SLU I Thread

[BeckysTXA]

Match Day and it will be a slug-fest. I hope Red Scare is ready and show up big time. Team is going to need them and the rest of the fans. It's what college athletics is all about.

Go Flyers!

[Lifelong Flyer Fan]

Becky, Fairly certain Red Scare will be there and do their job. (Very few students ever come to the Red and Blue scrimmages.)

[UDBrian]

The students haven't been there in really large numbers at matches I have attended. But, the ones who have been there have been LOUD

[UD62]

Students don't show up in large numbers for almost all athletic contests regardless of the sport. Too busy studying.

[BeckysTXA]

21-21 in the first. TO UD.

[UDBrian]

The student attendance has dropped a lot from two years ago but they are here today

[BeckysTXA]

24-23 UD with the serve. I came in at 15-11 UD. SLU picked away at that lead to tie several times. But no team is scoring more than 1-2 points at a time so you ar burning through subs. Probably why Jill Loiars is now serving for the match.

[BeckysTXA]

Yup - Jill goes long. SLu up 25-24. TO UD. Jill is playing back row. Everyone except the Libero and 1 middle can't sub in and out if we are out of subs.

[UDVBFan]

Tough spot to put her in, regardless of upperclassman or not.

[UDVBFan]

Nice back row play by Jill. Anyone else notice we seem to be serving a lot to their Libero? Curious, since she seems pretty solid (last play notwithstanding). Smart play by Alaina at point #26, too. Good volleyball from what I've seen.

[BeckysTXA]

UD wins Set 1 27-25 on an ace by Janna. Whew! Gotta pick it up. I loved freshman Jane Emmenecker giving Jr Jill Loiars pointers in the back row for the last couple points. Good for Jill! Jill doesn't play much back row -- so way to take all the advise you can to help your team. Pretty cool on Jill's part and pretty cool the freshman setter stepped up her leadership. It's all good.

[BeckysTXA]

Originally Posted by UDBrian The student attendance has dropped a lot from two years ago but they are here today

I agree it's been down the last 3-4 years. There was a time Frerricks was "swarming" with Red Scare. Haven't seen that since Sean was VP of VBall for UD.

[BeckysTXA]

My video stream is a little blurry. You can still see the match - just a little fuzzy. Also not our regular announcer. This guy is doing okay -- just doesn't know the game as well as the guy we use to have and the new guy this year. For example - SLU is scoring on the right side by running the middle slide. He knows they are running that play a lot -- just doesn't know what it's called. Like I said - he is doing ok - just a little plain vanilla. (who is serving, who is subbing in, which team scored, etc.) Could use a little color commentary.

[BeckysTXA]

10-6 UD in the 2nd off 2 aces by Amber. TO SLU. They haven't
stopped our middles - we need to remember that if the match gets close again.

[BeckysTXA]

18-11 ud. TO slu

[BeckysTXA]

UD wins 2nd 25-14. Totally in control of this set. Need to come out for the third for more of the same. SLU did not have an answer for anything. Most embarrassing moment - one of SLU's OHs had to send a 2-handed feee-ball over the net. We blocked the free-ball for a point. Pretty funny.

[UDBrian]

Originally Posted by UDVBFan Nice back row play by Jill. Anyone else notice we seem to be serving a lot to their Libero? Curious, since she seems pretty solid (last play notwithstanding). Smart play by Alaina at point #26, too. Good volleyball from what I've seen.

That was a smart play by Alana. Amber has a net presence beyond her years the team is playing well

[BeckysTXA]

We've taken 75 swings and have only 3 errors. That is unreal. We've also got 30 kills for a .360 hitting percentage which is really good too. But 3 errors in 75 swings is "wow". Not giving SLU any unearned points off swings.

[Avid Flyer]

Originally Posted by BeckysTXA My video stream is a little blurry. You can still see the match - just a little fuzzy. Also not our regular announcer. This guy is doing okay -- just doesn't know the game as well as the guy we use to have and the new guy this year. For example - SLU is scoring on the right side by running the middle slide. He knows they are running that play a lot -- just doesn't know what it's called. Like I said - he is doing ok - just a little plain vanilla. (who is serving, who is subbing in, which team scored, etc.) Could use a little color commentary.

He is a snoozer but I won't complain as the SLU announcer is a homer and yells and screams at the refs if he thinks they made a bad call. Very unprofessional. He is a former HS vball coach.

