10-06-2025, 01:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-06-2025, 01:41 PM by Hieronymus.)
No surprise per an earlier post of mine, but I am in favor of in match subs at the other non-Rubin OH spot, at least for now. It didn’t work yesterday but:
1. Neither Kurt or Blyashov have clearly claimed the spot.
2. If the plan is to do this at some point in the tournament when it’s do or die, you better try it now in games that matter and see if it works.
Do it a few more times over the next 7-8 games, and if it doesn’t work at all shelve it and name a starter. If I had to pick right now though, I would go Blyashov just because I think she has more upside - better athlete, bigger and has been showing decent improvement through the first half of the season.
Setter is a whole other thing. Parks setting too close to the net is obvious, but on TV I don’t get a good enough sense of height. And tempo can be hard to compare. She has been very effective feeding the MBs, but here I guess I trust Hambly more than my brain. For now I assume this was a one off. We will see.
The truth is Harvey is a bit erratic and that second OH may not be good enough to be a contender no matter what the staff tries. Right now I expect rd16, realistically hope for rd8 and would consider the FF to be a major surprise. Nebraska’s ball control makes them unlikely to have a really off night. Not saying they are invincible, but they are a really bad match up for a serve dependent team like us.
1. Neither Kurt or Blyashov have clearly claimed the spot.
2. If the plan is to do this at some point in the tournament when it’s do or die, you better try it now in games that matter and see if it works.
Do it a few more times over the next 7-8 games, and if it doesn’t work at all shelve it and name a starter. If I had to pick right now though, I would go Blyashov just because I think she has more upside - better athlete, bigger and has been showing decent improvement through the first half of the season.
Setter is a whole other thing. Parks setting too close to the net is obvious, but on TV I don’t get a good enough sense of height. And tempo can be hard to compare. She has been very effective feeding the MBs, but here I guess I trust Hambly more than my brain. For now I assume this was a one off. We will see.
The truth is Harvey is a bit erratic and that second OH may not be good enough to be a contender no matter what the staff tries. Right now I expect rd16, realistically hope for rd8 and would consider the FF to be a major surprise. Nebraska’s ball control makes them unlikely to have a really off night. Not saying they are invincible, but they are a really bad match up for a serve dependent team like us.