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Post by hoyawatcher on Aug 6, 2018 15:20:47 GMT -5
[/quote]You're right, and I definitely did not intend to slight those players. If it sounded that way, it wasn't intended. I absolutely think they will compete for playing time, as I said, and I will not be surprised at all to see important contributions from the freshmen. There is a lot of talent on the roster and I hope that leads to productive competition within the team that will make everyone better.
[/quote]
As you inferred, we are a little weak at setter but have at least 2 and only have 2 other back row - but we have the most front line competition I have ever seen at GU. And some high end pieces.
Assuming Speech at one middle, and likely Sinnette at one OH, then you start looking at some real competition to see who else gets on the court. You have to think Wilhite will be the other middle based on her recruiting status but there are folks to push. 2 other somewhat open spots with no one really having a hold on the other OH and RS positions from last year.
I don't see any way anyone can be settled and comfortable. Too many times I saw players who were not pushed and stayed too comfortable with the smaller rosters. This should be a lot of fun to follow.
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Post by volleyballjack on Aug 6, 2018 16:06:31 GMT -5
Very excited by this news!
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Post by hilltophoya on Aug 6, 2018 16:36:01 GMT -5
There is a lot of flexibility on this team. Based upon who is on the roster and the position(s) some of these athletes have playedin the past, it would seem you have the following players available in the following positions (listed in numerical order with the number of sets played last year in parenthesis and "regular" starters from prior years highlighted): OH: Wertzberger (73); King (59); Vujosevic (128 @ UMES); Kelly (54); Sinnette (113); Barbosa (Freshman); Snipe (13) MB: Hamling (Freshman); Adekunle (Freshman); Speech (120); Smith (65); Herrington (64); Wilhite (RS Freshman) RS: Rivera (11); King* (59); Hamling (Freshman); Smith (65); Herrington (64); Snipe (13) S: Pivonka (94); Detwiler (New to team) L/DS: Higareda (120); Cusi (Freshman); Rivera (11); Kelly (54); Barbosa (Freshman); Pivonka (94); Detwiler (New to team); I put them in numerical order specifically because this isn't intended to be a depth chart or a prediction. It's really hard to predict who will be starting beyond a few fairly obvious picks. The point is that Coach Rens has a lot to work with. *While she's generally been an OH, King played extensively at RS in the Spring.
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Post by Toby2 on Aug 6, 2018 18:49:14 GMT -5
Did I read this correctly? 2015? Colby College? AND played sparingly. I hope Toby has better options at setter this year.
Played one season at Colby College as a freshman in 2015 … Played in nine matches and 18 sets for the Mules …
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Post by Toby2 on Aug 6, 2018 18:58:36 GMT -5
You're right, and I definitely did not intend to slight those players. If it sounded that way, it wasn't intended. I absolutely think they will compete for playing time, as I said, and I will not be surprised at all to see important contributions from the freshmen. There is a lot of talent on the roster and I hope that leads to productive competition within the team that will make everyone better. [/quote] As you inferred, we are a little weak at setter but have at least 2 and only have 2 other back row - but we have the most front line competition I have ever seen at GU. And some high end pieces. Assuming Speech at one middle, and likely Sinnette at one OH, then you start looking at some real competition to see who else gets on the court. You have to think Wilhite will be the other middle based on her recruiting status but there are folks to push. 2 other somewhat open spots with no one really having a hold on the other OH and RS positions from last year. I don't see any way anyone can be settled and comfortable. Too many times I saw players who were not pushed and stayed too comfortable with the smaller rosters. This should be a lot of fun to follow.[/quote] Better hope Sinnette is not a starter, she was a walking error last year whether it was at the net, on the service line or in the back row. Toby has better options this year and wont have to deal with Sinnette and her errors that cost the team matches.
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Post by hoyawatcher on Aug 6, 2018 19:21:19 GMT -5
Have to figure Pivonka is the lead setter this year but she also didn't get a lot of play behind McNight last year. Does have a good recruiting bio though. We are going to be young and breaking in a new setter. Not optimum but ....
