11-02-2014, 02:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-03-2014, 11:14 AM by Viking_Guy.)
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
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