No. 1 Penn State sweeps No. 2 Stanford in volleyball, yet Stanford still gets a No. 1 vote?
- Thread starter ChiTownLion
- Start date
Stanford coach was whining about a few calls. Must have convinced one voter that he would have won without those calls. His team got broomed, but what the hell.
Seems like the only dissenter was Anna Allison, Bucknell's HC. Wonder if Russ can somehow squeeze the Bison into the schedule this year.
She must not have seen the Cardinal get worked over in three sets. I thought maybe it would be someone from Ohio.
It is funny. Has the Bucknell coach not paid attention to the school a few towns over that's won a few recent national championships and just swept #2 Stanford?
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Her response (in 3 minutes) to an email was:
"I watched the match- I thought Stanford although not as big- played more ball controlled, less sloppy vball- PSU certainly has the size, but just pure volleyball, I thought Stanford was a bit better this week.
Just my 2 cents..."
Classy lady, in spite of her opinion!
"I watched the match- I thought Stanford although not as big- played more ball controlled, less sloppy vball- PSU certainly has the size, but just pure volleyball, I thought Stanford was a bit better this week.
Just my 2 cents..."
Classy lady, in spite of her opinion!
I could understand that view if Stanford lost 3-2 and took the final set into overtime, but under the circumstances she's nuts. Pure volleyball doesn't lose 3-0.
Didn't know that style points were included in the match results. She's a DUMB ASS.
1) It was clearly a mistake. 2) who cares -- the poll is only a vague barometer of what the coaches think.
One of the best things about VB is that players can win championships by getting into the tournament and then winning the tournament. Winning or losing at this point in the year is not terribly important for teams like PSU and Stanford that will inevitably go deep into the tournament.
That said, what PSU did vs Stanford was a surprise. New starters Weiskircher, Holcomb and Thelen all played well, especially for this early in their careers.
Yes- lets now award rankings and national championships by style points and 'cleaner' volleyball. So it won't matter if Texas or Stanford sweep PSU 3-0 in the national championship match. We will just award PSU the national title anyway because we think they 'looked better' despite the outcome.
I'm going to guess the Bucknell coach has a bias against PSU for some reason because what she basically said is the equivalent of when women pick the NCAA march madness games based on who they think has nicer uniform colors.
Yea. And PSU football team was really just a little bit better than Temple.....
Not a big deal as it's just one vote early in season - but I watched the match and PSU played great and was in total control - evidenced by the three game sweep.
If you mean, did I send the email and did she respond as indicated? - THEN YES!!
Jealousy, plain and simple. Bucknell coach tired of being in the back of the stage while her neighbor always gets the spotlight.
well, she does have very solid credentials, so her opinion (although not her logic) is worth considering (perhaps, a subtle nudge to Russ that his team can get a lot better).
Meanwhile, doesn't matter if you win or lose... trophies for everybody!
This is what's so ridiculous about Major CFB using an "invitational tournament" beauty contest to determine who gets to play for the championship. At least in WVB this women's absurd opinion is meaningless in regards to who ultimately gets to play for the Championship - the NCAA runs a real and true playoff to do that.
Figures. Only a 'zealot' would overlook the broomstick up the Tree's a$$ on a 'foreign' court. Nothing classy about such an individual. Pure agenda. pffftttt
Good points.
As previously mentioned... Consider too that Stanford just lost their best player to injury in late August. Inky Ajanaku got an ACL injury playing for the U.S. National Team in Peru. She is out for the season. So a huge part of their offense and defense took a hit just recently.
Volleyball magazine listed her as the WVB Player of the year last season. Many think she was the pre-season best in the Pac-12 this year. In 2014 Ajanaku notched a team-best 438 kills and hit .428.
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Very glad to see major improvements for the PSU team between the previous weekend and the Colorado and Stanford matches.
Looked much sharper, IMO. Some really nice sets and improved team blocking.
Will be fun to watch them again this season.
Holcomb improved noticeably from set to set. Would like to see more sets to middle - both Thalen and Washington - although Washington was unblockable on the slide!
The bucknell response makes no sense. Size and power are part of the game and PSU has some of the biggest and best in that area, that is why they are good. Like saying the only reason the basketball team one was because they had taller players inside that got all the rebounds. Obviously a massive case of jealousy there. Wonder if she wanted an assistant job and didn't get one.
Way back in 1994 the Big ten football programs got broomed by PSU yet some voters voted PSU lower then #1, remember that conference loyalty we are supposed to love so.....we whipped an OSU squad ranked #14 and their voter put us at what, somewhere around #5 as I remember. This volleyball issue could easily be a big ten voter, we have quite a history of it. So remain loyal to the conference that say.......what goes around comes around. The day I see a modicum of loyalty to PSU from the big 10 I'll say, after being revived, wow.
go
Bucknell sucks. They wish they were Penn State.
I also sent an email to Anna Allison and she also responded within five minutes. She told met that everyone is entitled to their opinion and that I clearly do not understand the sport of volleyball if I think Penn State is better than Stanford. I replied that apparently 63 Division I volleyball head coaches also do not understand the sport.
That's pretty incredible. Can you take a screenshot of the exchange and post it as proof (for why she no longer deserves a ballot in the AVCA poll)? Or ar least copy/paste/quote her actual wording? Thanks.
so... in the "sport of volleyball" it isn't about who wins (here, aka "brooms the other team), it's about doing it with styyyle.. the best always have style. just think what we're missing here... how many times has a team looked perfect yet not been able to make "perfect" win for them? nudge, miami 86.
as i mentioned yesterday, she has an impressive resume and probably can see which team "should" be better (although even on paper, psu is better), but there's a real disconnect between that and logic. when one team brooms the other, they are better. 63 other coaches kinda figured that one out.
but hey, maybe that's just how they do it brazil? good to know before the Olympians roll into town... seems like she'd make a helluva boxing judge!
Stanford didn't have Inky Ajanaku, who sat out injured. Plus it was at Rec Hall.
Having said that, it still should've been a unanimous vote. But haters gonna hate.
Having said that, it still should've been a unanimous vote. But haters gonna hate.
I think that I will get over this snub ... lots of play left in the regular season means lots of opportunity to not play your beat and lose a set or a match.
Then there's that little event at the end of the regular season called the National Championship Tournament. You remember the event last year, Penn State entered at the #5 seed and somehow stumbled to the final (against Stanford) and somehow managed to get past BYU - seems like they had a pretty big player on their side of the net.
Yeah - not being a unanimous selection on Labor Day. I think Russ, Salima and the ladies will survive.
Then there's that little event at the end of the regular season called the National Championship Tournament. You remember the event last year, Penn State entered at the #5 seed and somehow stumbled to the final (against Stanford) and somehow managed to get past BYU - seems like they had a pretty big player on their side of the net.
Yeah - not being a unanimous selection on Labor Day. I think Russ, Salima and the ladies will survive.
It is hard for me to believe there is this much angst over one vote.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and she'll either look very smart or very stupid at the end of the season.
