[Viking_Guy]

Felt just well enough to go to the game Saturday night, and then wished I hadn't.

82's got it right; the big difference was the amount of pressure put on in the serving game.  Michigan was sitting on the short serve all night long, and Stanford never seemed to adjust.  The problem with a short serve is that, if it's not perfect, it's an easy ball to pass QUICKLY to the setter.  With that quick pass, and the setter playing in system, she had all of her options available, and so Stanford's block was ineffective; the middles couldn't get out to the pins quickly enough to seal the block.  After set 1, Stanford NEVER put together a serious run of points, and any time Michigan did so, Stanford at best clawed their way back into the set but never took it over.  Michigan's serve receive into offense just had it too easy, converted quickly, and put the pressure back on Stanford to "hold serve."

3 of the 4 freshmen played like freshmen.  Burgess was solid for the most part, but Ajanaku had one of her worst matches of the season.  One of the things that doesn't show up in the box score - she was in the net 4 times in the first 3 sets, giving the Wolverines 4 free points.  She also hit the slide set into the tape 3 times, never getting the ball over the net or forcing the block (each time she hit the right angle and would've had an unblocked lane, but still...)  Howard had some good serving, but never got into an offensive rhythm.  And Madi Bugg - well, it's sometimes tough to tell with setters whether it's the set or the hit that's off, but I did notice that the one play Stanford had that worked was the quick ball in the center to the middles.  But even in system, she seemed to favor either the outside set or the slide to Wopat or Ajanaku.

One thing that I think could've helped - switching to an actual 6-2 with Boukather in for Bugg in the front row.  Every long sequence of points Michigan scored seemed to happen with Bugg in the front row, and getting destroyed as the outside blocker against Michigan's left side hitters.  Couple that with Ajanaku's performance, and for two out of six rotations Stanford had less than optimal offensive prospects.  And it wasn't as if the substituting wasn't going on - Boukather and Cook would come in for a rotation, but then immediately leave again.

All in all, unpleasant.  And not an appropriate end to a great season.

And yes, Michigan is our kryptonite right now. 

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Felt just well enough to go to the game Saturday night, and then wished I hadn't.

82's got it right; the big difference was the amount of pressure put on in the serving game.  Michigan was sitting on the short serve all night long, and Stanford never seemed to adjust.  The problem with a short serve is that, if it's not perfect, it's an easy ball to pass QUICKLY to the setter.  With that quick pass, and the setter playing in system, she had all of her options available, and so Stanford's block was ineffective; the middles couldn't get out to the pins quickly enough to seal the block.  After set 1, Stanford NEVER put together a serious run of points, and any time Michigan did so, Stanford at best clawed their way back into the set but never took it over.  Michigan's serve receive into offense just had it too easy, converted quickly, and put the pressure back on Stanford to "hold serve."

3 of the 4 freshmen played like freshmen.  Burgess was solid for the most part, but Ajanaku had one of her worst matches of the season.  One of the things that doesn't show up in the box score - she was in the net 4 times in the first 3 sets, giving the Wolverines 4 free points.  She also hit the slide set into the tape 3 times, never getting the ball over the net or forcing the block (each time she hit the right angle and would've had an unblocked lane, but still...)  Howard had some good serving, but never got into an offensive rhythm.  And Madi Bugg - well, it's sometimes tough to tell with setters whether it's the set or the hit that's off, but I did notice that the one play Stanford had that worked was the quick ball in the center to the middles.  But even in system, she seemed to favor either the outside set or the slide to Wopat or Ajanaku.

One thing that I think could've helped - switching to an actual 6-2 with Boukather in for Bugg in the front row.  Every long sequence of points Michigan scored seemed to happen with Bugg in the front row, and getting destroyed as the outside blocker against Michigan's left side hitters.  Couple that with Ajanaku's performance, and for two out of six rotations Stanford had less than optimal offensive prospects.  And it wasn't as if the substituting wasn't going on - Boukather and Cook would come in for a rotation, but then immediately leave again.

All in all, unpleasant.  And not an appropriate end to a great season.

And yes, Michigan is our kryptonite right now. 

VG