Pitt Thread

BeckysTXA · #1 11-28-2016, 12:14 PM

I have not seen Pitt play and know nothing about them. Based on who they have beaten this year, we can not overlook them. I believe 3 of the teams playing in this sub-regional can punch their ticket to the Sweet Sixteen. Pitt is one of those teams so we have to get after it. They beat us 0-3 in 2014. I'm not even sure if Pitt would have been seeded high than UD if more than 16 teams were seeded. Argument could be made based on who they have beaten.

A Pitt assistant coach from last year is now an assistant for Penn State. Our coaching staff and half our team should certainly know the lay of the land, which will help us. No one on Pitts team has ever played in an NCAA match.

Pitt appears to play 2 setters. That means they will have 3 hitters in the front row all the time. Our block has to be ready. It also means they will only have 2 people defending the back row because their setters will always be in the back. We need to go after their setters and make them take the first touch. We also need to exploit their lack of bodies in the back with our quick sets/attacks. Don't give an OH the time to drop back to defend. Our speed and quick sets will be key, but so will our serving and serve receive. When you get to the NCAAs, serve and receive are always critical. Finally, everyone has to contribute. Everyone of these players has come up big this year in key moments, but our real strength is when everyone is contributing consistantly. The sum of the whole is greater than the parts.

BeckysTXA · #2 11-29-2016, 08:22 AM

The Big10 schools have all put in challenge review systems this year. I've seen them used several time over the season watching matches on tv. I like them. These aren't the really expensive systems you saw at the Olympics or if you watch tennis on tv. But I haven't seen too many issues with using them for a match. The time to review is ok as far as I can see. Volleyball is such a big momentum game. We see it all the time with a time out and the server gets iced. I have seen coaches using a review challenge to stop momentum like an extra time out. Not sure you can stop that. It will just be part of the game.

Since PSU has a system I wondered if it would be used this weekend. I don't think we have played a match with the review option this year??? Going against a coach that has used it, especially on their home court, could be an advantage for that team. That coach would be very familiar with the systems camera angles and limitations. So I was interested. From what I can find, the review system will not be used this weekend. I could only find were it will be used in the Final Four in Columbus. Since it won't be available at all sites, it appears it's not suppose to be used by any of them for the sub-regionals and regionals. This is probably fair for everyone. This probably won't be the case for too many more years. Dayton will need to get a system sooner rather than later to keep up and I could see it being required to be a host in the near future.

jack72 · #3 11-29-2016, 02:32 PM

These review systems just slow down the play and the momentum. Baseball and football have increased already too long game times. Over time these calls even out, so lets just play.

BeckysTXA · #4 11-30-2016, 07:28 AM

I was reading the following on another website this am.

NE coach Cook said he got the Big10 report on reviews from this year and 40% of plays reviewed were overturned. I think that justifies the time for reviews. The matches I watched this year with systems did not appear to be a long delay, but it's a small sample. I also think refs will get better/quicker at it as they get use to the equipment. And equipment will get better.

I also read the following but do not know the source, so I don't know if it's true. Review system being used at Final Four this year. Next year they will require it at regionals. Since these are no longer pre-determined sights, UD might need a system as early as next year. And by 2018, review systems will be required for all matches.

BeckysTXA · #5 11-30-2016, 09:22 AM

Had a little more time to look at Pitt. I was incorrect about them playing 2 setters. They run a one setter offense. Their setter is only 5'7" tall, but she is good. She was named the ACC SOY and is only a sophomore and from HI. We will need to look to hit over her as much as possible she blocks at only .21 per set. By comparison, Jane at 5' 10" isn't a great blocker either because of her height, but she averages .38 - almost double. We have to go after their setter the 3 rotations she is in the front row.

Pitt is good folks. We can't overlook them. They knocked off Michigan and NC and lost in 5 sets to WKY. All 3 of those teams have been ranked for most of the year. We have nothing to compare that to. We haven't played anyone at that level.

