Dayton versus Nebraska (Husker Challenge)

[Figgie123]

Flyers lose set 1 25-20. (According to the GameTracker) A run for each team in the teens. Tied at 12, Nebraska jumps to an 18-13 lead, then we get on a run to catchup at 20-19, then they finish us off.

[Figgie123]

Another straight set loss. 20, 21, and 13. Back at it tomorrow.

[UDBrian]

Looking at the stats it seems that the flyers played pretty well defensively in sets 1 and 2. Nebraska hit just over .200 for the match which is pretty good defensively. In set three though nebraska hit .345

Our hitting was dismal at .010 for the match.

It seems that Angel has played two good matches in a row, very nice to see. I remember when Angel signed Matt said that she didn't realize how good she could be.

[tandemcaptain]

I thought the Flyers played much better against Nebraska than they did against Iowa State. Maybe the long bus trip did have some deleterious effects on the team Thursday.

Alaina Turner had several successful back row attacks too!

Angel played very well.

Coach Affolder was very "animated" along the side lines much of the time. That's not necessarily bad. But, sometimes, he may have gone a little too far...

@TandemCaptain

[UDBrian]

was matt animated at the refs, his players or both?

[tandemcaptain]

Originally Posted by UDBrian was matt animated at the refs, his players or both?

We were sitting close by. Coach Affolder was animated at both the players and officials--which was good! But, at times, he was overly animated--probably not in a productive way--with the officials.

@TandemCaptain

[BeckysTXA]

These are my thoughts from the NE match. First I should say I received many emails and phone calls from a lot of people in Dayton that had seen the Flyers play this year. This was the first match I have been able to see either in person or via video. Also, I respect the volleyball IQ of the people I had heard from very much. I had been tipped to watch Matt's animation on the sidelines. I received many comments about our passing and serve receive and setting and comments like "so-and-so isn't any better this year than she was last year." And I think ALL the comments I received were spot on from these people. They know volleyball and they know how to watch for all the little things that make the difference between a great team and an average team that is good enough to win a weak conference. The reports I heard out of Dayton were pointing to an average team good enough to win the A-10 this year.

I think that may have changed with the Nebraska match and carried forward into the St Mary's win and this weekend could very well propel this team in the weeks and months ahead. We've become accustom to great volleyball teams at Dayton. This team didn't seem to have that based on the public viewing of the matches they played prior to this weekend. They may have had it in practice, but we hadn't seen it during competition. I'm happy to report I saw it right out of the gate in the NE match. I actually thought I was seeing it during warm ups. The team seemed really focused and everyone was swinging hard and getting after it during warmups -- but understand -- EVERYONE LOOKS GREAT IN WARMUPS -- because there is no one challenging you at the net. And I hadn't seen warmups this year either -- so it was a gut feeling that's all.

And finally, the family and friends section in the new arena is now on one of the ends -- the top 3 rows at the top. I can probably attest there isn't a bad seat in the 8,000+, but you are a little far from the net and you can't see everything technical. I like sitting on the ends because you see the plays developing but you have trouble seeing how far a pass is off the net, and some other things like that. So all those things people told me to look for, my seats didn't allow me to see and evaluate everything.

I'm going to break this up -- so it's not so hard to read.

[BeckysTXA]

I think we should look at the competition next -- NE is loaded with Top 100 talent and young. Here is the breakdown:

Sr Kelsey Robinson - #19 recruit
Sr Morgan Brockhuis - #2 recruit (did not start this match but played some)
Jr Mary Pollmiller - #93 recruit
So Meghan Haggerty - #14
So Kelsey Fien - #19 (played some)
So Cecellia Hall - from Sweden so she was not ranked
So Alicia Ostrander - Not Ranked. Local NE girl made good. Walk-on called into action when the starting MB got hurt in Spring or early fall practice - I can't remember
Fr Amber Rolfzen - #8 from Omaha area. With her twin sister, youngest recruit commitments at NE ever - age 13 or 14 when they committed
Fr Kadie Rolfzen - #5
Fr Justine Wong-Orantes -- Not Ranked She was a 5'6" SETTER in high school and NE recruited her as a Libero. Also plays beach -- Youngest player to earn an AAA CBVA ranking after winning an AAA tournament at the age of 12. If she had played Libero in high school, gotta believe she would have been ranked somewhere in the Top 250.

