Butler Spring Match

[BeckysTXA]

Next Saturday volleyball returns to Frericks. Butler comes to town to kick off the 4-play day Spring schedule. Although in spring the coaches can change formats at any time, this appears to be set up as a normal match, versus a drills day or closed scrimmage, which is what the day up at Michigan the next weeken appears to be. The Butler match might also be best of 3 sets. That's common for spring.

First, if players stay healthy, the 2017 team should be very, very good. If I lived anywhere near Dayton I would not miss the first look at this squad, because it will be one of Dayton's best ever.

I really like this spring match up. It's excellent scheduling for spring. Both teams return almost their entire teams from last year. For UD, Megan Giardina, Julia Brown and Bri Pittman are no longer on the roster. None of those players factored into the starters for Dayton at season end last year. For Butler they lose 4 players, but only one was a starter - an MB.

Butlers setter is heading into her senior year just like Jane for us. She was the Big Easy FOY, which leads me to believe she has started since her freshman year. So has Jane. Both are 5'9" to 5'10" setters - short in today's standards.

The other big player for Butler is their OH Logan. First Team Big East and HM AA. We counter with Jess, First Team A10, Jamie - A10 Rookie Team, Lauren - who I think deserved some post season recognition and Jordan who got some experience last year as a freshman. Will also be interesting to see if Brooke Westbeld spends sometime at Rightside OH. Butlers OHs will have just as much experience as ours.

At MB Butler is much taller than our returning starters from last year. They at 6'4" and 6'2". That's a good spring challenge for Amber and Kendal and great for our taller younger MBs in Serria and Olivia who play against Amber/Kendall everyday in practice. Amber and Kendall are two very fast MBs. Will be interesting if height or speed prevails.

In the backrow, I'll match our team of Margo-Maggie-Laura against most teams and feel we've got this. They are going to be even better this year. Butler has 2 transfers. Their Libero is from Hawaii, which seems to always puts out good Libero. Their DS is Parada, who played/started for George Washington her first two years, so will know Dayton well. She is a senior, so knows our strong senior class well.

Butler has 2 seniors - their setter and DS. We have seniors at setter, MB, OH, and two DS. Butler plays in a lot tougher conference so you can not discount their experience. All this makes for a very good spring match.

[UDBrian]

thanks for the heads up

[Glen Clark]

What time is the match? Thanks

_____________________
Whether your glass is half full or half empty, you still have more to drink

[BeckysTXA]

2 pm.

[UDBrian]

I plan on attending but won't post from hausfeld court. I don't want spell check changing Jess to Jesus etc. But, I will take notes and post my thoughts after returning.

I will plan on an article with Tim's thoughts on how things look after spring matches end. I would also like to get a few thoughts from Evan and our new assistant coach

[BeckysTXA]

Originally Posted by UDBrian I plan on attending but won't post from hausfeld court. I don't want spell check changing Jess to Jesus etc. But, I will take notes and post my thoughts after returning. I will plan on an article with Tim's thoughts on how things look after spring matches end. I would also like to get a few thoughts from Evan and our new assistant coach

Thanks for your commitment to the program and the fans. Looking forward to seeing your posts. Would love to get all three coaches comments on how it helps a team if they have OHs who can go 6 rotations. Alyssa's point of view on how hard it is for OHs to become Libero-like in their backrow skills. Evan's comments on what the differences are for a hitter to attack from behind the 10' line versus at the net. What adjustments they have to make, and what types of shots they have to be able to hit from the back to be successful. And Tim's comments on how having 2-3 hitters play 6 rotations, how that changes your offensive game plan and the advantages it brings to a team. And maybe where he thinks we are in development to becoming an extremely dangerous team in using backrow hitters.

Thank you!

[BeckysTXA]

Also, when you get to the how Spring went article, I feel two areas we needed to improve from last year are blocking and agressive serving. Would like to hear if the staff felt these two areas need to be worked on and if we are seeing improvement. Thanks.

[UDBrian]

great ideas, i hardly need to give this much thought

[UDBrian]

I had the opportunity to watch the women's volleyball team in a titanic struggle against Butler today and here are a few of my thoughts of things that stood out:

Before the match I saw Sierra in a boot. I thought that most of the team looks to be in good shape. Olivia hit the ball better during warmups than I remember seeing last year.