Pitt had a "bad" spell during the season when their Rightside hitter got a skin rash on her foot and it got infected so she was out. Well they are 100% healthy now. Without that, they would probably be a ranked team and their rpi would probably be better than UDs. On top of that, Pitt thought they should have gotten an at large bid last year. They have been working for this for two years. They will be very focused and looking to prove they belong. Sitting here today looking at Pitt and PSU's body of work this year, it's easy to see how most people who follow volleyball nationally are picking Pitt to beat UD. UD is probably the 3rd seed in this pod of 4.

I watched their coaches news conference and I like the guy (Dan Fisher). He is from CA and played in college. Then he played professionally and came back and played for 5 years on the pro beach tour. Beach players are very good at coaching serve receive and passing. UDBrian will tell you to play doubles (which is what beach is) if you want to improve your serve receive and passing. He has been to the NCAAs as an assistant, but this will be his first time as a HC. I'm impressed with him at the level that in 2-3 years if a Big 10 or Pac 12 job opens, I think he is a serious candidate. Also noticed he has 4 international players on the team, so he still has contacts all over the world from his playing days.

We will have to play our best to beat this team. Pitts not a great blocking team at only 2.25 per set. We have to pass well to run our quick sets to beat their block and have as many hitter options as possible. We have improved our block this year a lot since the first month, but it can still be inconsistent. Some matches we have been very good. We will need it to be very good against Pitt.

It will be by far our toughest match of the year. Go Flyers!

And sorry I messed up the setter info. I saw both setters were shorter than 5'9" and I have no idea why I didn't look at the stats. Glad I caught it to correct it.

BeckysTXA · #6 11-30-2016, 01:40 PM

Here are the things you just don't know about. Speed. We play a quick offense and set fast and low when we can. Their coach said they haven't played anyone like us this year. I'm going to think our speed might be what he is talking about.

Remember back 5-6 years ago when we had great teams and we would go down to X and get beat. It was because they played so fast. I haven't seen Pitt play. I don't know if f they are slow to the attack. With 2.25 blocks per set, which isn't great, maybe they are.

Their two MBs are 6'3". Our two MBs are 6' and 6'1". But both Amber and Kendyll are quick off their feet. We don't run the slide very well which I think contributes to us not defending the slide very well because we don't get to practice against a good slide. If their MBs are slide hitters, we will have to find a way to stop that.

I think we have the best back row we have ever had at UD. I think Margo is the best we've had except it might be a toss up with Adrienne Green. Hard to tell because it's been too many years. But I think Maggie has contributed so much in the DS1 role. And Jess, Jordan and Laura have all been solid. And Jamie in serve receive the last month has been good. As a group, I think this is the best we have had. So it's hard to believe Pitt will be as good in this area.

I don't think we have been that great of serving team. We have certainly been a creative serving team. Lots of different types of serves by different players. We seem to have mastered those short flouting serves to keep receivers off balance. It seemed to me that a10 teams got much better at handling these serves the 2nd and 3rd matches they played us. So first time out dealing with this, Pitt might have some problems. I have no idea how they serve. Serve receive is so hard and every player has had their train wrecks if they get a little shaken, but we have solid options to come in. That was not the case earlier in the year. We kind of had to go with who was in there. If someone is having an off-night we have options now.

Hitters and setters. We have talent at every position. Everyone of these players put up all-conference numbers even tho Lauren got robbed. That said, we struggle with back sets to the right side. We are not a strong slide team. And our Rightside OHs have to hit down the line more, so the sets have to be out by the pin to do that. Jamie and Jane need to figure out how to get her more down the line opportunities because teams are waiting for her cross court. I'd also like to see our right sides running an inside slide to the middle when the MBs run their slide out to the right. And earlier in the year we were running more tandem hitters on the left side - two hitters stacked behind each other and the block doesn't know who is going to get the set, and thus can't time their block. I'd like to see more of this.

All of this is at a pretty high level of fine tuning. If we can pull it all together, we will be ready to make a run. There are 3 good teams in this pod, and UD has as good a shot as we've had the last 3 years to make the second weekend. Go Flyers!

UDBrian · #7 11-30-2016, 02:06 PM

Really nice analysis! Another thing I would like to see is a low fast set to the left side hitter (not a true shoot but close) which is between the outside blocker and middle blocker

udisit19 · #8 11-30-2016, 02:35 PM

Thanks for all your information Becky.

