing what he does to Wiley. Night and day difference in quality.

However, I'll take Andy any day over that tool that did the WF and NCST matches. I struggle with anyone who has no idea how to pronounce the players' names correctly. Holy cow, how hard is it to get a note from the SID about the proper pronunciation of Otene and Pimental?
 
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