I watched Butler warmup their two setters. One of them had great hands but seemed to be much shorter than the other one. Butler started playing a 6/2 (two setters) but I felt they were a better team with #4 the shorter setter playing

In set 1 the lineup was

22 15 10
21 4 12
UD won set 1 25 -19

During set 1 Jamie crushed a ball from the back row and a couple of jump serves.

Margo served really well and made a great diving dig

Ran a nice slide which was often missing from the UD attack last season

Overall UD played pretty well in all phases. Jamie struggled in serve receive as would be expected, she is getting used to the responsibility

22 15 10
4 21 8
Brooke started this set at setter. I watched Brooke in warmups and her hand contact with the ball is so much better than last year. You could see her improving last year as the season went on but she has taken another big step although she might not play any setter this year.
Jamie and others struggled with their passing and it seemed that the liberos and ds's had more setting opportunities than Brooke did in this set. Brooke did make some good sets and some not perfect ones in this set.

Jamie hit some big serves in this set which weren't topspin. If a player can mix back and forth between topspin and floater it can make things really tough for returners.

Brooke had a great stuff block on an overpass and she also had a really nice push/spike on a pass really tight to the net.

Jess had some great swings in this set, one in particular was a low set to the back which she crushed.

The passing struggles kept this set close


Ud wins 25 - 23

Nobody knew how many sets would be played but they started a third set

8 16 22 (8 and 22 switched on serve)
9 3 12

Jordan had one great up on defense and also showed a nice cut shot. I thought Jordan hit the ball so much harder than her limited appearances last year. She honestly did not look a really good future player to me last year but I definitely saw today why she was considered a top 100 recruit.

Jane had her second stuff block on an overpass today, very nice plays in not giving up

Toward the end of this set Maggie had a really great up and Jordan had one nearly that good shortly after.

UD won this set 25-18

Many people stood up and started to leave but it soon became obvious that they wanted to play another set.

8 2 12
4 21 10
In the 4th set Jordan played well hitting the ball with power
Brooke played extremely well, it is obvious why she was so highly regarded in high school. She has great court feel and can hit all the shots. Very impressive

Jamie crushed 5-6 serves in a row which they were almost totally overpowered by

UD won this set fairly easily but I failed to write down the score
Even the players thought they were done at this point and gathered in a circle to celebrate when someone yelled that coach wanted them to play another
8 15 10
4 21 12

Brooke played extremely well in this set and also does a great job of covering blocks at the net.

Jess had a GREAT serve that dropped like a rock and landed three feet in front of the returner. Then Margo had one almost as good
Margo served very well in this set and really the entire match

The score in this set was about 15 - 8, didn't write that one down either, lol
Overall I was impressed as always with improvement.

Jamie struggled with serve receive but she is already a back row hitter than she was last year and she is starting to really crank on the serve. You knew she wasn't hitting it at full strength last year.

Jess is hitting every ball at full strength with good timing and looks better on serve receive

Jane served the ball well and set the ball well.

Margo played great defense, serve receive and serving as you would expect.

Maggie played really well and played libero for set 3.

I think Brooke can be a star at whatever position she decides on, setter, left side or right side. Great awareness of the entire court

Olivia received quite a bit of playing time and had some kills, not sure if she had any blocks. I thought she hit the ball far better when warming up than she did last season.

Bruns was efficient and energetic as you would expect. She played left and right side and did a nice job at both positions.

I didn't write anything down regarding Lauren H but when you are playing back row that is usually a good thing

[ud69]

FYI - Butler went 20-14 last fall and 9-9 in the Big East. Looks likes they had no seniors and everybody back. Probably call them a quality team but not elite level.

[UDBrian]

my apologies for not mentioning amber and kendyll playing well in the middle. AMBER even played some back row

ud69 i would agree with your talent evaluation. they had some really nice plays but struggled to do it consistently

[BeckysTXA]

I ended up traveling on Saturday so a big thanks to everyone for keeping us informed about this spring match.

I heard Sierra did infact hurt her ankle. That's all I know. I do not know how serious it is. Hopefully we see her later in spring matches.

It sounds like all the OHs have improved, and they were pretty good last year, so that's exciting!

[Glen Clark]

In the fourth set Jamie served Butler off the court - 4 aces in a seven serve run.

_____________________
Whether your glass is half full or half empty, you still have more to drink