For GU I just like having 2 setters on the team. Remember several that didn't.
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Post by hoyawatcher on Aug 6, 2018 19:27:03 GMT -5
Better hope Sinnette is not a starter, she was a walking error last year whether it was at the net, on the service line or in the back row. Toby has better options this year and wont have to deal with Sinnette and her errors that cost the team matches.[/quote]
That is the kind of stuff I didn't get to see last year so I take your view. I will be the first to state/admit hitting .144 for the year is not "optimum". I just don't know if it was her issue or being asked to always do something with nothing.
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Post by Toby2 on Aug 6, 2018 20:27:16 GMT -5
Better hope Sinnette is not a starter, she was a walking error last year whether it was at the net, on the service line or in the back row. Toby has better options this year and wont have to deal with Sinnette and her errors that cost the team matches. That is the kind of stuff I didn't get to see last year so I take your view. I will be the first to state/admit hitting .144 for the year is not "optimum". I just don't know if it was her issue or being asked to always do something with nothing. [/quote] She is a career .147 hitter over 3 years. I'd say its HER issue.
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Post by hoyawatcher on Aug 6, 2018 21:44:48 GMT -5
Better hope Sinnette is not a starter, she was a walking error last year whether it was at the net, on the service line or in the back row. Toby has better options this year and wont have to deal with Sinnette and her errors that cost the team matches. That is the kind of stuff I didn't get to see last year so I take your view. I will be the first to state/admit hitting .144 for the year is not "optimum". I just don't know if it was her issue or being asked to always do something with nothing. She is a career .147 hitter over 3 years. I'd say its HER issue. [/quote] I yield
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Post by hilltophoya on Aug 6, 2018 22:09:22 GMT -5
Here is Georgetown’s team hitting percentage for the last three years:
2017 - .212 2016 - .179 2015 - .190
And those numbers are in spite of Speech’s career .337 average over that same period (.377, .327, and .290). I think it’s fair to say that if the Hoyas want to see real improvement, that team number needs to go up. A lot. For the record, Vujosevic hit .261 last year.
Edited to add the hitting percentages and opponents' hitting percentages from the Big East last season (%/Opp. %):
Creighton: .279/.188 Marquette: .268/.202 Butler: .247/.174 Villanova: .236/.216 Seton Hall: .210/.234 St. John's: .213/.231 Xavier: .193/.212 Providence: .206/.213 Georgetown: .212/.251 DePaul: .181/.247
There is a pretty noticeable drop from the top four in the conference (.279, .268, .247, .236) to the rest of the conference (.213, .212, .210, .206, .193, .181).
It'd be nice to see Georgetown put another 20-30 points onto that attack percentage (they increased it 33 points last season - a comparable increase would be fantastic). A net increase of 60 kills over the course of the season (0.5 kills/set) would do it. Similarly, it'd be nice to see the opponent's kill percentage drop a comparable amount. Hopefully some stronger blocking and a better back row with (presumably) Higareda and Cusi will bring that down a bit.
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Post by Toby2 on Aug 7, 2018 8:59:49 GMT -5
Here is Georgetown’s team hitting percentage for the last three years: 2017 - .212 2016 - .179 2015 - .190 And those numbers are in spite of Speech’s career .337 average over that same period (.377, .327, and .290). I think it’s fair to say that if the Hoyas want to see real improvement, that team number needs to go up. A lot. For the record, Vujosevic hit .261 last year. Edited to add the hitting percentages and opponents' hitting percentages from the Big East last season (%/Opp. %): Creighton: .279/.188 Marquette: .268/.202 Butler: .247/.174 Villanova: .236/.216 Seton Hall: .210/.234 St. John's: .213/.231 Xavier: .193/.212 Providence: .206/.213 Georgetown: .212/.251 DePaul: .181/.247 There is a pretty noticeable drop from the top four in the conference (.279, .268, .247, .236) to the rest of the conference (.213, .212, .210, .206, .193, .181). It'd be nice to see Georgetown put another 20-30 points onto that attack percentage (they increased it 33 points last season - a comparable increase would be fantastic). A net increase of 60 kills over the course of the season (0.5 kills/set) would do it. Similarly, it'd be nice to see the opponent's kill percentage drop a comparable amount. Hopefully some stronger blocking and a better back row with (presumably) Higareda and Cusi will bring that down a bit. Vujosevic's hitting percentage was largely a result of good performances against weak competition. When she played a legit D1 school her numbers were not good. I suspect at 5'11" without, a significant jump, she will not see the same success in the Big East. I'm sure she will do fine in the preseason as Toby put together a cupcake schedule.