NE's setter was #93 -- but everyone else ranked is a Top 20 recruit.

Here is Dayton's lineup of Top 100:
Jenna Jendryk - #93 - which she earned from her primary position as an OH but she did set some in high school/club.

Those making Senior Aces in the 101 to 250 category which is alphabetized, so we don't know their actual ranking:
Jill Loiars, Alaina Turner, Z Hannah, Rachel Jones, and Megan Campbell

Those Not Ranked:
Janna Krafta, Ally Morey, Angel Agu, Aubreigh Applegate (all played against NE). Turner plays 3 rotations in the back row, but other than that, we have no ranked players receiving serve and passing -- and thus it's one of the areas that gets a lot of practice time/work. You can never have enough good passing.

So going in I was HOPING we could just "be presentable". I was hoping it wouldn't be a blood bath, ext. And boy did this Flyer team surprise me and perform well. We scored 20 and 21 points in the first 2 sets. We had to be doing a lot of things well. Nebraska wasn't making a bunch of errors giving us points. We were competing, scrapping for everything, passing well, etc. We clean up 2-3 errors on our side of the net and we win both those sets. That's how well the team was playing.

MORE TO COME -- gotta run get some things done, but I'll break down the part of our game and what we did well and what needs more work.

[BeckysTXA]

Sorry its taking so long to post all this, but its been a busy week. Here's what I think we did well at NE:

BLOCKING: I said it before the NE match that I thought this team was going to be a good blocking team. Other than the Iowa State match, I think we have blocked very well and I think we are going to get even better at it. We went into the NE Tourney averaging 2.79 Blks/Set. After having a bad blocking match against #25 ISU and playing #12 NE and #33 St Mary's, we come out of this tourney averaging 2.78. That's impressive.

But even more so was what I SAW from the block. In the first set NE scored 3 times down the line early (from both sides of the net.) We made blocking adjustments to this "in-match" to stop it. They probably scored another 3 down the line times the rest of the match, but they were stopped or they hit out 6-7 times after the adjustment.

Also in the 1st set, we had fallen behind by 4-5 points halfway thru. It was the block that got us back into the set. 4 straight UD points were a direct result of putting up a strong block. Two points were scored with a block. The other two were NE hitting wide -- one down the line (out) and one a cut shot (out) -- because the block was there and they tried to go around it and failed. Our block was causing problems for the NE setter and hitters. The NE setter had to dump a couple shots over herself to free up the net for her hitters.

Then against St Mary's -- who runs a fast offense and they shoot the sets out fast and low just like Xavier's offense in years past -- we stuff them like crazy averaging 4.5 blocks/set in that match. We were led by Angel Agu's 10 blocks in her first start in a UD uniform.

And we did this all with our best blocker Z getting limited action against NE and St Mary's. I said in another post I'd like to see Z play right side OH and move Shayne Brown to one of the left OHs spots. I say build this team around the block while we are working out the OH1 and OH2 slots, our passing, serve receive and setting. I'd like to see us control the net like no other UD team has ever done including the great team from 2010 who finished in the Top 5 blocking that year with 2.95 blocks/set (I think we finished #3). What would be really impressive is we would be doing it with way less height -- even if Jill Loiars is in the mix -- and that is "so" Flyer Volleyball -- beating the odds with players who simply out-work higher ranked players at bigger schools. We can be a Top 5 blocking team this year.

PASSING: I was expecting to see some ugly stuff here and for the first two sets against NE I thought we passed really well. Our seats up high on the end line didn't allow me to see everything you want to look at from the passing, but the first two sets I didn't see the setter Jenna having to run down too many passes. They were pretty much on target. NE went after Ally to close out both sets one and three -- and they got her on serve receive in both with the last 3-4 points -- but in those first two sets that was the only time I noticed we were getting beat in this area. Set 3 was a different case. Our passing broke down and Jenna was running after a lot of passes. We also had several free-ball returns in the 3rd. We don't get the passing stats/numbers, but this is an area the coaches are all over. I noticed Applegate did not play against Iowa State after getting in like 18 of 22 sets prior to that match. I asked Alaina's dad if she might be hurt. He did not know, but in set 2 (I think) she came in for 3 rotations and I thought she held her own. It appears the passing is improving which is what we like to see as fans. It's still a work in progress and I hope we run up against some really tough serving teams in the A-10 so we can continue to measure the improvement. You can be sure we'll face tough serving in the NCAAs.

