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WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - Viking_Guy - 11-02-2014

After a less-than-stellar win against OSU on Friday, Stanford looked a bit better today against the #12 Ducks.

A match that was a lot closer than the final sweep indicates.  Every set was tied at 19 or later.  But the Cardinal came through in the clutch, most especially Jordan Burgess, who had one of her best matches of the season today, contributing key plays late in each set to turn things Stanford's way.  And Morgan Boukather took full advantage of Oregon keying on Stanford's middles.

Set 1 was a back and forth affair, with neither team ever able to open more than a 2-point lead.  Late in the set, tied at 20, Gilbert served long, then Bugg was called for touching the net when she swung on two trying to tool a block.  Dunning called timeout, and Burgess killed the ball down the line off a solid pass and set.  The Cardinal got lucky when a swing by Oregon's Bettendorf clipped the tape and deflected wide, tying the set at 22.  Boukather missed wide off a nice chance, but amazing defense by Stanford got them even on a kill by Burgess. Merete Lutz combined with Howard on a block on Bettendorf out of the back row on the right, then combined with Boukather to stuff Liz Brenner on the left, and a tight first set swung Stanford's way.  Stanford all match used the tactic of serving at Brenner, trying to take her out of rhythm, and this was one instance where it worked, as Brenner's pass was off net and led to her trying to hit a slow moonball set from about 7 feet off net into a fully formed block.

Set 2, Stanford had its traditional slow start following a close set win, falling behind 9-5 on hitting errors, service errors and Oregon blocks.  The Cardinal rallied, mostly through Morgan, to tie the set at 14, and it stayed on serve through 20 all.  But then Inky Ajanaku, who had been hitting something on the order of .000 up until that point, had three kills in a row bracketing a ball-handling error when she was forced to set, and Gilbert came up with an ace.  Burgess tooled the block on the succeeding play, and Stanford took set 2 25-21.

The third set was yet another back and forth affair; neither team able to take more than a 3-point lead and the score tied at 19 late.  A Boukather kill and a missed connection by the Duck offense gave Stanford a 2 point lead, then Bugg set Brittany Howard.  Howard responded with a solid kill, then terminated an overpass.  Burgess then took a backrow center swing and tooled the block to put Stanford on match point.  A Bettendorf kill kept the set going, but then Burgess took three big swings, one soft blocked, another dug, but the last one went down to give Stanford its first sweep since October 4.

Burgess?  15 kills and only 2 errors, hitting .371, with 11 digs and 1.5 blocks.  Boukather?  An outstanding 11 kills and 1 error on 16 attempts for a >>>.625<<< hitting percentage.  Ajanaku rebounded from a slow first set and a half to finish with 11 kills hitting .348.

The other key?  Oregon's lack of real pressure from their serve - Stanford didn't necessarily pass well, but no aces for the Ducks.  Stanford made a few key service errors, but finished with only 5 against 2 aces.

Some questions, though.  The connection between Madi and the middles was a little iffy this weekend - a lot of low and off-target sets that didn't let Lutz and Inky fully extend and hit at the high point.  Lutz especially had some trouble adjusting today, not getting a lot of solid contact and missing three times on the way to a .214 hitting percentage.

And Brittany.  She had some nice serves, and the two good swings on the set and overpass in set 3.  But every team now seems to realize she's either going to dink the ball short or hit long crosscourt - she only had 2 other kills against 2 errors on 18 swings, hitting .111 for the match, and has to get better to provide some balance to defenses camping against Lutz and Boukather.

One other minor aside - Megan McGehee in her role as a serving specialist.  She's done well, but tonight she was obviously a target on defense - at least twice, Brenner pushed a ball to her corner and she couldn't come up with it.  Dunning was definitely talking with her throughout, and I wonder if we might see more of Kelsey Humphries or Sidney Brown in that role.  It also seems like no one has really stepped into the "defensive specialist" sub role when one of the six-rotation players is having a bad passing night.

