Volleyball Preview: UTSA

[1972Shocker]

The bad news is the Shocks only set Natalie 15 times. The good news is Natalie put away 12 of those with no errors. 2 of the 3 attacks she did not get down were absolute rockets that were saved by great digs by the UTSA libero. One one of those Frosty ended the ensuing UTSA attack with an emphatic block solo.

Sophia was really good again today and Brylee and Emerson gave the Shocks better production on the left side.

It all adds up to 25-21, 25-16, 25-20 sweep for the Shocks.

[flyingMoose]

I did not see Putnicki on the bench even.

[1972Shocker]

Frosty 12-0-15 = .800
Sophia 13-0-27 = .481
Emerson 6-0-20 = .300
Brykee 8-7-25 = .040

Shocks hit 49-10-113 = .345 to UTSA's 38-19-127 = .150 Shocks did a much better job on Mia Soerensen today holding her to 7-4-24 = .125.
The Shocks with a 43.3% kill rate and a 8.9% error rate. Both excellent numbers.

The Shocks had 16.3 kills per set and Izzi had 13.3 assists per set.

The Shocks had 62 digs to 51 for UTSA. UTSA's top notch libero had a match high 20 digs. Gabi (18), Webby (14) and Izzi (11) were in double figures in digs.

UTSA had 4 services aces and 4 service errors. The Shocks had 2 service aces and 4 service errors.

Shocks edged UTSA in blocks 6 to 5.

On the nit-picky side I thought the Shocks tended to lose focus with big leads mostly evident in the 4th set on Friday and the 3rd set today.

And is it my imagination or do the Shockers seem to be below average on creating strong in system attacks on free balls.

[flyingMoose]

Other Saturday/Sunday Matches

East

UAB 0-3 Temple
20 19 12

Florida Atlantic @ Charlotte (Sun)


West

Rice 2-3 North Texas !! again
22 (23) 16 (21) 7

SMU @ Tulane (Sun)

[flyingMoose]

We lost a point and the service when Annalie was serving in the third set. Any ideas?

[1972Shocker]

I did not see Putnicki on the bench even.

I thought I saw her sitting behind the bench on the north side before the game but I may have been mistaken. Didn't pay much attnetion to that during the match.

[1972Shocker]

North Texas knocks of Rice for the 2nd straight day this one in 5 sets. 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, 21-25, and 15-7.

North Texas moves into a 3rd place tie with Rice in the West Division at 11-5. 2 games behind the Shocks at 13-3.

One win over Rice next weekend should secure 2nd place in the West and 2nd place overall in the AAC. Although the Shocks probably need to win out to have even a slim chance at making the NCAA Tournament.

[1972Shocker]

We lost a point and the service when Annalie was serving in the third set. Any ideas?

I think that was an overlapping call on Morgan Weber. Although not sure anyone quite knew what exactly happened. I was not overly enamored with this officiating crew. The 3rd set took forever with long reviews and unhappy coaches.

[flyingMoose]

I thought I saw her sitting behind the bench on the north side before the game but I may have been mistaken. Didn't pay much attention to that during the match.

Could be. I was looking for someone on crutches and in warm-ups, but I was also spying diagonally across the gym. When they got to our end, I still did not see anyone fitting that description, but like you, it wasn't the first thing on my priority list.

[flyingMoose]

I think that was an overlapping call on Morgan Weber. Although not sure anyone quite knew what exactly happened. I was not overly enamored with this officiating crew. The 3rd set took forever with long reviews and unhappy coaches.

I suppose there is a reason you are not allowed to overlap when serving, but I probably could not understand it if you explained it to me.

[1972Shocker]

I suppose there is a reason you are not allowed to overlap when serving, but I probably could not understand it if you explained it to me.

I am not exactly sure what the call was. I will look at the ESPN+ replay and see what if Mike Kennedy had an explanation. A lot of quizzical looks on that one.

Update: I looked at a replay of that point. Kennedy wasn't suire what happened either. Seemed to be a lot of confused looks. The whistle was blown immediately as Annalie was serving. Annalie was well behind the end line so it wasn't a foot fault. The official never made a clear overlapping signal that I could see. He just pointed towards Webby and Gabi.

What I think he ruled is that Webby moved behind and to the right of Gabi (or Gabi moved in front of and to he left of Webby) prematurely.

[Critter's Pa]

Win 501 was pretty good.

