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Volleyball - Nevada Tournament Analysis

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Carli Lloyd and Mindi Wiley set up on defense against St. Mary's

The Bears dropped their first season opener since 1999... and against the unranked UCI Anteaters no less.  How did this happen?

I think one guy on the chat boards said it best:

Cal's passing should have been ALOT better. I think with all the talk about their terminator hitters and huge blockers and amazing setters - the PASS is the first step towards an excellent kill.

What happened?

Yup, I'd say passing was the biggest problem. Bad passes and poor alignments forced us to attack the pipe (middle) with weak, last resort, attacks much more than we'd like.  When we were hitting from the outside and executing misdirection plays, we were unstoppable.  However, because of bad passes many of our attacks were off balance and weak.  They saw most of our quick-sets from a mile away and stuffed almost all of them.  This was a team loss but I have to point out that Tara was inaccurate against UCI, Hana's passing was just okay, Carli's serves were off and Kristen was not herself at all. 

Was this the upset the clueless Daily Cal writers claim?  Not at all.  Like I said many saw UCI in the 20s, but in the coaches poll they were unranked.  My personal theory is that since UCI got a new coach this year, the other coaches were in a wait-and-see mood (even though UCI's new coach is a legend in the sport).

This morning the new poll came out and UCI jumped to #22 and we dropped to #10.

What happened with the rest of the Tourney?

UCI eventually won the tourney going undefeated.  They didn't dominate anyone, just barely beating all three opponents, but their excellent defense kept them in every match until they outlasted everyone.  That's one well coached team.

As for our team, the next day we bounced back and handily beat St. Mary's 3-1 and then swept UConn in straight sets, 3-0.  We basically played to our strengths, used the outside, started serving efficiently and allowed Carli to do her thing with good passes on service receive.  We basically went back to being our kick-ass selves. 



KEY PLAYERS

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Mindi Wiley (6'3, Middle Blocker, Senior)

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Thank god for Mindi... she was just incredible.  She was def the best player during the UCI match and the overall MVP of the weekend.  She hit .389 with 10 kills against UCI.  She finished the tourney hitting .408, 28 kills and 12 blocks.  She was the emotional leader, yelling and urging our girls to wake up during the UCI match.  She was simply amazing.  I think I'm falling in love with you Mindi.  Call me!


Shannon Hawari (6'2, Middle Blocker, Sophomore)

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Wow.  Where was this Shannon last year? She was on fiya.  She was playing like her MB spot was in jeopardy... oh wait, it is.   She finished the tourney hitting .289, 20 kills, 10 assists and 13 blocks!  It's easy for Hana and Tarah to put up these types of numbers because they're hardly ever substituted, but Shannon was being rotated.  Every minute of playing time she got she fucking rocked it.  Good job Shannon.


Hana Cutura (6'4, Outside Hitter, Senior)

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Because she's our best player, she's almost always served to.  This usually isn't a problem because she's a good passer.  However, against UCI she was not passing well at all.  She's normally a good digger too but she was just off.  The rest of the tourney she was her normal dominating self. She was raining BOMBS down on the poor UConn girls. She finished the tourney hitting .307 with 56 kills.  However her eight service errors hurt us a bit. 


Tarah Murrey (6'3, Outside Hitter, Sophomore)

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Master Yoda, what did you think of Tarah's performance? 

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Control... you must learn control!


I agree with master Yoda.  During the UCI loss, Tarah hit .189 with 15 kills on 8 errors, many of these attack errors were sailing long.  I'd say this was partially due to bad sets by Carli but it was mostly Tarah.  She was much better against St. Mary's where her cross-court shots were quite simply TERRIFYING.  She was hitting the ball so hard, I almost felt sorry for our opponents.  She did end the tourney hitting .208 overall with 40 kills but again led the team in errors with 19.  If she can learn to control her power she's going to be a superstar one day. 


Carli Lloyd (5'11, Setter, Junior)

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After a somewhat shaky start against UCI where her serves were just everywhere, she bounced back strong and was her usual awesome self the rest of the weekend.  I noticed she's using a lot more dump offs and incorporating a more finesse style of play... excellent.   Her body control is simply incredible sometimes.  She'd be flying horizontally in one direction while her arms would make a perfect set in the other direction.  Olympics 2012? Hellz yeah.


Correy Johnson (6'4, Middle Blocker, True Freshman)

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What can I say but... wow!  Coach Feller actually started her against UCI.  No bullshit.  The rest of the weekend she got full rotations at MB.  She's very fast, very tall and the girl can hit a damn good pipe shot. Most of her attack errors were from shallow crossing shots.  I'm assuming this was very successful for her in HS, but at this level we really can't afford those errors, but a great debut nonetheless.  This true freshman finished the tourney hitting .250, 15 kills and 7 blocks.  When blocking, I never once saw her out of position.  She probably could use 15 more pounds but the future is looking bright.

 

UPCOMING MATCHES

This week our team is flying to Hawaii to play in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic (the hardest out of conf tourney in the NCAA).  Remember, all of these matches count towards our RPI!


Texas (#2)

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Destinee Hooker is very dangerous.

Day: Thursday
Date: Sept. 3, 2009
Time: 8:00 p.m. PT
FREE GAME TRACKER LINK


St. Louis (#19)

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They're giant killers... always watch out for the upset.

Day: Saturday
Date: Sept. 5, 2009
Time: 8:00 p.m. PT
FREE GAME TRACKER LINK


Hawaii (#4)

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Hawaii just knocked off #9 UCLA in a 3-0 sweep!  I guess size doesn't matter.

Day: Sunday
Date: Sept. 6, 2009
Time: 8:00 p.m. PT
FREE GAME TRACKER LINK


FUTURE THREAT (St. Mary's)

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2008 California High School Player of the Year, Lauren Corp vs Cal during Reno Tourney

We play St. Mary's a lot.  In fact, I'd say Santa Clara, St. Mary's and Long Beach are our favorite out of conference opponents.  That's why it's a good idea to monitor them as if they were in the Pac 10. 

While we played St. Mary's this weekend I got a chance to see Lauren Corp for the first time.  She's a Fab 50 recruit and probably the biggest recruit that that school has ever had.  I gotta say... she's a superstar.  She's already the best player on that team and she's a true freshman.  We need to watch out for her when we play St. Mary's again on Sept. 18th. Aaron Corp has good reason to be very proud of his kid sister.  USC totally dropped the ball on her recruitment.

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You have anything to add Master Yoda?

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...Um... thanks.

Be nice. You can find the original CGB team at WriteForCalifornia.com.

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