On the Duck side, Liz Brenner is a shell of her former self.  She's still got the power, but not nearly as much lift or quickness; to be frank, she seems to be carrying a bit too much weight.  Tonight she got 24 swings, only managing 6 kills against 4 errors for a .083 hitting percentage.  Bettendorf and Oregon's two middles had much better matches, and I was surprised that late in sets, they seemed to lean on Brenner when other hitters were having much better nights.

All in all, a surprising and gratifying sweep, which might quiet down a bit of the woofing (sorry) from the Huskies, who steamrolled UCLA on Friday night, sweeping -15, -17 and 25-EIGHT.  Eight.  UCLA had 4 kills in the entire third set.

That match the night before Thanksgiving is looking just immense.

Now on to following men's soccer via Gametracker; 0-0 through 80 minutes.  Then women's soccer in a bit.

VG


MSoc: SDSU 0 Stanford 1 (OT) - Viking_Guy - 11-02-2014

Stanford's men's soccer got a big road win just now, with an overtime winner from midfielder Austin Meyer.  From the gametracker, it looks like Stanford had the better of the run of play after a slow start, forcing more saves, drawing more offsides, and eventually netting the winner.

A good bookend to the draw at UCLA on Friday.  Stanford right now is #7 in the RPI, trailing #1 UCLA and #6 UW in the Pac-12, with matches next weekend at home against the Huskies and the Beavers and the following Sunday at #13 Berkeley.  A strong finish should net them a national seed, and hopefully NOT an early date with the Bruins or the Huskies this year, and hopefully a few home matches in the tourney.

VG


Re: WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - washingtonismoney - 11-02-2014

*If* everything comes together for MSoc they could bring home some silverware to Stanford. Certainly very talented -- not too many teams can match the Vincent/Morris/Baird trio.

Re: WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - BobK - 11-02-2014

While VG downs plays a bit  :) this was a brobdingnagian WVB win.  Would have been so easy to lose but we don't and are now 22-0 and 12-0. Stanford at home Weds and Friday.

Women's soccer with an easy win although not quite over.  So we finally play Uhl early and she gets 2 goals in the first 7 or so minutes.

Field Hockey starts play in the NorPac as the # 3 or better, poll out Tuesday team in the country.  Do we have to do a play in again to make the NCAAs?

XC did very well in the Pac 12, Men 3rd and women 2nd.  A big injury for each gender really hurts, but  even with them we would noty have won.  But really young.  Regionals are a week from Friday at Stanford. 

Re: WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - 81alum - 11-02-2014

Thanks, VG.  I watched the game and, like many others I have watched, we seem inevitably to win but we never seem to win by very much.  Is that just the way it is in volleyball?  The first and second sets we were behind or tied  in the 20s--and pulled them out.  That seems to have been cutting it rather close.

WSoc: Stanford 7 OSU 0 - Viking_Guy - 11-02-2014

Bob was right; soccer was an easy win.  The opening brace from Uhl led to a 4-0 lead at halftime, then Uhl added another in the 80th minute that opened the floodgates again, first with Uhl taking a lovely throughball from Romine and laying it back for a LaBonta finish, then with Chi, being completely unwilling to be left out, dribbling the entire right side of the defense, setting up and then nutmegging the right back, stepping around her endline and cutting back right between the flailing center back and a late arriving midfielder to beat the OSU keeper near post.  Expect to see replays of that sequence - Ubogagu's footwork led to some befuddled Beavers.

Volleyball - Bob's right again; it was a big win, against the #12 team in the country on their court, in straight sets.  I was just a bit shocked by how thoroughly UW dismantled the Bruins that I'm holding the Cardinal to a very high standard right now :).  They also have a hellacious schedule to close the season - at home against the desert next weekend, then in LA, then the mountains at home, then on the road in Seattle and at Berkeley bracketing Thanksgiving.  As the commentators were quoting Dunning today, there's still a lot of room for improvement.