FIGHT: I'm glad to report I thought this team really fought against both NE and St Mary's. Against NE it was only 1-2 errors that kept us from winning those first two sets -- that's how close it was. We very easily could have been up 2-0 at intermission. We scored 20 & 21 against the #12 ranked team in the country and I saw nobody backing down. We just kept coming after them even when we fell behind 4-5 points. That's Flyer Volleyball and I think this team FOUND that again this weekend.

ERRORS: In a word that's were we need to improve. I'm going to compare this team to the 2010 team that was 2 points from the Sweet 16. You might not think that is fair, but I think it is, because that's where this program wants to go so tee it up and let's see how we need to improve. And for the record, there is more than one way to skin a cat and get to the Sweet 16 -- so this year's team doesn't have to be better in every way. It's the right combination and mix that will get us there, but for discussion purposes, let's see where we stack up.

Hitting Errors
2010 463/111 sets = 4.17/set
2012 172/32 sets = 5.38

Service Errors
2010 158/111 = 1.42
2013 65/32 = 1.94

Receiving Errors
2010 62/111 = 0.56
2013 43/32 = 1.34

Blocking Errors
2010 30/111 = 0.27
2013 27/32 = 0.84

Ball Handing Errors
2010 28/111 = 0.25
2013 10/32 = 0.31

Total Errors/Set
2010 = 6.67/set
2013 = 9.81/set

As you can see, we are giving up more than 3 points per set more than the 2010 team. I'm not worried about the Ball Handling Errors. Our setter is going to get better each week and I think that irons itself out. But all the other areas need to be a focus to improve. Even our blocking -- as good as it is and I think it can be, we have to cut down on the errors or we have to be WAY better than the 2010 team. 2.95 - .27 = 2.68 points/set net off blocks for 2010. 2.78 - .84 = 1.94 points/set net off blocks for 2013. If the blocking errors stay at .84/set, this year's team will have to block at 3.52/set to match the blocking net production of the 2010 team.

More to come.

[BeckysTXA]

MATT: I had been given a heads up to watch Matt on the sidelines by several people. I'd even heard a couple alums were giving him a bad time about how animated he is. So I was thinking, "Oh no, we have the second coming of Anne Kordes." (hahaha) I'm happy to report its not even close!

I saw Matt two steps out on the court many times and I was thinking you gotta stay in the coaching box. And I saw him talking to the officials, but from our seats you could not see facial expressions or hear what he was saying, so I'll have to defer to Tandem who was much closer.

Matt is certainly more active on the sidelines than Horsmon who rarely stood up and Sheff who roamed with a clipboard. Just glad he's not anywhere near Anne Kordes level!

The other thing I really liked about Matt was I could tell he does NOT like to lose -- he doesn't like it A LOT. You WANT that in your coach. I remember seeing Sheff up at Michigan after the Marquette loss walking the back of their huge parking lot after that match -- probably calming down after that loss. Matt talked briefly to Avid and I after the match after his video clip taped interview -- but I could tell he really rather would have not. I remember Horsmon telling a parent it was probably better if you didn't talk to him after a loss. Matt's got "that" just like Tim and Sheff and as fan's that's the kind of coach you want running this program.

I also briefly talked with Stephanie -- more to say hi from a mutual friend than a conversation, but she is very, very nice. And I picked up on a couple things that reminded me of Tami Ores -- just that ability to be sweet and welcoming like Tami was -- that will serve UD very well in recruiting. Also talked to Sam Selsky who was WONDERFUL in a lot of the same ways. She took the time to talk to us for about 10-15 minutes when she did not have to. Sam can't coach as Dir of Ops, but she will probably be involved in activity with recruits and she too has that "something" that will make recruits feel welcome and want to come to UD. I did not have a chance to talk to Ryan. But I'd say Matt did an excellent job putting this staff together.

RECORDS: I think several UD Volleyball records were broken or tied this weekend. First was the 8100+ fans at the NE match -- that has to be the most ever to see a Dayton team play live. I think the team blocks against St Mary's (22.5 Blocks) is a record and I think Angel tied Lindsay Fletmeier's record of 10 blocks in a match record -- but I'm not 100% sure. It might not be a record, but more like moving her into a top 10 slot on blocks/match??? Great performance either way.

