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WVB: #7 Nebraska 0 #3 Stanford 3 - Printable Version

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WVB: #7 Nebraska 0 #3 Stanford 3 - Viking_Guy - 08-31-2014

(BTW, I'm trying to adapt the standard of listing the home team first in posting subject lines.  Conveys additional info without more words.)

Stanford rode a balanced attack, good defense, and Inky Ajanaku to a three-set sweep of the Huskers in Lincoln, -17, -17 and -19.  They did have the typical "third set letdown after winning the first two," but other than that lull, only trailed for a couple of points in the entire match.

Biggest difference between the two sides?  The speed with which Stanford played.  They were much quicker than the Huskers in running their offense, leading to a lot of 1v1 attacks for the Stanford hitters, and it showed in their hitting percentages: Inky at .500, Boukather at .417, McGehee at .400.

All three games also showed off a typical trait, not only of Stanford but of women's v-ball - the mid-game surge most often decides the game.  In each case, around points 10-14, the Cardinal took a tight game and pushed it out to a lead of 3-4 points, or in game 3 came back from behind and took a lead they never relinquished.

Game 1, Stanford took an early lead, but the Huskers closed to 10-8.  Then Stanford ran off 5 straight points, including two solid blocks that appeared to intimidate the opposition, it was 15-8, and a few plays later it was 20-10.  Game 2, tied at 12, Stanford ran off 5 of the next 6, and never let the lead get below 3 again.

After the break, game 3 was more problematic; Nebraska sprang out to an early lead on Stanford losing its way - of the Huskers' 12 points in getting out to a 12-8 lead, 5 were attack errors, 2 were service errors, along with giving up an ace and a bad set on Madi Bugg.  Yuck.  But they righted the ship, winning 10 of the next 12 points behind the serving of Brittany Howard and Madi Bugg, took a 19-14 lead and closed it out at 19.

A couple of caveats.  First and foremost, Stanford is a completely different team when Ajanaku is on the floor, both in and of themselves and in terms of how the opponents play.  Boukather today really benefitted from the attention Inky draws in the middle, hitting against solo blocks and blocks where the middle couldn't close a large portion of the time.  When Ajanaku rotates off, especially with Madi in the front row, other teams have a simpler attack plan to deal with and seem also to gain confidence.

Also, Nebraska is probably over-ranked, especially right now.  They have a pretty young team, and lost at home on Friday against #13 Florida State 3-1. So this is a good win, but not much more than that at present.

Lutz only played a couple of points at the end of game 1, so it appears the MB2 job is McGehee's for now.  However, it seems like  she's mostly attacking outside on the slide, and Boukather appears to roll inside and hit out of the middle - that happened a few times today.  People on volleytalk were opining that Lutz' inability to quickly close the block outside was costing her.

Player of the match for me was definitely Madi - took a lot of tough passes and turned them into solid sets, and though she was called for a couple of bad touches, 46 assists on the way to a team .365 hitting percentage against a solid opponent is a pretty good stat for a setter.

All in all, a successful weekend, and a great tune-up for the match of the year:

#1 PENN STATE VS #3 STANFORD - 6 pm PT Friday September 5 at Maples Pavilion on Pac-12 network

Only OOC match between any of the top-5 this year: #2 Texas plays their typical Big XII schedule, with Nebraska and perhaps Florida being the only real tests on their schedule.  #1 Penn State has #6 Wisconsin and #8 Purdue along with Nebraska now in the B10, and Stanford has #4 Washington and #5 SC in conference.  But this Friday's match is the only one across conferences at the very top prior to the tournament.

VG




#3 Stanford 3 @#7 Nebraska 0 - BostonCard - 08-31-2014

I've always gone with the winning team first, and added the "@" to denote the home team.  Yes, it is an extra character, but then you can see who won a little more easily.

BC

Re: WVB: #7 Nebraska 0 #3 Stanford 3 - BobK - 09-01-2014

Nice VG.  Wow we were so much quicker.    Still playing a very quality team before 8500 of their fans is a brobdingnagian win. 

Btw you know Lutz sprained her ankle just a week ago.  She will be very good

A thrilling start to the season.

Re: WVB: #7 Nebraska 0 #3 Stanford 3 - Viking_Guy - 09-02-2014

Bob--

She did actually play near the end of game 1 for 3 points, and people in attendance said she had warmed up pretty thoroughly.  I knew she had injured her ankle, but didn't think she would be warming up and playing if they were still concerned about it. 

What's your opinion on her lateral quickness?  I know that's always a worry for me with really tall players, the ability to close the block against a quick to the pins team.

VG


Re: WVB: #7 Nebraska 0 #3 Stanford 3 - BobK - 09-02-2014

I take little stock in VT, except for a couple like me.  LOL  Wait until you see her this week and we can judge for ourselves.Â