The biggest thing that jumps out to me when looking at Pitt's stats is a strength behind the serving line. Every regular player on their team who serves has a good sa/s rate. Two of their players are above .30 (Bell @ 0.36 and Markovic @ 0.34). Our best two are Sloan and Wolf at 0.33 and 0.30 respectively. Overall they average more service aces per set than us, 0.164 to 0.140. Their two best servers are not outstanding at 0.36 or 0.34, but the Flyers will not get a break at serve receive. They will be facing tough serving the entire match. We all know Dayton has great middles but we will need to pass well to get them the ball.

I also looked at what caused us to struggle in our only loss of the year. After reading through the thread, the clear problem was our serve receive. So the Flyers could be in some trouble if they haven't improved since then. The Flyers were pretty close in every set, so even though it was a 3 set loss to Loyola Marymount it wasn't a blowout.

Becky, you look like you are on to something with your the blocking weakness. The setter is clearly a weak spot in the block and overall the Flyers seem to have a better all around block. Given that serve receive could be tough the Flyers should simply just try to get to ball across the net during a tough serving run and lean on the blocking strength to maybe frustrate Pitt.

Pitt shows reception errors in their stats. Some teams do it and some teams don't. Dayton does not, and its probably a good idea, because anyone (like me) can go online and see what back-row player isn't as good as the others. They clearly have 3 players that receive serve regularly and Stephanie Williams looks like the weak link since she has 0.51 service errors per set. If the Flyers can find out what type of serve she struggles against they might be able to go on some runs.

Freshman Jaime Peterson could come in handy too. Given some poor serve receive, the tall OH could still be able to get some kills if the first passes are not as quick as usual. She seemed like she came up big in the Loyola Marymount game when some of the sets were on the line. I also think she will be excited to play in this first round match when some of the other players may not be as excited to be in the 2/3 match in the Happy Valley Pod. Could be similar to when Sheffield substituted Jill for Alaina against Pepperdine in the NCAA tourney. Gave the team some more height on offense and a stronger block. Having her in during certain rotations could be very beneficial.

It looks like it will be a very tough match. I think the two coaches will be able to make enough adjustments for this match to go 5 sets. Should be an exciting one.

UDBrian · #9 11-30-2016, 03:28 PM

I agree that this could be a very tough match. Their coach said that their period of losses occurred when they missed a right side due to injury and that person is back.

Stats between the two teams are pretty similar Pitt hit .259 for the year versus ud at 282 but pitt's was against better competition

It is interesting that pitt was outblocked by their opponents 2.82 per set versus 2.25 for pitt UD blocks at 2.42 blocks per set

ud has five players with 234 or more kills

Pitt has six players with more than 160 kills

If Pitt hasn't played anyone with a fast offense let's hope the passing is really good so that we can run some fast sets to Jess, Lauren and Jamie as well as the middles.

Based on stats this is a PICK EM, neither team has a definite strength advantage

UDBrian · #10 11-30-2016, 03:46 PM

I thought that in UD's loss the other team served extremely well with a ton of pace and accuracy. I agree we don't want a match where the passing is mediocre and we are forced to set high balls to the outside hitters. That isn't our offense

BeckysTXA · #11 11-30-2016, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by UDBrian

I thought that in UD's loss the other team served extremely well with a ton of pace and accuracy. I agree we don't want a match where the passing is mediocre and we are forced to set high balls to the outside hitters. That isn't our offense

LMU had a huge serving match against us. And I think they were just on that day more than us being off. I saw them on tv about a month later and it wasn't even close. We ran into a buzz saw that day. It happens. And it was week 1 or 2 I think. We have gotten better and we have back up that can come in if someone is off. But in the NCAAs everyone is good and serving tough is a must because everyone has hitters and if they are in system the good hitters will win most of those swings.

A note on their opponent blocking stat. I saw that too and went to the NCAA stat pages. They have very good blocking teams in the ACC, so played a lot of matches against the best blockers. NC, FL St and Syracuse are all in the top 15 blocking teams. UD is 47th. Top 50 is good, we just need to be very good against Pitt. They hit .280+ against better blocking teams all year.