[Avid Flyer]

From my novice point of view it looked like SLU was out of system most of that set. At end of set SLU coach was quite animated with the side judge/ref. Not happy but all the calls couldn't have been bad.

Not over till its over but I told my SLU friens UD wins in 5 sets.

[UDVBFan]

Rygelski is a stud. Some good athletes on the SLU side.

[UDBrian]

Originally Posted by BeckysTXA We've taken 75 swings and have only 3 errors. That is unreal. We've also got 30 kills for a .360 hitting percentage which is really good too. But 3 errors in 75 swings is "wow". Not giving SLU any unearned points off swings.

Alaina (fixed the typo, that's what happens when posting from a phone) in particular has been very careful at not hitting into the block

[BeckysTXA]

15-11 SLU in the 3rd. TO UD.

[BeckysTXA]

SLU is hurting us from the right side attack. What that does is hit into a bockrow player that is NOT Janna Krafta. Janna sets up in Zone 3 to take the left side attacks - most team's strong side. It's smart on SLUs part but our other back row players need to step it up.

Need to get our middles going again. SLU can't stop them.

[BeckysTXA]

21-17 SLU off an ace. Also we know have 7 hitting errors -- not a lot total match-wise -- but 4 this set. We are getting block touches, but not stopping the ball at the net like we were the first two sets. Need a block.

[BeckysTXA]

SLU takes 3rd 25-19. We seemed to fold a little at the end of this set. Need to pick it back up and jump on them early in the 4th. Bring It!

[UDBrian]

I thought their passing improved some and ours took a step back. They earned that set

[BeckysTXA]

12-8 SLU. TO UD. They are hurting us on the right side. SLU hitting .500 this set. Might be time to make an adjustment and move Janna to the middle back verses having her in Zone 3. Need to get our middles going.

[BeckysTXA]

Originally Posted by UDBrian I thought their passing improved some and ours took a step back. They earned that set

I agree. We've had more overpasses this match than I've seen all year. And it took us until points 4 & 5 in the 3rd set to be in-system because of passing. They are hitting away from Janna on their attacks and it's working.

[BeckysTXA]

19-18 UD off a block of a right side attack. Woo Hoo we stopped the right side!

TO SLU. Go Flyers!

[BeckysTXA]

21-18 UD. Another quick TO for SLU. GO FLYERS!!!!!! Freshman Maggie serving well in this run. Keep it up. Love our freshman!

[UDVBFan]

I like a lot of what I've seen today. Even including Jenna always making sure the players coming back to the bench for TOs get water. That kid is intense about everything!

[UDVBFan]

I think I don't need to hear the word 'recover' for a while. ; ) Great match, Flyers!!!

[BeckysTXA]

UD WINS 25-22. Sitting on top of the A-10 standings and in control of winning the regular season. Gotta keep working hard to get better. They couldn't stop our MBs and at the end we went there more often to win. Also, very impressed that a high percentage of Red Scare stayed for the whole match.

[NovaFlyer]

Hated to miss today's match, church obligation won out. Watched the first set, went to mass, prayed, arrived back home in time to see the end and the great win! Good afternoon. Believe Rachel Jones is most improved player on this team, quiet, makes great plays and rarely a mistake. Turner is a machine. Frosh look super. Really like that TH plays many people. Love this team. Go Flyers. Great win against very good competition.

[UDSpud]

Big time performance from Amber TA 12, K 9 E 0 and percentage .750 plus 3 SA's along with 5 block assists. Sounds like another freshman of the week award may be due.

[jack72]

Great win. Always good to beat St L, but especially to secure first place.

[rollo]

Great match...the girls are always worth the trip!

I am disappointed in the lack of attendance, especially from my minions, and anointed Knights! Sir Figgie? Wherefore art thou? Sir Clayton...whereth else couldeth you have been?

The Roundtable is curious to your whereabouts and the Royal guillotine is being assembled, sharpened and polished...don't make me use it!

[UDBrian]

The student attendance was good for a saturday afternoon. There were still 50 students left when the match ended and Tim went immediately to high five all of them.

I thought the team played well and it is obvious that they have practiced setting Alaina from the back row, she was putting some MUSTARD on those shots. LOL, sorry I couldn't resist.

