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2025 Women’s Volleyball - Printable Version

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RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - TonyLima - 11-08-2025

(11-08-2025, 08:50 PM)Hieronymus Wrote:  The subs looked to be pre-planned, unlike the UNC match where they were clearly dictated by match play.

Duke isn’t good at anything that I can see. How do they have 2 conference wins?

They have 2 wins? Unbelievable.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - CompSci87 - 11-08-2025

Duke's backup setter is in, Millie Muir, daughter of former Stanford AD.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - TonyLima - 11-08-2025

(11-08-2025, 08:51 PM)paloalto Wrote:  I would hesitate to draw any conclusions from this match about how Stanford will do next Friday against Pitt and their possible NPOY.
Early leader for understatement of the year.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - BostonCard - 11-08-2025

Rubin is feasting on the Duke “block”.  She’s swinging like there’s nobody there.

On the other hand, I feel like we are getting a hand on virtually all Duke’s attacks.  It’s gotta be frustrating.

BC

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - CompSci87 - 11-08-2025

Stanford's Zaria Queen came in as a serving sub. I think we've seen all the bench players available. Demaria is redshirting, Dunkle is out injured, and I don't see Tusher.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - CompSci87 - 11-08-2025

And we are done.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - Hieronymus - 11-08-2025

Well Duke made it to .000 for the match which at least isn’t negative. That’s the least competitive match I have seen in a long time though. PSU maybe looked even worse vs. Nebraska, but at least in that match you felt like PSU was imploding while here I think that is all Duke has.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - paloalto - 11-08-2025

The youngest Keefe sister was probably Duke's strongest offensive player.  She decided to relocate back to California after her family's house burned down in the Palisades fire.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - BobK - 11-08-2025

Tusher is back on the Beach team. Dunkle has left the team. Hambly didn’t want to give a reason

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - CompSci87 - 11-08-2025

Thanks, Bob. I had guessed about Tusher being with the beach team. Didn't know about Dunkle.

I should come early for VB chalk talk sometimes. Hambly is really hard for me to understand with my not so good hearing, though.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - cardfan77 - 11-09-2025

Dunkle no longer with the team? I know she’s currently injured but Wow, I’m shook

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - johnbar - 11-09-2025

(11-08-2025, 10:27 PM)BobK Wrote:  Tusher is back on the Beach team.  Dunkle has left the team.  Hambly didn’t want to give a reason

Whoa.  Sorry to hear that.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - BostonCard - 11-09-2025

Rubin hit .609.  As usual, the middles dominated (Andrew hit .571, Sayer .417).  Stanford had 10 blocks, but it seemed like more.  What’s crazy is that Duke had 104 attacks, to Stanford’s 78, but I think that’s because on several rallies, Duke would take a swing, and hit a brick wall, then get a second, and sometimes third or fourth shot, and then they’d finally get it over, and then we’d dig it up and Rubin or one of the mids would hammer it down.  After a while I just felt sorry for the Blue Devils.

A few other weird things.  Blyashov only had one attack.  She officially wound up with a pretty empty scorecard on the one set she played, but her serve was giving Duke fits (I mean, my serve could have given Duke fits) but she was serving quite tough.  Although she didn’t record any aces, we got a bunch of points off her serve, including the first five of the match.

Rubin was a beast today.

BC

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - BobK - 11-09-2025

Rubin set the all time service aces record for Stanford last night

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - paloalto - 11-09-2025

(11-08-2025, 10:27 PM)BobK Wrote:  Tusher is back on the Beach team.  Dunkle has left the team.  Hambly didn’t want to give a reason

Dunkle was unlikely to get any meaningful playing time and she probably knew that.  Highly ranked MB coming in next year and possibly one in 2028.   Although sometimes I question if some of these recruits who quit the team after a year or two and focus on the Stanford degree have that option in the back of their mind all along.  My theory is this might happen with Hickman.
(11-08-2025, 06:01 PM)BostonCard Wrote:  Didn't realize this:

Quote:STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Stanford leads the ACC and is fifth nationally with a .302 attack percentage. The Cardinal also paces the conference in assists (13.42) and kills (14.26) per set, ranking seventh and 10th in the NCAA, respectively. Stanford is third in the ACC in aces (1.68) and seventh in digs (13.69).

