SLU II Thread

[BeckysTXA]

Big match tonight. SLU is getting better with getting their injured OH back and going to a one-setter offense. Of all the remaining teams on our schedule, SLU can beat us now or in the conference tournament. I'm not sure we have gotten better the last 2-3 weeks. It's human nature to mentally step back because you know you have more talent and should win. We can't do that tonight. Ladies need to bring it and stay focused. Should be a great match. Go Flyers!

[ud69]

Worried about this one. Need to see intensity.

[UDBrian]

I agree with beckystxa, our rate of improvement has slowed recently, and they might be holding steady. SLU did not have either of their outside hitters early in the year so they are now at full strength. They really are an unknown to us at this point.

Looking forward to the match, plan on being there early enough to watch some warmups. I might even provide some bad typing posts such as Jess being renamed to Jesus

Hopefully the posts are simple "Wow UD is really playing well", "UD played really well again that set", "Three straight great sets and the win"

I haven't decided if I am going to chart return of serve because it just takes away the fun of watching the match. I might do something like mark down every bad service return instead of using 0,1,2,3 format

[BeckysTXA]

Hate auto correct.

Enjoy the match. Go for the modified passing stat and just keep note of the bad passes. Also maybe if Jamie does serve receive, note how she does since she is new to it.

[UDBrian]

Bad omen for someone figgie is shagging balls for slu

[BeckysTXA]

Originally Posted by UDBrian Bad omen for someone figgie is shagging balls for slu

What a guy. So many talents. We just thought he was a numbers nerd.

[UDVBFan]

I wish he could do play by play and camera work. I appreciate that we can watch but man, it's hard.

[BeckysTXA]

UD up 22-17 in first. We seem to have Amber following SLUs Rygelski on defense to put up a block to stop her. It appears to be working Amber has 3 blocks

[UDVBFan]

Team's doing well. Jamie's swing is so smooth and she sets a solid block, especially for a freshman. Love her upside. Bruns has a lot of pace on her swings (knocked one SLU player backwards). Sloan has many kills, Jane lots of nice digs, and the team doing well enough to be ahead by 5. Keep it going, ladies!

[BeckysTXA]

UD wins 25-18. Jess Sloan is on fire hitting over 600 and has 9 kills. Amber now has 5 blocks. Everyone playing well. Rygelski has 5 kills. She is going to get kills. It's a matter of how much we can hold her down. She is hitting under 100. That's as good as you are going to do against her. Nice start. We look sharp and our offense is playing fast.

[UDBrian]

I thought that jess played really well that set. She passed a great serve blocked a slide and hit yhe ball e ell

[BeckysTXA]

UD pulling away in 2nd up 18-13. We are playing as well as we have in several weeks. Can't let up. Go Flyers.

[UDVBFan]

22-13 UD! What a great dig by Maggie on the last Rygelski attack. Girls are playing well. Need to keep focus and not let their foot off the gas. SLU is a dangerous team. They're struggling with our numerous options on offense but they can get Rygelski and Okoro going, and Leverenz, too.

[BeckysTXA]

Behind Jess Sloans serving we just rolled over SLU 25-13. They didn't score after the timeout at 18-13, and they took a second TO before it was over. I thought Jess played even with Rygelski when we played them in St Louis earlier in the year. Tonight Jess is out playing her big time. Like I said, Rygelski is going to get hers, but Jess is putting on a clinic for OHs. Hittin 480. 13 kills. 4 digs. 2 blocks. 1 ace.

[Avid Flyer]

Dayton/A10 streaming continues to be poor quality. But their love with replays is something else. Miss so many live plays. Like Sloan's ace their at the end of the end set.

Oh well, guess that is why its free

[BeckysTXA]

Also, we were having problems defending SLU on the slide, but the last one they tried this set we blocked - Amber and Bruins. You have to like that because they were scoring at will with the slide earlier in the match.

[Avid Flyer]

Nice to see Coach House and Coach Tucker at the game.

[UDBrian]

Ud is hitting 426 versus slu 030. I dont see adjustments slu can make

Word has it that Javonna layfield is in a t rex outfit

[BeckysTXA]

Amber has 9 blocks. Peterson has 5. I'm pretty sure Amber's assignment tonight was to stick to Rygelski like glue and she's executing it perfectly.

[BeckysTXA]

Originally Posted by UDBrian Ud is hitting 426 versus slu 030. I dont see adjustments slu can make Word has it that Javonna layfield is in a t rex outfit

Someone is. Streaming picked it up. Great costume.

[BeckysTXA]

My video has been fine, but now I've lost it in the 3 Rd set. I have a picture, but it's not moving.

[UDBrian]

Passing hasn't been nearly as good this set

[BeckysTXA]

Got video back at 16-14 UD. Now up 21-17. Lauren Bruins doesn't get a lot of mention, but she's come up with some massive swings tonight. Everyone p,saying well.

[Avid Flyer]

Saw some of the girls bball players, Maddy Dennis and a few others. Nice to get support from other coaches and athletes.

[BeckysTXA]

Best match we have played in several weeks. Everyone played well, especially the first two sets. We made 3-4 hitting errors at the end of the 3rd set and struggled some in defending the slide. Otherwise we played very well. Jess played her best match, out playing Rygelski who will be the a10 POY. They play the same position.

And Amber did a great job slowing Rygelski down. TH said the team executed the game plan in the post match interview. Have to think that included getting the block up against Rygelski. Also some great digs by a bunch of players in this match.