Lifelong Flyer Fan · #12 12-01-2016, 12:14 PM

http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/new...tournam/ntHFH/

Not specifically about the Pitt game, but a very nice piece on our program
http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/art...kacie-hausfeld

BeckysTXA · #13 12-01-2016, 05:07 PM

This is a really nice article. I had heard TH was being a little hard on the team even as they kept winning. Tough coaching call, but I'm hoping it pays off in the next two days. I do know TH wants the best for each player and he will continue to push to get this program to a Sweet 16. When I listened to the Pitt news conference, they have been working to get back to the NCAAs. Our program is beyond that level. The match will be very challenging because Pitt is good. But I like where our program is at for the next 3 years. And I like they are already working on a much tougher schedule for 2017.

Beat Pitt. That's what it's all about right now. Go Flyers!

BeckysTXA · #14 12-01-2016, 05:53 PM

Pitt has a free fan bus going to Rec Hall on Friday. Both students and fans can take the free ride. Students also get free tickets.

Also, first 200 Penn St students get in free on Friday, so we will probably see them during our match.

I haven't heard who is going for UD, but Pitt will be represented.

maddog07 · #15 12-02-2016, 05:27 PM

Good start 20- 14 after a rough patch mid set.
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maddog07 · #16 12-02-2016, 05:32 PM

Flyers take first 25-20!!!
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BeckysTXA · #17 12-02-2016, 05:34 PM

UD takes set 1 25-20. This set was never in doubt, so I hate to sound negative, but we weren't that sharp. A little sloppy on our side of the net. We need to clean up some passes and get crisper this 2nd set.

BeckysTXA · #18 12-02-2016, 05:37 PM

We had 6.5 blocks that set which is so very, very good. But Pitt still hit over 300 as a team, so they found holes.

maddog07 · #19 12-02-2016, 05:43 PM

Bad start down 9-3 in 2nd. Having trouble finishing against their size.
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maddog07 · #20 12-02-2016, 05:45 PM

Were down 11- 4 . Fought back to 11-7 . Timeout
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maddog07 · #21 12-02-2016, 05:58 PM

still fighting to overcome terrible start down 20-18. Timeout Pitt
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BeckysTXA · #22 12-02-2016, 05:59 PM

18-20 Pitt but we have fought back. TO Pitt. Let's go flyers!

maddog07 · #23 12-02-2016, 06:03 PM

Bruns having a tough time of it either getting blocked or going long. Went down 25-19.
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BeckysTXA · #24 12-02-2016, 06:05 PM

1-1. Pitt takes 2nd 19-25. Lots to clean up on our side of the net. We haven't looked sharp all night starting with the pass. We are blocking well. Went from hitting over 400 after the first set to low 200s after the second.

BeckysTXA · #25 12-02-2016, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by maddog07

Bruns having a tough time of it either getting blocked or going long. Went down 25-19.
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Hey mad dog I heard you have a new job - Sec of Defense in DC. Congrats.

maddog07 · #26 12-02-2016, 06:19 PM

great start 8-3. Time out Pitt
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BeckysTXA · #27 12-02-2016, 06:19 PM

TO Pitt. Amber on a long service run. Passing is better. We are setting the middles. UD up 8-3

BeckysTXA · #28 12-02-2016, 06:25 PM

Pitt on a run so TO UD. UD up 12-9

maddog07 · #29 12-02-2016, 06:26 PM

12-9 UD. Pitt on a 4 pt run. Time. UD
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BeckysTXA · #30 12-02-2016, 06:31 PM

It's clear we've worked on the slide between Jane and Amber. We've run it more in 2.5 sets than all year. And Amber is scoring off it. We need another run. UD up 18-15 with Amber serving

maddog07 · #31 12-02-2016, 06:34 PM

The Pitt band is twice our size and they have more fans.

Currently we have more points up 21-17.
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BeckysTXA · #32 12-02-2016, 06:37 PM

Pitt on another little mini run so TH takes our last TO. UD up 23-18. Need a side out.

