Morehead State

[Figgie123]

Flyers win 3-0. Morehead had about 30% of the fans, a nice turnout by them.

Set wins at 23, 11 and 26 if my memory is right. They did a good job of making us error. Horsmon calls a timeout after we get a point and we were up a bunch. It was after a long volley too. Their coach even got red carded over only one corner judge whistling for a ball outside a pole.

Sloan played all around in set 3, while Agu and Gresham got time too. Sloan has some power but needs a little more finesse.

A10 tourney or bust!!!

[ud69]

Morehead did not look like an 0-19 team. We did not look like a 16-5 team either. Move on.

[Chris R]

Again, I dont understand why we send 1/3 of all balls to one player that hits 0.030 on the night. I read the other post that hitting out of the back and other things means your hitting % will be down, but I still dont think this explains away giving someone 1/3 of the swings when they are hitting 0.030. It just seems like a futile effort and the definition of insanity. Whether its back row hitters, front row hitters, outside, inside, wherever.

If Turner is hitting well, I say send her all the balls she can handle, but if someone is hitting 0.030, why not give those swings to others that are hitting a higher percentage in that match? Just play the odds. Im not picking on Alaina. Im just saying go with the percentages and feed the hot hands while minimizing the touches of those that are struggling. This should go for everyone. Something tells me 1/3 of the swings and 0.030 hitting percentage is not a recipe for success. If she is hitting 0.200+, then feed her the rock. Id have me a stat guy on the sideline tracking hitting percentages during the match so I know which ones are terminating and which ones are not.

And if the setter is not getting the ball to the hot hands, or the serve receive people are hosing up the setter -- I address them about it so folks like Alaina dont have to swing at junk and are habitual victims of bad passing. So from your astute volleyball-background eyes, is our poor hitting percentage more about hitters that cant hit the cover off the ball, or are UDs hitters receiving balls that have have two layers of baggage on them from two suspect prior touches?

To my eyes that cannot see the nuance of strategy and lead-up as well as you, I notice the kill attempts more than the other stuff -- and that may be my downfall.

[Figgie123]

Chris, I'll let the experts (BeckysTXA/UDBrian) talk about that, but here is a quick and dirty query I wrote about hitting percentage by the highest attempts per game since the 2007 season until now. This is the lowest 30 hitting percentages by the player with the most attempts in an individual game. (I added pct_total column, which is the percentage of this players attempts against the entire team for that game.)

        name        |         get_volleyball_game_info         |  k_e_a   | hitpct | pct_total 
--------------------+------------------------------------------+----------+--------+-----------
 Alaina Turner      | 29-Nov-2013 vs. Bowling Green (W 3-1)    |  5/11/47 | -0.128 |     0.269
 Amanda Cowdrey     | 11-Sep-2009 vs. Connecticut (W 3-0)      |  4/ 7/26 | -0.115 |     0.260
 Rachel Krabacher   | 14-Sep-2012 vsN. Minnesota (L 0-3)       |  8/12/41 | -0.098 |     0.387
 Tiffany Gaerke     | 24-Oct-2008 at Saint Louis (L 0-3)       |  9/12/35 | -0.086 |     0.302
 Alaina Turner      | 06-Sep-2013 vsN. Cincinnati (W 3-0)      |  7/ 9/29 | -0.069 |     0.269
 Tiffany Gaerke     | 10-Oct-2008 vs. Temple (W 3-1)           |  7/ 9/34 | -0.059 |     0.260
 Alaina Turner      | 30-Aug-2013 vs. Tulsa (W 3-1)            |  9/11/45 | -0.044 |     0.304
 Jenna Jendryk      | 08-Sep-2012 vsN. Tennessee Tech (W 3-0)  |  7/ 8/24 | -0.042 |     0.235
 Rachel Krabacher   | 26-Nov-2010 at Ohio (W 3-0)              |  7/ 8/30 | -0.033 |     0.250
 Tiffany Gaerke     | 09-Oct-2009 at Fordham (W 3-1)           | 10/11/42 | -0.024 |     0.276
 Alaina Turner      | 30-Aug-2014 vsN. Pittsburgh (L 0-3)      | 10/10/43 |  0.000 |     0.417
 Alaina Turner      | 21-Sep-2013 vs. Western Michigan (W 3-1) |  8/ 8/39 |  0.000 |     0.220
 Amanda Cowdrey     | 03-Dec-2010 vs. Butler (W 3-0)           | 11/11/39 |  0.000 |     0.333
 Amanda Cowdrey     | 28-Aug-2010 vs. VCU (W 3-0)              |  4/ 4/19 |  0.000 |     0.264
 Nicole Bateman     | 07-Oct-2008 at Cincinnati (L 2-3)        | 12/11/52 |  0.019 |     0.315
 Kortney Norris     | 24-Nov-2007 at Miami (Ohio) (W 3-1)      |  9/ 8/37 |  0.027 |     0.203
 Alaina Turner      | 14-Oct-2014 vs. Morehead State (W 3-0)   |  9/ 8/33 |  0.030 |     0.355
 Rachel Krabacher   | 09-Sep-2011 vs. Florida State (L 1-3)    | 17/15/65 |  0.031 |     0.369
 Jill Loiars        | 02-Nov-2013 at George Mason (W 3-0)      |  6/ 5/28 |  0.036 |     0.250
 Yvonne Marten      | 15-Sep-2007 vsN. UMBC (W 3-0)            |  6/ 5/25 |  0.040 |     0.203
 Amanda Cowdrey     | 01-Oct-2010 vs. Rhode Island (W 3-0)     |  6/ 5/23 |  0.043 |     0.247
 Rachel Krabacher   | 24-Sep-2010 at Saint Louis (W 3-2)       | 11/ 9/47 |  0.043 |     0.245
 Jamie-Lee Richards | 31-Aug-2007 at Purdue (W 3-0)            | 13/11/45 |  0.044 |     0.306
 Tiffany Gaerke     | 26-Oct-2008 at Duquesne (W 3-0)          |  7/ 6/22 |  0.045 |     0.234
 Nicole Bateman     | 19-Sep-2008 vs. Purdue (L 2-3)           | 13/11/43 |  0.047 |     0.289
 Alaina Turner      | 13-Sep-2013 at Nebraska (L 0-3)          |  9/ 7/35 |  0.057 |     0.333
 Rachel Krabacher   | 15-Oct-2010 at Xavier (W 3-2)            | 12/ 8/68 |  0.059 |     0.279
 Nicole Bateman     | 05-Dec-2008 vs. Western Michigan (L 1-3) | 10/ 7/49 |  0.061 |     0.283
 Tiffany Gaerke     | 28-Nov-2008 at Ohio (L 0-3)              |  7/ 5/31 |  0.065 |     0.287
 Rachel Krabacher   | 10-Sep-2010 vsN. Illinois (L 0-3)        |  7/ 5/30 |  0.067 |     0.254

