[joemontes]

Thanks for the stats Joe.  I agree Francis is making real progress.  Great to see.   Overall I'm not as optimistic as you about the team in conference.   At the moment I expect quite a few losses; just too many unforced mistakes and blocking against the middle is quite deficient.  Hopefully this improves but it will take time.

This game proves there is more to volleyball than having big hitters.  Collectively Stanford probably has the hardest hitting pins in the country but there still needs to be a better first touch on the ball and fewer mistakes.

I do agree that I have to tone down my PAC 12 Conference play expectations as Stanford will most likely have a few losses, with this very young team (whose main rotation consists 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 3 So/RS So and 4 Fr/RS Fr) still continuing to iron out kinks in their service game, serve receive, passing, blocking etc.

Their forthcoming home match vs. UCLA this weekend is critical, because UCLA is a nationally ranked team and this is their only encounter with UCLA, unlike the other PAC 12 Top 25 teams like UW, Oregon, and Utah who Stanford will face twice.

[joemontes]

Thanks for the stats Joe.  I agree Francis is making real progress.  Great to see.   Overall I'm not as optimistic as you about the team in conference.   At the moment I expect quite a few losses; just too many unforced mistakes and blocking against the middle is quite deficient.  Hopefully this improves but it will take time.

This game proves there is more to volleyball than having big hitters.  Collectively Stanford probably has the hardest hitting pins in the country but there still needs to be a better first touch on the ball and fewer mistakes.

I do agree that I have to tone down my PAC 12 Conference play expectations as Stanford will most likely have a few losses, with this very young team (whose main rotation consists 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 3 So/RS So and 4 Fr/RS Fr) still continuing to iron out kinks in their service game, serve receive, passing, blocking etc.

Their forthcoming home match vs. UCLA this weekend is critical, because UCLA is a nationally ranked team and this is their only encounter with UCLA, unlike the other PAC 12 Top 25 teams like UW, Oregon, and Utah who Stanford will face twice.