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Post by hilltophoya on Aug 7, 2018 9:45:43 GMT -5
Vujosevic's hitting percentage was largely a result of good performances against weak competition. When she played a legit D1 school her numbers were not good. I suspect at 5'11" without, a significant jump, she will not see the same success in the Big East. I'm sure she will do fine in the preseason as Toby put together a cupcake schedule. You make a fair point that she's going to be hitting against better competition this year and it likely will affect her hitting percentage. Unfortunately, UMES faced so few "legit D1" schools last year it's hard to know for sure what to make of it; the sample size is too small. They played only five matches against teams with RPI better than 200: - VCU (RPI 35) - 14 kills/.306
- WVU (65) - 5 kills/.083
- Navy (78) - 21 kills/.396
- Campbell (162) - 14 kills/.414
- Wake Forest (178) - 9 kills/.129
It's honestly a bit of a mixed bag, but the numbers don't necessarily support the conclusion that she cleaned up against the weak teams and struggled against the "legit" teams. She actually hit .286 against those "top five" teams she played (25 points above her average). She played pretty well against some of the better teams they played, and struggled in some matches against pretty weak teams. Interestingly, Howard (224) apparently gave her fits -- she hit .096 and .085 in two matches against them (27 kills; 18 errors; 99 swings).
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DanMcQ
Moderator
Posts: 30,300
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Post by DanMcQ on Aug 16, 2018 7:27:00 GMT -5
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Aug 16, 2018 19:16:56 GMT -5
Let's go Hoyas!
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Post by volleyballjack on Aug 17, 2018 14:24:02 GMT -5
Absolutely loving the revived social media action. Keep it up, Georgetown! Getting to know the players is part of what makes going to the games fun. Show us their personalities!
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Post by volleyballjack on Aug 17, 2018 18:05:55 GMT -5
Anyone go to the scrimmage with Howard? What did you see?
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Post by Toby2 on Aug 17, 2018 20:40:54 GMT -5
Anyone go to the scrimmage with Howard? What did you see? I was there. Setting is going to be a problem. The middles looked good but the issue is still no OH that are big enough to hit at a high enough percentage to beat respectable teams. Howard played with their lineup all match and treated it like a scrimmage, which it was. I think I saw Toby's boyfriend there as well. Good for him. Its great to see his significant other support him in his first match as Georgetown head coach.
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Post by volleyballjack on Aug 18, 2018 9:34:23 GMT -5
Let's hope setting comes around in a hurry. And let's hope for some OH and S recruits in the pipeline. And, I'm happy to know there is support in the stands for this coach and this team. Go Hoyas!
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Post by hoyavbfan on Aug 18, 2018 12:30:20 GMT -5
“Toby’s Boy Toy”? Odd - considering you haven’t been such a fan of his in past postings. You sound like a disgruntled parent who has an axe to grind. I’d give the coaches and players a pass-the scrimmage was after a grueling first week of preseason practice. The bottom line is that the team, which was not playing with some of its seasoned players due to injuries, still beat Howard. A win is a win. I wouldn’t dismiss the coaches, setters, or hitters so soon...
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Post by hoyawatcher on Aug 18, 2018 17:32:47 GMT -5
Not surprised setting was an issue. I was hoping some of the new OH would make a difference. Don't know if it was folks not playing or what. Time will tell.
While hard to do if setting isn't your strength, there are ways to creatively get OH in advantageous positions - IF your back row can control the pass. Can one of you folks who were there say how the back row looked? Like OH, that was a continuous issue previously.
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