Jessica had some GREAT digs and Rachel had three one handed fist passes which were just about perfect.

The hitting percentages in sets 1, 2 and 4 were tremendous. I thought the team played very smart, going for the lines and corners.

Regarding attendance there was a conflict and I'm fairly sure that many people chose to watch the men's practice instead

I should add that Janna served the ball really well today and caused a lot of problems for St Louis. I remember Janna saying as a freshman that her serve needed work. Alaina's serve seemed to have a little top spin today which I hadn't noticed before. IF you have topspin on your serve it won't float. I don't know if this was by design or if she wasn't hitting it really cleanly.

[College B-Ball Fan]

I also skipped the hoops scrimmage for the v-ball games! Glad I did! Huge game, huge win!

Great effort---needed this one!

[Avid Flyer]

Anxiously awaiting the return of my SLU friends

[Chris R]

Was at the match. Here are my observations. You VBall pros tell me if Im all washed up.

- Turner was mostly "on" today and hit very well. She was terminating balls and not sending them out of the court. When she's on, keep feeding her. I thought we did a good job of finding her and she did a nice job of hitting through the ball.

- Thought Set 2 was won on our serving. Thought that was our best serving set I have seen this year. We were hitting serves with pace, placement, and just BAAARELY crawling them over the net. They were landing hard and short in the SLU court and they had to do more reaching on the first touch than they wanted. The excellent serving forced SLU to then chase the ball b/c the first touch was not great. I thought this more than anything steered the entire second set in our favor -- including our hitting percentage. We hit well because SLU was forced to send mediocre balls over the net from the good UD serving.

Set 3 is where I thought SLU did to us what we did to them in set 2, serving extremely well. Our receiving in set 3 was ugggggly. Pretty much every other first touch of the ball was getting sprayed. I also though our setting in set three was not good. All of the sets were either way too low -- which meant our attacks were being hit at the height of the net which were easy to block. I also thought SLU varied up their offense well in set 3 where we were unsure of where they were gonna attack us. As a result, our block was non-existent.

In set four I thought we were still struggling in my eyes, but sort of just fighting through it. Got off to a rough start and were in danger of looking at a fifth and deciding set. But we got a couple important points. I thought overall Turner and Krafka served well for us. They were not acing folks and I doubt you are gonna ace SLU much, but they did just enough. SLU had a couple bad receives and it cost them. Like set 1 which could have gone either way, we sort of just gutted it out.

Thought Turner and Erhahon and Krafka played well. Thought Emmenecker struggled half the match and was ok the other half.

#9 Anna Church the libero for SLU is the real deal. I thought she was the best player on the court for long stretches of the match. She got to some balls that were almost superhuman. But we did ace her for set point!

[BeckysTXA]

Chris -- I pretty much saw what you saw today. I thought Jane played "ok". Was not her best match but she certainly wasn't "bad". And I agree, she had to run down some bad passes which doesn't help. Her placement was ok. And she dug a lot of balls because SLU went after her on the first touch when she was in the back row. (Always a smart game plan to go after the setter.)

SLU was killing it from the right side. Another smart game plan since that is hitting AWAY from our great Libero Janna Krafka. Janna sets up to take the left side OH attacks because that is where the most sets go as we have discussed before. SLU was very good at setting the right side. Both the MB slide and to the right OH. And they scored when they could do that.

I agree Rachel Jones is having a good year. She's a senior that has "done her time" under 3 head coaches and now it's paying off for her. Very happy for this young lady. And Brian is correct, she nailed several one armed digs and delivered the impossible pass to both a hitter and the setter on several occasions. I remember one going to Jenna J on the right side for a kill.

Church is a good Libero. But it also helps that we serve into the 1 Zone a lot and they again game planned to have her set up in the 1 Zone for serve receive as often as possible. So they hit away from our Libero and we served to theirs a lot.

(FYI = There are 6 Zones on the Court. Starting from your serving line facing the net and the opposite court -- Zone 1 is the right back corner, Zone 2 the middle back, Zone 3 the left back, Zone 4 the front left side, Zone 5 the middle front and Zone 6 the right front.)

Also - Amber had 3 service aces -- Figgie will have to tell us if that's a personal best, but I would think it is. She had 2 in a row. She hasn't served a lot -- but we need a middle that can serve to save our substitution-limits and she is certainly moving in that direction.