I find this hard to square with all the criticism of Parks.

BC

I take it you did not watch the UNC match on Friday if you believe the criticism of Parks' setting location is not warranted.  I would like to see a discussion between you and sakibomb about Parks' setting.   That would be entertaining.  Is sakibomb on sabbatical from Cardboard?

I enjoy your presentation of stats and other meaningful info.  Hope you continue.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - BostonCard - 11-09-2025

My wife and I were talking about this last night as Stanford emptied the bench.  It's a lot of time, work and sacrifice to be someone who is, in essence not going to see the court except on the back end of blowouts or in the event a player gets injured.  On the other hand, its a Stanford education, and there are not a ton of opportunities for professional play beyond Stanford, so for most players, it is the degree that is of greatest long-term value, and, once accepted, that cannot be taken away.  Then again, it is a rather expensive education, and the scholarship is probably worth the slog.  Don't know Dunkle's financial situation.

Regardless, given what we have, it will be interesting to see what the developments at MB and setter where we probably have more talented players than we have starting positions.  Can we trade for a dominant pin hitter or two?

BC

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - BobK - 11-09-2025

We are redshirting a dominant pin hitter. My words but last night Hambly was full of praise for her

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - paloalto - 11-09-2025

(11-09-2025, 12:34 PM)BobK Wrote:  We are redshirting a dominant pin hitter.  My words but last night Hambly was full of praise for her

Hambly is always going to say something positive about his players who aren't playing. 

She's tall and hits a heavy ball.   However, I watched times this past club season Demaria being subbed out when her passing went into a prolonged funk.  The three freshmen starters have improved so maybe Demaria's passing will too with some coaching attention.  With Kurt and Blyashov next year, Stanford desperately needs a good passing OH.

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - BostonCard - 11-09-2025

(11-09-2025, 12:14 PM)paloalto Wrote:  
(11-08-2025, 06:01 PM)BostonCard Wrote:  Didn't realize this:

Quote:STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Stanford leads the ACC and is fifth nationally with a .302 attack percentage. The Cardinal also paces the conference in assists (13.42) and kills (14.26) per set, ranking seventh and 10th in the NCAA, respectively. Stanford is third in the ACC in aces (1.68) and seventh in digs (13.69).

I find this hard to square with all the criticism of Parks.

BC

I take it you did not watch the UNC match on Friday if you believe the criticism of Parks' setting location is not warranted.  I would like to see a discussion between you and sakibomb about Parks' setting.   That would be entertaining.  Is sakibomb on sabbatical from Cardboard?

I enjoy your presentation of stats and other meaningful info.  Hope you continue.

I probably should have phrased it as "it is hard to square this with how Parks has looked at times"; it wasn't really meant as a criticism of those who have noted Parks' struggles.  I do believe that there is a disconnect between what the stats say and our subjective assessment, and I was hoping to provoke a discussion on how we could resolve it.

I do think that part of it is the skill and willingness to set the middles, who have thrived this year.  Last year Francis and Andrew had 440 kills all year between them.  So far this year, Andrew and Sayer already matched that total.  A combination of higher utilization of the middles (who already have a higher hitting percentage than the pins) and higher hitting percentage by the middles makes up for a lot of mistakes setting the pins.  We are basically getting one more kill/set from the middles. 

