8-12 McCutchens now 14 kills, no errors.

11-16.

11-16 Rice calls final time out. Really playing poorly in every aspect this set. At least last set the offense was strong. This may be the worst defense match Rice has had in several years.

15-17 Ladies trying to claw back into this one.

16-19

16-20 Again, absolutely no defense whatsoever. Our backline, especially our liberos, is a major liability for us getting to the next level.

Rice leads in virtually every category stats wise. It's really been the timing of when SC scores.

19-21 on back-to-back kills by Nicole and Carly.

20-22

20-24 SC hitting .455 this set. Can't win with no defense

20-25. Sigh.

Not a good start to the season.

How good is South Carolina?

Ugh.

(08-28-2021 11:22 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  How good is South Carolina?

Seems they are better than Rice

(08-28-2021 11:46 AM)jowls13 Wrote:  

(08-28-2021 11:22 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  How good is South Carolina?

Seems they are better than Rice

They now have two top 25 wins. Of course both Rice and Washington State could drop out...

We started 1-3 last year (although we were missing our 2nd best player for a couple of those matches). Those were losses to much worse teams. We'll be fine - we may have over-scheduled a bit though.

(08-28-2021 04:37 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  We started 1-3 last year (although we were missing our 2nd best player for a couple of those matches). Those were losses to much worse teams. We'll be fine - we may have over-scheduled a bit though.

We didn't over schedule. WKU is one of the very few Top 25 programs with a joke of an OOC schedule, despite playing a weak CUSA schedule. As others have pointed out, Notre Dame will likely be the best team they play all season until they (hopefully) meet us in the conference championship game.

I hope I'm wrong, but from what I've "seen" the past two days, we have shown no improvement whatsoever in 2 of the 3 areas I said would be pivotal if we were to truly move into the elite level. Our service game is an embarrassment for a Top 25 program. Service errors are readily accepted by many coaches, but only if they're offset with a high number of service aces. Most elite programs have close to a 1:1 ratio of service aces to errors, if not better. We are worse than 1:2. I can't believe Genny didn't emphasize this in practice. Second, our libero play is average at best, and nowhere near Top 25 caliber. Unfortunately, we have to live with it for another year. The third key factor I highlighted was a 3rd offensive option to take a bit of the focus away from Nicole and Anota. Still a work in progress-- none of our 3 other OHs played well yesterday, but Ellie had a breakout game today. Fingers crossed this gives her the confidence to play more consistently.

Pitt made easy work of South Carolina this evening-- sweep.

(08-28-2021 07:33 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Pitt made easy work of South Carolina this evening-- sweep.

So on the weekend: Pitt 3-0, South Carolina 2-1, Rice 0-2, Washington State 0-2.