LONG RALLIES: We didn't win any long rallies against NE. There were 4-5 times when the ball crossed the net 5-6 times for long rallies, but they were all won by NE. I had heard this "I think" in a Matt video clip earlier this year, so it didn't surprise me. I will say we came CLOSE to winning two of these point. One was a kill that was called just out and I think the other was we were in the net on a block (???). Don't know what that really says, except maybe as other things start to fall into place we'll improve in this area. I would expect us to win a lot more of these when we start A-10 play, but that's because we will have more talent. What I think you really have to watch is our termination rate from the left side and our reduction in errors. If we see that, I will feel more confident we can win the long rallies against elite teams.

SETTING: I had also heard we weren't setting the ball as well as in years past. I would say that should be expected considering our last 3 setters were All-Americans and we haven't had every set come off a first-year setter since...when??? Hannah Clancy SHARED setting with Kacie. Yanz was a 5th year player. Sam was in her Junior year when she started. I don't think Erin Schroeder started as a freshman??? Maybe not even a sophomore??? I realize Jenna is a sophomore, but last year she did not set. She played her primary position of right side hitter. So yeah, setting is a little down from years past, as should be expected. But I liked what I saw from Jenna. She just needs some time and if our passing continues to improve, that helps her a lot.

We are going to need to see some fast, low sets to the left side OH before the season is over. Alaina is very quick and she would do well with this set. I saw on a clip we were setting a tandem set to the left -- something USA Volleyball does and we have not had in the past. Like that. The moon-ball sets to the left when we are out of system are something that is a result of a bad pass. We don't have Kray who can contact that set high and hit over the block. You will always have some of those. Better passing is how you limit them and better judgement by the OHs in not hitting into the block is how you "keep the ball in play" and not make an error -- and get better at winning the long rallies by getting better at terminating the shots you have a chance to terminate. In other words, it's not really the setter's "fault" here. But, the more Jenna plays setter, she will have a chance to maybe learn to set another option -- although she may only have one at times if the pass is really, really bad. Jenna is only going to get better with TIME and REPS, and she isn't bad at all right now. Just not All-American level...YET. I think she will get there. And she will be REALLY, REALLY good when she does because she is already the best blocking setter we've ever had. And I would say she is also really good at setting Megan on the slide. Yanz was not a good back setter. Sam could set the back sets to the slide and to the right side. I would say Jenna is already as good as Sam on that set. She might even be better than Sam at this point on that set. Megan is making very few errors on the slide -- and 90% of errors on a slide are because the set was not good. Jenna setting the slide to Megan is working sweet. Half the credit goes to the setter on this play.

So we have some work to do in the setting area, but I see a kid working her tail off to get there as fast as she can because her team needs her to play her secondary position -- setter. That is "so" Flyer Volleyball.

SUMMARY: I was expecting to see a Flyer team that was struggling and a step down from recent years. I believe the many people who I respect in Dayton that had seen this team play the first two weekends and sent reports saying we aren't as good as in the past. I think all that was true the first two weekends. But I think this team "found" something in Lincoln, NE during both the NE and St Mary's matches. We have 5 losses. They come against #12 NE; #15 NC; #24 Ohio, #25 Iowa State and NR MO State. All will make the NCAAs. We have two "good" wins: #33 St Mary's and NR Tulsa - who should also make the NCAAs.

It's been a long time since Dayton upset a team in volleyball. We thought the ILL win early last year was the biggest win ever for UD. That did not prove out when ILL did not make the NCAAs. During the Sheff-era I think the only "upset" was his first year when we beat a ranked TN team (if my memory isn't shot, like it might have been KY??) The point is, I think THIS TEAM - THIS YEAR has a REAL CHANCE to knock off someone in the NCAAs. It's been a long time. There is a lot of work to be done. I think there is some position changes that need to be looked at. We can "use" the A-10 schedule to do that. But right now, this team is close. Very close. It can be a very special team. Get behind this team and enjoy the ride. It could be an EPIC year for Flyer Volleyball.

The End! (hahaha - sorry so long)

[Glen Clark]

Becky - Thanks for posting!

____________________________
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