Our pin hitters (Rubin, Harvey, and Kurt) got 9.8 kills/set last year on exactly 23 attacks/set; this year that is down to 8.5 kills for the three plus Blyashov in 22 attacks/set.  Thus, both efficiency and utilization of the pins is down this year, despite the pin hitters being a year older and more experienced.  I think this is what is we are seeing.  It's not so much that Parks is a bad setter as a whole, it is that she is not as good with locating her sets to our outside hitters.  As a result, their hitting percentage has suffered.  However, she has made up for it by setting our middles more, and those middles have responded by hitting more efficiently.  Thus, as a whole, hitting stats have held up quite well, and in fact are amongst the best in the nation, but the "eye test" hasn't looked good.

But I think we probably owe it to ourselves to be more precise in how we describe the problem.  For Parks, it is particularly an issue with inconsistent setting to the outside (and, at least to my eye, specifically in the front set; she looked pretty good back setting).  Miner was a tough act to follow; she was so consistent in her setting (perhaps a little too consistent; I think good opponents knew exactly where the ball was going to be too and could set up a block).  But for whatever reason, Parks has been more willing to use the middles and the middles have been more successful.

BC

RE: 2025 Women’s Volleyball - Hieronymus - 11-09-2025

(11-09-2025, 12:54 PM)BostonCard Wrote:  
(11-09-2025, 12:14 PM)paloalto Wrote:  
(11-08-2025, 06:01 PM)BostonCard Wrote:  Didn't realize this:

Quote:STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Stanford leads the ACC and is fifth nationally with a .302 attack percentage. The Cardinal also paces the conference in assists (13.42) and kills (14.26) per set, ranking seventh and 10th in the NCAA, respectively. Stanford is third in the ACC in aces (1.68) and seventh in digs (13.69).

I find this hard to square with all the criticism of Parks.

BC

I take it you did not watch the UNC match on Friday if you believe the criticism of Parks' setting location is not warranted.  I would like to see a discussion between you and sakibomb about Parks' setting.   That would be entertaining.  Is sakibomb on sabbatical from Cardboard?

I enjoy your presentation of stats and other meaningful info.  Hope you continue.

I probably should have phrased it as "it is hard to square this with how Parks has looked at times"; it wasn't really meant as a criticism of those who have noted Parks' struggles.  I do believe that there is a disconnect between what the stats say and our subjective assessment, and I was hoping to provoke a discussion on how we could resolve it.

I do think that part of it is the skill and willingness to set the middles, who have thrived this year.  Last year Francis and Andrew had 440 kills all year between them.  So far this year, Andrew and Sayer already matched that total.  A combination of higher utilization of the middles (who already have a higher hitting percentage than the pins) and higher hitting percentage by the middles makes up for a lot of mistakes setting the pins.  We are basically getting one more kill/set from the middles. 

Our pin hitters (Rubin, Harvey, and Kurt) got 9.8 kills/set last year on exactly 23 attacks/set; this year that is down to 8.5 kills for the three plus Blyashov in 22 attacks/set.  Thus, both efficiency and utilization of the pins is down this year, despite the pin hitters being a year older and more experienced.  I think this is what is we are seeing.  It's not so much that Parks is a bad setter as a whole, it is that she is not as good with locating her sets to our outside hitters.  As a result, their hitting percentage has suffered.  However, she has made up for it by setting our middles more, and those middles have responded by hitting more efficiently.  Thus, as a whole, hitting stats have held up quite well, and in fact are amongst the best in the nation, but the "eye test" hasn't looked good.

But I think we probably owe it to ourselves to be more precise in how we describe the problem.  For Parks, it is particularly an issue with inconsistent setting to the outside (and, at least to my eye, specifically in the front set; she looked pretty good back setting).  Miner was a tough act to follow; she was so consistent in her setting (perhaps a little too consistent; I think good opponents knew exactly where the ball was going to be too and could set up a block).  But for whatever reason, Parks has been more willing to use the middles and the middles have been more successful.

BC

100% agree with BC here. Though I do think some of Parks sets to the middles go off course a bit as well, but they are often still hittable even though not ideal.