12-08-2023, 02:34 PM
A couple of things:
- No, serve receive does not count as a dig. So Baird had a great game defensively. And of course the other team targeted her because she is the weakest link among the three passers (most people would be if you are lined up with Rubin and Oglivie). However, ASU served tough and aside from a few shanks here and there, Baird did relatively well putting up a settable ball for Miner. Offensively though... much different story.
- I would actually say the middles were more of a reason why we struggled with ASU than Baird's hitting. Just really dumb mistakes from both Vicini and Francis... not to mention the net calls. If Francis and Vicini play like they normally do (and are reliable on offense), then we sweep the Sun Devils.
- Controversial Take: I don't really get the hype about Kendall Kipp. Yes, she gets her kills and I definitely would rather have her on our team than the opponents team. But she doesn't close well. If we really need a kill, I don't have confidence that she'll be able to deliver when the pressure is on. Again, she's a fantastic player... but just not the type of player who does well in pressure situations, imho. She lost a lot of steam in the fourth game last night and I just think back to the match against USD where she wasn't able to buy a kill if her life depended on it in the fifth game.
- Schroll was a brobdingnagian reason why ASU gave us so much trouble. She was everywhere and her 30 digs says a lot about her hustle and grit. Kudos to her - she was fun to watch.
- Miner needs to attack more. Only 3 attacks in four games? Very unusual.