I'd say other than Joe, we didn't have our mojo going last night. Just didn't seem to be energized. You have to hand it to UNI though, 1 senior on a linup that includes all but two Iowa kids. They just looked mentally tougher. Let's get it going for tourney weekend!
UNI Match
- Thread starter isit
- Start date
Surprised there isn't more commenting on this from last night. OP is correct - ISU was missing a lot of the fight I expected to see in this match. UNI made fewer mistakes, while ISU shot itself in the foot repeatedly at crucial times. We're the better program and we should have won, but you gotta play like it on the court or they'll snatch the 'W' right out of your hands. I hate losing to directional schools!
I attended the match last night and will agree that ISU lacked effort and energy all night and never really seemed to get fired up (but then the crowd was dead too) . We did have lots of mental errors too. Seemed like we were hitting balls to hard and having lots of balls "out" that we normally keep in. Also a couple huge service errors late in sets hurt us.
I was very impressed with UNI. Great volleyball played by a bunch of local Iowa kids
I was very impressed with UNI. Great volleyball played by a bunch of local Iowa kids
I caught the last 2.5 sets. The fourth set was a thing of beauty, they just need to find a way to play like that all the time. Agree with riceville98 that serving errors killed Iowa State at key moments, and the two I remember most distinctly were both by Genesis. Also, in the fifth set, there were just some unnecessary hitting errors that killed momentum. I thought the one sideline challenge in the fifth should have went Iowa State's way but the two cameras with the best views were blocked by players.
I did notice that Piper was starting the two sets I saw, is that a recent development?
I did notice that Piper was starting the two sets I saw, is that a recent development?
I would agree that the 5th set was just out of sync all the way. With the short 5th set, momentum is huge and we didn't get it at all last night Set 4 was our best set and I also agree that the review in the 5th set looked in but, the camera angles were bad and blocked out
I think the main differences last night were 4 things:
Serve: UNI's serving was aggressive and put pressure on our receive, and we didn't serve aggressive enough. Also, our best server is Genesis, and she has had a history of us going on runs on her serve, and Bobby called timeouts twice while Genesis was serving which both resulting in Genesis serving into the net after timeout.
Where was Samara? I also don't know what was up with Samara last night. Was she getting too many out of system balls, or what, but for someone who was playing so good, she didn't have a great night.
Crowd energy: Watching it on Cyclones.com, it was weird, it seemed the fans from UNI were screaming their heads off, and ISU fans were kind of flat.
Strategy to deal with ISU's big block: UNI was strategically smart, they weren't setting next to the net except on quicks, which had our block jumping a bit too early, which led to a lot of high hands and downed kills. I also wonder who is that leader on our court that keeps everyone energized.
Tons of potential on this squad if they put it together. The biggest concern I have is they have let teams go on too big of runs.
Serve: UNI's serving was aggressive and put pressure on our receive, and we didn't serve aggressive enough. Also, our best server is Genesis, and she has had a history of us going on runs on her serve, and Bobby called timeouts twice while Genesis was serving which both resulting in Genesis serving into the net after timeout.
Where was Samara? I also don't know what was up with Samara last night. Was she getting too many out of system balls, or what, but for someone who was playing so good, she didn't have a great night.
Crowd energy: Watching it on Cyclones.com, it was weird, it seemed the fans from UNI were screaming their heads off, and ISU fans were kind of flat.
Strategy to deal with ISU's big block: UNI was strategically smart, they weren't setting next to the net except on quicks, which had our block jumping a bit too early, which led to a lot of high hands and downed kills. I also wonder who is that leader on our court that keeps everyone energized.
Tons of potential on this squad if they put it together. The biggest concern I have is they have let teams go on too big of runs.
I hope they can get the 6-2 clicking and play it all through the Big 12 season. If not then she has a massive decision on who to take forward in the 5-1. I would hate to have to make that call given how good Mo has been vs the future. It would be good to have Piper up in Dimke's grill when we play the bluejays.
From the limited action I have seen, and the box scores from the other matches, to me it seems like Piper is a better defender and Monique is slightly better setting, RIGHT NOW. Due to her size, Piper is more dangerous with the dump, and is likely a better blocker also, but it seems like she sometimes puts the set off the net more than her hitters would like. I fully expect her to get better with more experience, and I am excited for her to be setting all-around next season, if not sooner.