A couple of more things I noticed today.  First, Oregon's X-play (with two hitters jumping in the same approach - one quick and one behind her slightly delayed) was working really well.  Wondering how it might work with Inky.  Because she's so athletic, and the sets to her seem to be getting a bit stale - either a forward quick or a back slide.  The opposing blocks are starting to sit on that quick middle set for her.

Second, hard to overstate how big Stanford's defense has come up this weekend - Gilbert and Burgess especially.  In both matches, Stanford won BIG points with one-armed stab digs by the two of them leading to long rallies, which when the Cardinal terminated, took both the wind out of the opposition's sails and the enthusiasm out of the crowd.  The block was hit or miss, not being very effective for long spells and then being completely critical (as at the end of set 1 today).  And the passing/serve receive was better today, again with Oregon not being very aggressive at all with their service.

Field hockey:  Bob, in an earlier post I covered the rule change.  Last season and for a couple of prior ones, the NCAA tournament and seeding have relegated the champions of the 6 weakest conferences BY RPI THE PREVIOUS YEAR.  In other words, no matter what Stanford or any team from a weaker conference did, they could've been forced into a play-in game because the NorPac was a bad conference overall the previous season.  I think that finally grated on people's sense of fairplay, because as of this season, it is the weakest six teams by current RPI that will be relegated to play-in matches.  And Stanford should definitely not be one of them.  The poll release on Tuesday is generally followed by an updated RPI within an hour or two.  Neither Maryland nor North Carolina lost, while UConn, Penn State, Duke, and Syracuse all won.  Duke, Syracuse and UNC all play in the ACC tourney at Duke next weekend, while Penn State and Maryland will be playing in the B1G tourney at Ann Arbor and UConn in the Big East (that still exists for field hockey, apparently) at Providence.

One other score of note:  Liberty, Stanford's NorPac nemesis, destroyed Georgetown 7-0 after beating Pacific 5-1 earlier this week.  The Flames have played a tough schedule (given their easy access to top-notch teams from Lynchburg, VA).  After losing to Stanford 4-1 early in the season, they lost to #15 Old Dominion 2-1, then beat #8 Wake Forest 2-1 and #12 Louisville 2-1.  They lost to three teams late in the year, but played both #7 Duke and #14 Virginia tough, losing one-goal matches on the road, before losing at home 4-0 to #1 North Carolina.  They are definitely battle-tested, and Stanford's likely opponent in the last NorPac final.  They will play the winner of Cal and Appalachian State, while Stanford will take on the winner of UoP-UC Davis, in the semifinals on Friday at Pacific.

I may see what the schedule looks like next weekend and take a drive out to Stockton, hopefully for the final on Saturday.

VG


Re: WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - Viking_Guy - 11-02-2014

81A--

Well, the Cardinal is still undefeated.  But today's match was their first sweep of ANY opponent since October 4.  Which is why I may be a bit overly nit-picky.

Oregon is a very good team, and they run a quick offense that can neutralize Stanford's strong block.  One thing I was wondering today, though - an awful lot of the decisive runs began when Liz Brenner served and moved across the back in defense.  Even though she didn't hit very well, it felt like Stanford may have biased their defense in her direction when she was in the front row, opening up things for their other options.  When she was in the back row, or in serve receive from the front, Stanford targeted her A LOT to try to force her out of a comfortable approach to the net.  Their passing just wasn't as good with her in the back, and the Cardinal preyed on that.  See especially the end of the first set - the blocks that provided the winning margin were often aided by bad passes leading to predictable sets.

It also felt like the Ducks really tightened up late - set 1 passing poorly (off of nice Burgess serves) and being blocked for the decisive points; set 2 not being able to pick up a serve in the middle of the Inky run and giving Stanford 3 set points; in the third, a bad pass on the Duck's freshman setter Scott gave Stanford a two-point cushion at 21-19, they called a timeout, and Stanford followed with the two Howard kills.

