NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament

[melissasmooth]

Most unimportant aspect of women's volleyball. Even very unimportant on the men's side. Oregon was the worst blocking team in the PAC 12 last year and lost in the National Championship.

Penn state brick walled Stanford in the final set and shut down Stanford offensively. Stanford didnt have enough weapons. Penn st seniors showed up big time

[wadesworld]

Penn state brick walled Stanford in the final set and shut down Stanford offensively. Stanford didnt have enough weapons. Penn st seniors showed up big time

It's a serve and pass game.  I didn't get to see the match, but my guess is Penn State served pretty tough and took Stanford out of system offensively, giving them only one offensive option and making it pretty easy for the Penn State blockers.

[melissasmooth]

It's a serve and pass game.  I didn't get to see the match, but my guess is Penn State served pretty tough and took Stanford out of system offensively, giving them only one offensive option and making it pretty easy for the Penn State blockers.

Yeah. I agree with you on the serve and pass game definitely. But penn state dominated at the net and were great in transitioning from defense to offense in the last set. Great match to watch.

[keefe]

All four games are on espu live starting at 3
Stanford penn st 3
Purdue wis 530
Nebraska Texas 8
USC wash 1030
All times central

Pretty awesome night.  Beats men's basketball tonight

Saturday night at the Smooth Residence

[melissasmooth]

well, not while i'm at home for xmas break

[keefe]

well, not while i'm at home for xmas break

Home for the holidays??

[wadesworld]

DVRed the next round so caught the end of the Penn State match. Both teams have some girls who are not hard to look at...

[melissasmooth]

Looking forward to the final two matches tonight. Nebraska-Texas and USC-washington

[wadesworld]

Crap ton of runs in the Wisconsin vs. Purdue match. First ball side out and side out efficiency both really low for both teams. Don't think either of these teams would've been overly competitive with either Penn State or Stanford.

[melissasmooth]

Crap ton of runs in the Wisconsin vs. Purdue match. First ball side out and side out efficiency both really low for both teams. Don't think either of these teams would've been overly competitive with either Penn State or Stanford.

Some horrendous passing

[wadesworld]

Crazy that none of the pin blockers swing block. Hard to believe these teams struggle to terminate the ball given that fact.

Edit: Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. Which makes it even crazier in my opinion.

[melissasmooth]

Crazy that none of the pin blockers swing block. Hard to believe these teams struggle to terminate the ball given that fact.

Edit: Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. Which makes it even crazier in my opinion.

That was some ugly volleyball after watching the first match and a few of the ones last night. Wisconsin has a 5-7 outside hitter

[wadesworld]

That was some ugly volleyball after watching the first match and a few of the ones last night. Wisconsin has a 5-7 outside hitter

Good little ball control L2. Uses the block a ton compared to the girls game. Rarely see it in women's volleyball but you should. Hitters that use the outside of the block are a ton more effective and if you're short you have to figure out how to stay tall and do just that. The block is your friend. Many players don't realize it.

[melissasmooth]

Good little ball control L2. Uses the block a ton compared to the girls game. Rarely see it in women's volleyball but you should. Hitters that use the outside of the block are a ton more effective and if you're short you have to figure out how to stay tall and do just that. The block is your friend. Many players don't realize it.

Helps to have a good vertical leap like she does too. You see that more on the beach. Was Purdue using a 6-2 offense the whole match?

[wadesworld]

You'll see USC's libero again in Rio...

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Good little ball control L2. Uses the block a ton compared to the girls game. Rarely see it in women's volleyball but you should. Hitters that use the outside of the block are a ton more effective and if you're short you have to figure out how to stay tall and do just that. The block is your friend. Many players don't realize it.

The only way I got kills in high school was tooling it off of the OH hands. I was a setter but if we ever ran a 6-2 or the middle had to set me I had to aim high off the hands if I wanted a kill. No way was a 5'9" setter putting it down...

[keefe]

Personally, I much prefer Beach Volleyball as a competitive sport. It has that certain je ne sais quoi that is at once both inviting and enthralling.

[melissasmooth]

You'll see USC's libero again in Rio...

Hagglund is one of the best

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Personally, I much prefer Beach Volleyball as a competitive sport. It has that certain je ne sais quoi that is at once both inviting and enthralling.

And the next Olympics is in Rio.................

[StillAWarrior]

Wisconsin has a 5-7 outside hitter

I didn't see the match, but I assume you're talking about Deme Morales.  She's a "local" girl here in Cleveland.  Interestingly enough (to me at least), when my daughter was 12, her club coach was one of Deme's HS coaches.  I always assumed they'd transition her to DS at Wisconsin; I didn't realize she was playing OH.  Apparently that worked well for them the other night.  I never saw her play here, but heard that she was a great talent.

[wadesworld]

Personally, I much prefer Beach Volleyball as a competitive sport. It has that certain je ne sais quoi that is at once both inviting and enthralling.

Many female college athletes in spandex ain't too hard to look at either.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Personally, I much prefer Beach Volleyball as a competitive sport. It has that certain je ne sais quoi that is at once both inviting and enthralling.

I'm quoting this just to bring this fantastic collection of fillies up again.  Well done, Colonel.

[melissasmooth]

I didn't see the match, but I assume you're talking about Deme Morales.  She's a "local" girl here in Cleveland.  Interestingly enough (to me at least), when my daughter was 12, her club coach was one of Deme's HS coaches.  I always assumed they'd transition her to DS at Wisconsin; I didn't realize she was playing OH.  Apparently that worked well for them the other night.  I never saw her play here, but heard that she was a great talent.

The announcers said she has a 32-inch vertical leap

[wadesworld]

Would've predicted a Washington win over Texas in the National Championship.  I'm going to stick with it, even though Wisconsin has DOMINATED the first two sets against Texas.  The intermission really helps Texas here.  Wisconsin was owning every single facet of the game (even the block, despite the numbers saying Texas is dominating there, but really while they have more stuff blocks, they are also getting tooled on every other swing Wisconsin has and Wisconsin is not getting stuff blocks but is getting good touches that allows their defense to make an easy dig on every swing really).  Now it's like a whole new match, and Texas needs to get a sweep, which is far from out of the question.

I think the winner of Penn State and Washington takes the crown.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

I would flip if Wisconsin won it all...Screw them all.