The team has come along way since the start of the season. They played very competitive Friday night against Northern Illinois despite losing. Offensively, they have three of the top hitters in the league in Mal, Jamie and Ali. The emergence of Simone Miller as a middle blocker had taken the team up a notch. She had 7 blocks last night, and something like 6 against Ball State the week before. A couple of years ago we were among the leaders in the nation in blocking. This year we have not been very good at blocking.
http://mac-sports.com/custompages/stats/2016VB/confonly.htm I don't have a volleyball background, but our front line is a bit unorthodox. Mal is only 5'8. That said, having watched her play the last four years against some great competition, I don't think I have seen any team we played against, including the Big 10, have someone who can smash a ball out of the back row like she can. This is a great competitive advantage. One play Friday night N. Illinois but three blockers in the middle to stop her. Which they did, but I don't think I have ever seen that done before. Jamie is the protocol outside hitter, who is leading the league in aces. I like to watch Ali hit. She hits a very, very hard ball, which most teams have trouble defending. She kind of has a unique style, but it sure works. When she is an active part of the offense we can hang with anyone. Our offense needs to work, because we are not naturally gifted defensively like last year. When the offense is clicking, other teams lose some of their mojo, like NI in games 3 and 4, and their play comes down a notch.
In the early part of the season serve receiving was a huge negative issue. Also, the team seems to stumble a little bit, making mental mistakes and playing tentatively, when they get to the latter parts of game. Friday night N. Illinois junked us to death. Hopefully Dean can correct this flaw in our defense. We seemed paticulary vulnerable to being junked right in the middle of our court. Over all our defense is OK, but needs to continue to improve.
We have improved immensely since the start of the season. I would tend to agree with a prior message board poster, who said regarding the tournament that we could win it all, or lose in the first round. That said we are still underdogs compared to Miami and NI. I think the next Miami match at home will be very competitive, and will give us a better feel where we are in the pecking order.
Last Edited: 10/23/2016 8:11:22 AM by JerseyArnie