More generally, again have to emphasize - teams that don't have the talent of a Penn State, Texas or UW have to take chances with their serve to beat the Cardinal, and Oregon didn't; Stanford ended up without a reception error.  They did do as good a job as anyone has of keying on the middles, but that let Burgess and Boukather go off; that commitment to the middle was one of the reasons why I was a bit frustrated by Brittany's lack of success - she was often hitting against solo blocks, and just couldn't find a terminating swing for much of the evening.

The tough thing is, you watch Stanford play, and on some points and in some runs they look absolutely unbeatable - there was one point in the third set tonight where Madi set Brittany on the left, then Boukather out of the back row, then finally Inky for the kill.  Just all systems go.  And then you see things happen like the opening of the second set, where Inky was blocked, Brittany and Jordan hit out, Gilbert had a service error and Lutz cut the ball wide, and Stanford was down 9-5 with Dunning calling timeout.  Or one point where Kyle put up a great dig into a satisfactory pass to where she expected Madi to be on the right side, only to have Bugg getting tangled with Burgess and the ball falling to the floor.  Most especially, you have Brittany, with her physical ability, but never seeming to be able to put it all together - much has been made of Stanford trying to run a faster tempo and her having problems adjusting, but her serve receive and passing have been unsteady as well.

I just want so badly for them to play well, as they haven't been to the Final Four in a few years and haven't won a national championship in 10, and I'm hoping this might be the year.

VG


Re: WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - BobK - 11-02-2014

Super posts VG.  Lots to consider and thanks for the Field Hockey clarification.

Anyone like Softball?  2 games Saturday and 2 Sunday on their fall ball schedule.

Re: WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - Viking_Guy - 11-02-2014

One other note: #1 UCLA men's soccer just lost to #17 C.al in Los Angeles 1-0.  Absolutely horrific play at the back by the Bruins early in the second half led to a steal off the goalie and an easy tap-in for the only goal of the game.  Bruins keeper Edwards passed to his left back, who then passed back to the keeper who then attempted to tap the ball out to his right back, and ended up kicking it right into the feet of an onrushing Bare forward, where it deflected into the net.

4 Pac-12 teams in the top 15 of the RPI - UCLA 1, UW 4, Stanford 7 and C.al 13, as of last week.  Looking at it, I'm really hoping they don't end up doing the NCAA thing - making the Pac-12 teams play against one another in the regionals.

Next week's game against UW is going to be absolutely critical.  Heck, all of the last 3 games are going to be critical.  The Pac-12 adopted the 3-1-0 scoring system.  UCLA is in first with 17 points, but only has one conference game remaining at 5-2-2, in two weeks against San Diego State.  UW and Berkeley are tied for second with 13 points, both 4-2-1, with UW having the Bay Area next week and then OSU.  Stanford is in fourth with 12 points at 3-1-3.  But, if Stanford wins its last three games, they would win the Pac-12.

Glad there are positives this fall.  Worried that so many of them involve good UCLA teams, as they were ranked #1 in MSoc, WSoc and MWP.  They're just about to knock off #3 $C in water polo.  #4 C.al, by the way, lost to #5 Long Beach today, after Stanford held off the Beach yesterday 14-12.  LBSU should move up to #3 next week; they're ahead of both the Toejams and the Bares in MPSF standings.

VG


Re: WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - Viking_Guy - 11-03-2014

Video of Chi's goal can be found in the interview video (first up at the bottom of the article):
http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=209746587

Very nice.

VG


Re: WVB: Oregon 0 Stanford 3 - 81alum - 11-03-2014

(11-03-2014, 01:59 AM)Viking_Guy link Wrote:Video of Chi's goal can be found in the interview video (first up at the bottom of the article):
http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=209746587

Very nice.

VG
That was fantastic!  Not in the sense of a goal blasted from distance or an acrobatic header or volley, but the dexterity as she dribbled around two defenders and tapped it past the goalie at close range!  I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it.