BeckysTXA · #33 12-02-2016, 06:39 PM

Need a side out please

BeckysTXA · #34 12-02-2016, 06:40 PM

23-23. Pitt still serving

BeckysTXA · #35 12-02-2016, 06:41 PM

Finally we get a block. 24-24

BeckysTXA · #36 12-02-2016, 06:42 PM

25-25.

maddog07 · #37 12-02-2016, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by BeckysTXA

23-23. Pitt still serving

We let them off the mat. Choked set three away . Bummer. Think we played too tentatively while Pitt was hammering the ball at us.
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ud69 · #38 12-02-2016, 06:44 PM

Ouch. 25-27 Pitt. We had a terrible set by Emmenecker at 25-24 that could have won the set.

BeckysTXA · #39 12-02-2016, 06:44 PM

Pitt wins 27-25. A set we gave away. We had a big lead and lost focus. Will take 5 to advance. We've been here before. We have to pass to get to the MBs. They can't stop Amber and Kendyll. And we need to get our block back up and running because their OHs are scoring on us.

Avid Flyer · #40 12-02-2016, 06:48 PM

Outscored 10-2 down the stretch. Has to be demoralizing. Can the flyers recover from that dismal end of a set.

Gut check time. UD came from behind and left a few points on the table for Pitt to take the W. Then Pitt came from behind and finished with a flurry.

Some bad sets by Jane and some service errors, either long or short or out of bounds.

Need regroup. Need to go to 5 sets now or its a short turn around back to Dayton.

I've seen Dayton in the past lose big leads and the match, no matter who the coach was.

Avid Flyer · #41 12-02-2016, 06:50 PM

I'm afraid Pitt smells blood now, the have the mo. Going to take UD's best play the rest of the match to pull this one out. Christmas is not here yet and were already giving too many gifts.

maddog07 · #42 12-02-2016, 06:54 PM

Sloan having a good match.
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BeckysTXA · #43 12-02-2016, 06:56 PM

12-8 Pitt. We look tired. Need to regroup and get our second wind

maddog07 · #44 12-02-2016, 06:59 PM

15-11 Pitt Timeout
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BeckysTXA · #45 12-02-2016, 07:00 PM

15-11 Pitt. TO UD. We need to focus. Get a good pass. Feed our MBs .

maddog07 · #46 12-02-2016, 07:05 PM

Fighting hard just can't get even. 18-16
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BeckysTXA · #47 12-02-2016, 07:09 PM

Down 22-18. We need a side out.

maddog07 · #48 12-02-2016, 07:13 PM

Sad end to a great year.

Chris R · #49 12-02-2016, 07:28 PM

Pitt deserved to advance. They were better in every phase after about 1.5 sets. They were by far the best digging team we faced all year by a MILE. They probably dug out 20 fisted armbars at head-height and than flicked the ball over on the third touch -- and won a majority of those points after the smoke cleared. They pretty much dug out everything we threw at them after the first set. We couldnt terminate anything.

On the other side, our serve receive was all over the place, setting not good, attacks too weak. My guess is 75-80% of the points in the last 2 sets were with UD scrambling. Putting together 3 consecutive clean touches of the ball were almost impossible.

Pitt had heavier hitters. Stuff just deflected off us and out of bounds. When we attacked, they got deflections inside the court and dug them out.

Our weak schedule hurt us tonight as we have not faced anyone with this physicality in three months. We are not used to seeing that many balls come back over the net. If you graded us out, we did not play that well in any phase after set 1, but Pitt had a lot to do with it. They just pushed us around. We gotta get stronger.

Whos to say how things goes if we close out set three when its 23-17, but when I saw them get it to 23-19 I said to myself "I dont think we can hold on". Cant remember ever thinking in the past b/c UD is usually so mentally tough to grind out close sets but I just felt were were losing our grip and did not have the physicality on the court to counterpunch in the same manner if the match remained very physical.

The loss of the 10-3 lead earlier in game three really indicated how Pitt ramped up their physicality they climbed back. We had no response to it for the most part after that.

Still a great season. 30-2 is tough to do. We probably werent even supposed to be here. But I think the coaches and players will walk away from this with two thoughts: we could have played better, and we probably have a longer way to go than we thought to be an honest second weekend NCAA program. Specifically in getting more physical on our digs, attacks, and much cleaner on serve receive. Pitt gave us fits with their serving. We couldnt place a received ball anywhere we wanted.

