11-02-2014, 07:33 PM
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
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