Here are my impressions, keeping in mind all that I know about volleyball I learned watching my niece play JUCO 8 years ago...

We were swept, scoring 14, 22 and 11 points. The 14 points in the first set is somewhat misleading as State had at least 5 service errors.


Except for a stretch at the end of the second set, we could do little. State was a more physical/powerful team that simply overwhelmed us in the first set. They easily blasted thru our blocking (when we attempted to block) and otherwise found holes in the defense. Their blocking against us was very effective, to the point that for much of the match, we gave up on power and just tried to finesse the ball over the net.


There were several instances where communication was lacking and we appeared confused.


No one really stood out to me. Tia had some moments. Jaime played the entire match and looks to be completely recovered from injury.


We almost pulled even with them with a nice stretch toward the end of the second set, and perhaps could have gained some confidence if we had won. I thought State had it on cruise control for a while in #3 and we held close--it might have actually been tied at 7 or so before they put it away.


Bottom line was that we obviously are not as talented as a mid-level Big 10 team, and perhaps weren't as well prepared as we needed to be to have any chance. A lot of hard work is needed this coming week, or the Nebraska match could be very ugly.


One more thing. My powers of observation ain't what they used to be, but Remmers was not dressed and nowhere to be found on the bench.