And here is the min/avg/max/stddev of the hitting percentage of the highest-attempted player for the 259 games that I have the stats for since 2007

 minpct | avgpct | maxpct | stddev | gm_count 
--------+--------+--------+--------+----------
 -0.128 |  0.233 |  0.696 |  0.151 |      259

The query almost agrees with your premise to a point. In my stats, Turner has 76 games played, and 7 of them are on this list. Krabacher has 113 games in my stats, but only 6 in this category. Cowdrey 4 out of 66. Here's the next part of that. Krabacher high-attempter in 87 games, Turner 35, Cowdrey 31. (Becky Novacek - twice ... that's for you BeckysTXA. )

So, it shows Turner has a higher percentage of high-attempt games where she hits in some of the worst percentages. So, is it bad passing? Or is it bad termination? I didn't sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I can't answer that question.

Figgie

[Figgie123]

Oh, and Lauren Gresham had a career high 1 dig.

[BeckysTXA]

Unless you see the match -- it's very hard to comment on the details, and I did not see this match. However, we should NOT have hit .176 as a team against Morehead State. I think the two comments above about not being our best (or even close to an average) performance is probably dead on. And the other about TH calling a timeout after we had scored a point says to me the team might have forgotten to mentally show up last night.

A couple years ago, teams started publishing their side-out percentages. UD was 61-69-59 in the 3 sets -- in my opinion that's low against this level of opponent. And for the last couple years I've WISHED teams would publish their passing grades. I'd love to see it itemized by player, but I'd take it itemized by set, just like the side-out percentage. This is the 0-1-2-3 score a pass is graded. 0 is of course a shanked ball that gets no 2nd touch. 3 is a pass to the setter that gives her all her hitter options. 1 & 2 are in-between those. If "It all starts with the pass" is accurate (and I believe it is) then this is a stat fans need to see to understand the game better. It would also give a platform to showcase those players that pass very, very well and deserve some public accolades.

So I'm going to try to watch the Rhode Island match this weekend. (We are just so busy I've been working every weekend for weeks now.) But it's a 1 pm match and I'm going to try to take a break and watch. Sometimes it's tough to "see" everything via internet streaming (camera angles aren't always the best) but I'd start with looking at passing. What is really hard to see via streaming video is how the defense is setting up -- so it's hard to look at "Is the setter making the best decisions when she has options?" and it's hard to see if the hitter is making the best decision in the air to beat a defense. (i.e. tip shot, tool the block, hard cross court, sharp cut shot, down the line, etc.) All of those things impact hitting percentages.

One of the things that the previous coaching staff did was the pre-match chalk talks and I know they would bring video to highlight some of these things -- for example, what other defenses would do to try to stop Rachel Krabacher or Lindsay Fletemier, etc. If you had the opportunity to attend any of those, you learn how to watch the game at a higher level and understand more of the game-planning and what your own offense and defense is trying to do.

All that said, I think fans, coaches and players probably agree this match was not our best by far even with the sweep. We'll see how the team responds this weekend.

[BeckysTXA]

It should be noted, that for Alaina and Jill -- three years ago when they were freshman and not playing the roles they play today they had Sam Selsky as their setter. She was an All-American that year. The last two years that has not been the case. All the other players on this list had an AA setter for the years noted.