[Chris R]

3-0 sweep with a block at the net. Great win. Third set was tight, but we probably anticipated every set to be that way. To whip them pretty good in 2 of 3 sets is a good sign. Thought we played pretty doggone well. Not a ton of gaffs and unforced errors.

Like Becky said Rygelski is going to get hers. Shes a volume hitter. But she didnt really hurt us. You stop her and you stop Sloo. Our defense on her was pretty good. Obviously we practiced that this week to get ready for her. Sloan was a beast. If she can iron out those peaks and valleys a bit more in her overall game, she will become an ever better player b/c I think TH feels like she should be able to play like this every match. Rygelski is an ironwoman. But I feel like she takes swings away from others too. You cant consistently win with so much coming from one player. Maybe SLU has nobody else and its the only shot they have. Still, Dayton is more diverse. We can go Jamie, or we can also go down the middle with the chocolate thunder.

Our D was pretty good especially at the net. Amber caused problems.

When you dont make a lot of unforced errors and protect the net, it seems like everything else in this game almost takes care of itself. Key now is to use this result and get better from it.

[UDVBFan]

This was a message match. I'm sure the A10 was watching to see how SLU would compare with Dayton now that their other OH was back and the answer was no different than the first match. One thing I noticed was SLU's setting. Seemed to cause the hitters to pause in their approach and sometimes have to actually lean back to hit the ball. Helped our defense out a bit and helped get us our last 2 points.

Okoro, back from injury, shows she could probably play Libero if they needed her to. Great hands and instincts. You know who else has that? Jane. Very good digging again tonite. Maggie, too. Amber quietly going about guarding the net like she took it personally when SLU got one past her. 9 blocks. Cut it out. Margo sneaks under 15 digs. Bruns hitting it down, hard! Great match for the energizer bunny. And it's a nice feeling to know that Kendyll had a quiet match and still hit .500, and Jamie had a similar match and had 5 blocks. Scary. And no seniors so everyone returns next year. Lots still to accomplish this year but a solid match like tonite shows how special these kids can be when they are 'on'.

[NovaFlyer]

Wonderful match.a real team effort for UD. Did not expect 3-0 but it happened.

Fun to see the pep band into it, women's BB, UD coaches from other teams, a great core of fans.

Thanks for a fun evening, TEAM.

[UDBrian]

very good match. The passing was extremely good the first two sets and a temporary drop off early in the 3rd set.

Bruns and others had some impressive balls but the star of this match was Jessica Sloan. That is the best match I have seen her play, she was hitting the ball with power on almost every set.

[UDBrian]

I arrived in time to watch warmups and saw Brooke practicing her setting. I think she has improved since the preseason. The ball was coming off her hands softer than in the spring and she was accurate.

I started the match paying attention to the passing and it was good, and I am a tough grader. So I stopped writing down the number of bad passes and we had more in the first part of set 3 than the entire match.

The team had a few great digs. Maggie had several, one on a great serve by rygelski, one on a spike and another one handed fist to keep the ball alive. Both her and the coaches were very impressed with that one. Jess had one great pass on a big rygelski serve.

I told figgie during the match that Margo - Polo has a GREAT sense of where she is on the court. It doesn't matter where she is, she seems to take the second ball if necessary and make a very accurate set from deep in the court. That isn't as easy as it looks. She also returned serve flawlessly.

I agree with udvbfan that jane is a good digger when the ball is in her area.

I'm also impressed with Bruns and Jamie being able to hit from both the left and right side. Bruns crushed one going down the line on the right side. That isn't an easy task when you normally hit from the left side.

The middles blocked really well with Amber having 9 block assists. It was obvious at the end of the match that the blocking had affected slu's hitters

Nice to see the team showing significant improvement this week, everyone played well.

rygelski has a very good power serve but I think she only had one run of more than two points

[NovaFlyer]

Originally Posted by BeckysTXA Best match we have played in several weeks. Everyone played well, especially the first two sets. We made 3-4 hitting errors at the end of the 3rd set and struggled some in defending the slide. Otherwise we played very well. Jess played her best match, out playing Rygelski who will be the a10 POY. They play the same position. And Amber did a great job slowing Rygelski down. TH said the team executed the game plan in the post match interview. Have to think that included getting the block up against Rygelski. Also some great digs by a bunch of players in this match.

Cudos to the practice squad. Great game plan.

[BeckysTXA]

I agree with Udbrian above, our block bothered the SLU hitters. We didn't get any blocks in the 3rd set, but after 11 blocks in 2 sets, we had the SLU hitters trying to hit around and over the blocks. When they did that they hit out or long. Just as good as picking up a block. Our block was good all night.

I also thought we did a good job picking up balls that SLU blocked back into our court. Its a hard ball to keep up in play because it either comes in hot and fast in a very small space to react in. Or, it comes in off-tempo and off-angle. Both are hard to react to and get under. We did a good job of keeping these alive.

[UDBrian]

Originally Posted by BeckysTXA Someone is. Streaming picked it up. Great costume.

I think it was also one of the women's bball players wearing a costume that looked like she was riding a chicken, at first glance I thought it was two people in costumes

[Lifelong Flyer Fan]

Jenna Giacone, WBB Fr. from NY was the chicken rider. As soon as I saw TRex coming up the stairs I was almost certain it was Javonna, then when she began rockin' out to the music, I knew. She has entertained me all of VB season with her dancing. The majority of the WBB team has been to every home match. Madeline Blaise came to every match (carrying a large cushion to sit on) until she had to withdraw from school. Coach House's wife was a head VB coach at a couple of places, one was Rutgers.