First set was the most contested, 11 ties and 7 lead changes. Webby had a nice service run toward the end of the set that gave the Shockers a lead they would not give up. Sophia lead the way with 6 kills (6 0 13 .462), Brylee had 4 (4 3 13 .077). Frosty, Emerson, Swifty, and Izzi all added 2 kills each. Brylee(3) and Swifty(1) had the only Shocker attacking errors. Izzi had 15 assists.
Shockers hit .326 (18 4 43) to UTSA's .180 (13 4 50).

Set 2 was more of the Sophia and Frosty show. Sophia had 5 kills on 7 swings, Frosty got 5 kills on 5 swings. Both Brylee and Emerson got 2 kills each and Webby got her lone kill on a back row attack to win the set. Webby had another long service run that put the game out of reach for UTSA. Izzi got 14 assists to put her over 1000 for the year. Brylee(2) and Swifty(1) had the attacking errors this set. Shockers hit .400 (15 3 30) to UTSA's .118 (12 8 34).

The third set was all shockers. Swifty and Frosty lead with 5 kills each, both had 7 swings. Sophia, Brylee and Emerson all had 2 kills each. Izzi had 11 assists. Brylee(2) and Swifty(1) had the only attacking errors this set. The Shockers hit .325 (16 3 40) to UTSA's .140 (13 7 43).

The Shockers had 6 blocks, UTSA only had 5. Swifty had 3 block assists to bring her to 98 for the year. Natalie had a solo and a BA to get her to 95 for the year. Brylee and Izzi both had 2 BA. Sophia and Emerson each had a BA.

Lots of great digs this match. The best dig came from the band area, "You look like Home Depot." Gabi finished with 18 digs, Webby-14, Izzi-11, Annalie-6 and Katie-4.

Serving and serve receive was improved. Both teams had 4 service errors. Shockers had 2 aces (Izzi and Webby). UTSA had 4 aces.

Sophia (13 0 27 .481). Frosty (12 0 16 .800). Brylee (8 7 25 .040). Swifty (7 3 17 .235). Emerson (6 0 20 .300). Izzi (2 0 7 .286). Webby (1 0 1 1.000). Ten attacking errors is pretty good, especially with how well their block was doing yesterday.

Izzi had 40 assists. UTSA had 36 total assists. WSU had 47 total assists.

WSU hit .345 (49 10 113). UTSA hit .150 (38 19 127).


Got some possible player of the week numbers:

Sophia hit .444 (30 2 63) for 4.3 kills per set
Natalie hit .500 (26 4 44) for 3.7 kills per set
Gabi had 30 digs for 4.3 per set
Izzi had 81 assists for 11.6 per set

[Critter's Pa]

North Texas knocks of Rice for the 2nd straight day this one in 5 sets. 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, 21-25, and 15-7.

One win over Rice next weekend should secure 2nd place in the West and 2nd place overall in the AAC. Although the Shocks probably need to win out to have even a slim chance at making the NCAA Tournament.

Wow. Did not see that one coming. I wonder if North Texas is often a thorn in the side of Rice, and vice versa. North Texas plays SMU, at SMU, next weekend. Hope North Texas can play a late season spoiler on SMU.

[1972Shocker]

Wow. Did not see that one coming. I wonder if North Texas is often a thorn in the side of Rice, and vice versa. North Texas plays SMU, at SMU, next weekend. Hope North Texas can play a late season spoiler on SMU.

Not totally surprised by that. They were playing in that small high school gym sized airplane hangar in Denton. Plus after seeing NT against the Shocks it's clear they have some athleticism and skill. Rice hasn't been playing quite as well as expected this year either.

However, SMU is at home next week plus I think SMU is better than Rice so not expecting a repeat by NT next weekend.

[Critter's Pa]

I suppose there is a reason you are not allowed to overlap when serving, but I probably could not understand it if you explained it to me.

I'm not sure what the exact reason is, but I think it has to do not allowing teams to already being set in their offence when the ball is served on every serve. If there was no rule, there would be no need to rotate and rotating positions is part of the game. I think it is also connected to people playing front row and back row, in that it makes it easier on the officials to know who can attack inside the 3 meter line and who can't. UTSA's setter got called for an illegal attack when a ball she tried to set (or it looked like she was trying to set it, she was above the height of the net) and the ball went over the net when she was a back row player.

This also visually tells who is next up to serve and who is going to rotate into the front row, or who is going to sub in for those positions when rotating (serving subs/front row subs). This seems to be reinforced by the substitution rules, which I don't totally understand.