We have a freshman setter that has surprised the heck out of me the matches that I've seen. She has played way better than I expected. WAY BETTER. And those of you that got private messages from me before the season started and in the early going know setter was my number one concern going into the season because I didn't think we had one and I was aware we had ALWAYS had an AA setter the years we won the A-10 and went to the NCAAs with the exception of one year when we played a 6-2 offense and Kacie Hausfeld and Hannah Clancy shared the setting duties. Jane has far exceeded my expectations and again, from the matches I've seen, she has improved so much this year. She is probably the leading candidate for Most Improved player. But she is still a freshman and is still learning how each hitter likes the ball delivered and I'm sure she still has a ways to go in reading defenses and that impacts her decisions on who to deliver the ball to in a split second. She has been very impressive as a freshman -- she is leading the A-10 assist stats at 11.86/set. The next closest is 11.00/set. She could very well end up the A-10 Setter of the Year. Very impressive so far -- but she also has a lot of work still to do.

The timing and details of the setter-hitter connection should be added to this discussion. This takes time and is greatly helped after the players go through a Spring with each other. This is when they get the small group sessions where they can drill down on one aspect of the game and do a ton of reps to improve that area. I'm a big hitting percentage person. You have to be able to terminate balls and limit errors so you're not scoring points for the other team. But I also understand a team hitting high 200s and low 300s for the season is rare - especially when you are playing top-level opponents for much of your schedule, and UD is not. And it takes doing all aspects of the game at a very high level to pull those type of hitting percentages.

Dayton is leading the A-10 in Conference Stats Hitting Percentage at .276. For all-matches, they are also leading the A-10 for the season at .249. We have not only a freshman setter but also a freshman MB (Amber), a freshman DS/OH (Jess) and a freshman serving specialist/DS (Kelsey) -- 4 freshmen in the "starting" rotation of 9 players. I repeat -- you have to do ALL aspects of the game well to have a high hitting percentage as a team. With 4 freshmen in the lineup, I think we are doing pretty well, all things considered. It doesn't excuse .176 against Morehead St. Need to bring it every match, be more consistent, and get better across the board in all aspects of the game. Just putting somethings into perspective.

[BeckysTXA]

It should also be noted, with the following exceptions, every player above has been a post-season All-A-10 team honoree, All A-10 Tourney honoree and in some cases All-American.

The exceptions are Jenna Jendryk was a freshman in 2012 and her career is not completed. And in 2008, Tiff Gareke was a sophomore and she made the A-10 Tourney team that season or the next. I'm too lazy to look it up, but she was honored one year on the All-Tourney team.

Point is these players are some of UD's best ever -- even with bad days at the office. You keep going to your best players because over time they certainly have proven themselves. If you watch live stats, you will see players many times start out negatively but end a match with great stats. And the coaches do have the live stat info on the sidelines, so they know what's going on. But they also have watched a ton of film and put together a game plan to attack weaknesses. As fans we don't get that level of details. I agree coaches have to make in-match adjustments. And I've thought recent UD coaches were not very good at that. However, I saw TH coach in 2007 and I thought he was very good at making those adjustments.

[Figgie123]

BeckysTXA mentioned Jendryk, and she's asked about her serving previously, and I wanted to provide this info from last night. She didn't serve (and didn't play in the 3rd set), and during the last Flyer set of warmups when they did their last serve practice, Jenna only served once, in her normal jump process. The others had to have done at least 3-6 serves in that time frame. (Seemed like Jendryk was trying to find a ball, because her side of the net didn't have ball keepers for some reason, and there weren't balls being served to her from the other side, or the other players were grabbing them first. When she finally did get one, a whistle was blown to signify 15 seconds left, and she just dropped the ball.)

[UDBrian]

Originally Posted by BeckysTXA I agree coaches have to make in-match adjustments. And I've thought recent UD coaches were not very good at that. However, I saw TH coach in 2007 and I thought he was very good at making those adjustments.

Great posts. I think that Tim previously made great defensive adjustments but I think he and the staff are making offensive adjustments now as well.

One thing that Kelly said during a pre game info session was that the team they were playing did not make adjustments during the match. So teams even scout adjustments being made.

I remember Cincinnati beating Illinois a few years ago when they had neimer. That is an example of a team not making any adjustments (Illinois), they basically let one player beat them in that match.

I learned a lot from the chalk talks. Matt didn't use the videos that Kelly did but he did talk about the other team's tendencies and how they would attack offensively and defensively.

And another thing that helps is watching matches or seeing tape from the end line instead of the side line. It allows you to see how the defense was playing and how they are being attacked. I wish they would have one match at UD arena each year just so that fans can experience watching the matches from that perspective

[BeckysTXA]

I agree with the end-line view. One of the A-10 schools use to video from a corner of the end line and it's great streaming video. I've also watched pro hockey games from the end line and it's great. You see the puck and the play coming at you. Would be the same view as a goalie has and you really see the play developing as the players come down the ice - both offensively and defensively.