Nothing tonight erases 30 wins and two A10 titles. We get everyone back in 2017. We'll learn from this, get better, and improve. Most programs would KILL for a "rebuilding year" like this. We lost 5 starters and a 2-time A10 POY from an NCAA 2nd Rd Team and played no athletic-eligible seniors. This year's team has nothing to apologize for!

keats '91 · #50 12-02-2016, 08:18 PM

Thanks to the regular poster for this volleyball team. Your inisght is appreciated.
Seems like the girls got a good idea of what to work on for taking it to the next level. Disappointed to be sure. But a lot of potential, for next year.
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Hope they schedule up next year.

Avid Flyer · #51 12-02-2016, 09:41 PM

Third set broke the flyers back. Possibly the chance bracket wise to advance to the sweet sixteen, but just not our best team to do that. All in all a better year than was anticipated. Congrats Tim and the ladies on s great year. The future bodes well.

Lifelong Flyer Fan · #52 12-03-2016, 09:41 AM

Post game press conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ladZIAwSnsc

BeckysTXA · #53 12-03-2016, 10:18 AM

I think this team hit its peak the end of October when SLU came to town. Up until then you could see us getting better every week in some area of the game. Then we seemed to take a step back off that high. We were a young team and it would have been natural to see some ups and downs all season long. That didn't really happen until the last month of the season. We seemed to hit a learning curve wall, which is understandable.

The good news is we have seen this group of players can get better in most areas of the game. We came a long, long way in blocking. We saw the slide working better last night. We saw hitters get better all year. The first month of the season, the team was asking Jess to do too much. As other players stepped up, the pressure on Jess was eased and she got better because of that shift. Teams had to worry about other players and not just focus on stopping her. That helped everyone.

One area that I feel needs to be addressed in the off-season is OUR serve. We used creative serving this year. We need to get to a level of tough serving. Both to keep our opponents out of system, but also to help our serve receive. When you don't practice against a strong serving team, you will get beat when you have to go up against one. Both of our losses this year were against teams that served tough. We struggled because we were out-of-system in those two matches too much.

And our schedule hurt us, but we knew that. SLU and GW should have been better. You can't control all of it. And I think we cleaned up the backend of some contracts. And we were better than expected. In the end only Miami OH from our schedule made the NCAAs. That isn't going to prepare you for a team like Pitt who without a mid-season injury would have been ranked. So it was what it was and you move on.

Team needs to enjoy their time off and the holidays and come back ready to work hard in the off-season. This year was great and Next year is going to be even better.

jack72 · #54 12-03-2016, 01:38 PM

Great point on serving. We have some good servers and we have some who are not serving at a Top25 level.

Another thing I noticed, which is the result of a weak schedule, is players watching and standing unready when a teammate is making a kill. Yesterday some of those came back near flat footed players.

UDBrian · #55 12-03-2016, 04:09 PM

I remember Tim responding to a question regarding serving before the season started. It is definitely a point of emphasis to serve hard, the harder you hit a floater the more it moves. I taught myself how to hit a good jump floater and can tell you that the toss is the reason for most missed serves.

But, not everyone has the confidence to hit it correctly when the game is on the line. Jess has done it repeatedly this year but many others let up. The other thing is that when you hit a floater you really smack the ball and stop your hand as opposed to how you spike the ball where there is some continued contact.

Chris R · #56 12-03-2016, 05:42 PM

Pitt dug so many balls out. They probably had 8-10 of the best digs alone that went against us all season. We were not used to having to hit 6 and 9 touches on every point in order to win a point. I think we wore down late in the 3rd and then the 4th set. Nothing we hit touched the floor -- or if it did, it touched the floor way out of bounds. Our movement got more sporadic. Receives go sloppy, setting got sloppy, attacks were not accurate or physical enough.

Good learning tool though for the offseason. We probably knew these weaknesses even before the NCAAs, but to now have empirical evidence against an opponent at the end of the season is a great teaching tool on where we need to improve.

Glen Clark · #57 12-03-2016, 10:03 PM

They will all be back next year - schedule tough and make waves!

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