SLU could not stop our middles yesterday. We got away from them in the 3rd -- maybe because of passing?? -- and got back to them in the 4th. It helped close out the match.

On Figgies RPI - Dayton jumped up to #102 (from #126 if I remember correctly) after beating SLU. Huge match. Huge win. Huge jump. I'm still hoping we finish in the Top 100 RPI. We were #131 for the NCAA RPI before the match.

[BeckysTXA]

FYI - SLU will be even better next year. They have 2 senior OHs and neither of them start. Sniffen has played in 23 or 88 sets and Baument 12 of 88. Miller has had 3 very good recruiting classes (well above UD's) the past 3 years. I'd expect him to have another one next year. The more things change the more they stay the same -- UD and SLU two of the best A-10 vball teams. It will be a slugfest for years to come.


Attendance - officially 682, /Thats good for a Sat afternoon match. Most impressed a lot
of Red Scare stayed to the end and great Halloween costumes. Red Scare was really into vball at the end of the THI era. And strong for the first three years of the Sheffield era. But dropped off a bunch after that. I'm confident TH will bring it back,

[UDBrian]

We talk about passing all of the time but there is one play that really stands out to me, a textbook case. The first pass was perfect, in the middle and 3-4 feet from the net. Their middle blocker was frozen because it was a perfect ball to set a middle hitter with. But Jane instead set Alaina on the left side. Alaina had one on one blocking and crushed the ball with a cut shot for the kill.

One thing we haven't talked about much is the difference between hitting the ball when it is set from close to the net. It makes it much easier to see the block when you go up to hit because everything is in front of you. If the set is coming to the hitter from deeper in the court it is tough to find the block so the hitter tends to just crank on the ball and hope for the best.

I though that all of the hitters played smart yesterday and really like the offense being fast when the passing is good.

[ud69]

Duquesne over GDub 15-12 in the fifth this afternoon. Flyers with only 1 loss in the league. Everybody else with at least 3 losses. 5 conference matches left. However, 3 of them against teams right behind us. Not a cake walk.

[Avid Flyer]

Wow, five teams tied for 2nd place. Great to be on top but can't look over our shoulders. Gotta take care of business. Five games left, next three on the road.

Three of them very tough opponents at their house. VCU, SLU could go 5 sets,

[College B-Ball Fan]

Originally Posted by BeckysTXA FYI - SLU will be even better next year. They have 2 senior OHs and neither of them start. Sniffen has played in 23 or 88 sets and Baument 12 of 88. Miller has had 3 very good recruiting classes (well above UD's) the past 3 years. I'd expect him to have another one next year. The more things change the more they stay the same -- UD and SLU two of the best A-10 vball teams. It will be a slugfest for years to come. Attendance - officially 682, /Thats good for a Sat afternoon match. Most impressed a lot of Red Scare stayed to the end and great Halloween costumes. Red Scare was really into vball at the end of the THI era. And strong for the first three years of the Sheffield era. But dropped off a bunch after that. I'm confident TH will bring it back,

Becky, I chose to attend the v-ball match instead of attending the men's red/blue where I've been the last decade plus! Felt my presence would be felt more cheering for our young women against St Louis------then watching our hoops team practice (though I always look forward to the scrimmage).

The attendance would have been better IF not for the red/Blue scrimmage but the scare were loud and fun! Also passed out Beat St. Louis shirts and pizza to all students in attendance! White shirts read something like BEAT ST. LOUIS and on the other side "what's a billiken"? LOL

Lots of fun--always MORE fun when we WIN!

[BeckysTXA]

I saw the front of the shirt over streaming video - BEAT SLU. Nice.

Back was even better.

[Figgie123]

Originally Posted by rollo I am disappointed in the lack of attendance, especially from my minions, and anointed Knights! Sir Figgie? Wherefore art thou? Sir Clayton...whereth else couldeth you have been?

Just because you decided to show up for once this season, doesn't mean the rest of us haven't been to numerous games this year! You might be the King, but only in abstention.

Originally Posted by BeckysTXA Also - Amber had 3 service aces -- Figgie will have to tell us if that's a personal best, but I would think it is. She had 2 in a row. She hasn't served a lot -- but we need a middle that can serve to save our substitution-limits and she is certainly moving in that direction.

Yes, 3 aces was a career high for her.