NVA Report, Colorado over St. Louis

[Michael David Bertz]

Colorado Thunder vs. St. Louis Spirits

Since I was home in Colorado for a meeting at USA Volleyball down in the
Springs, I was able to make this match. I am really excited about the
potential that this league (and I suppose its rival, the PVL, too) has to
offer in terms of getting folks excited about the sport. While the
league is clearly run on a shoestring budget, as the support base grows
and sponsors are found, I hope to see this increase somewhat.

Level of play was good, but not great. What I mean is that it's a lot
like what you'd expect from a team of good players who don't get to practice
but once a week before they play. Someone I talked to likened it to
"glorified USAV ball", meaning that it's similar to the quality of play
that you'd find on top-level USAV teams which don't practice much either.
So it wasn't quite the well-oiled machine that was Stanford this year,
but both teams exhibited surprisingly good play at times and rather
lackluster play at others.

We got there right at match time, so I missed introductions and pregame
hype, but I'll present the roster, some game-by-game comments, and scores
and stats, and conclude with some final observations.

The reason that I'll give rosters is that the NVA's site on VB World Wide
is a little out of date. These are as current as I believe is around.

Colorado:

00 Liz Armbrustmacher 6-0 OH Indiana
1 Sabrina Hernandez 5-7 S Long Beach St.
3 Christa Faris 5-10 OH Georgia
7 Terri McNair 5-10 OH Northern Colorado
8 Verna Julaton 5-3 DS Metro State
9 Melanie Ryer 5-10 OH Alabama
10 Penny Lucas-White 6-0 OH Louisiana St.
11 Diane Johannsen 6-0 OH Colorado St.
12 Jan Gordon 5-8 S UOP
14 Karrie Downey 5-10 OH Colorado
33 Stacy Buck-Sax 6-3 MB UCLA

St. Louis (at least all who travled):

5 Lori Endicott 5-9 S Nebraska
6 Angelica Jackson Moore 5-11 MB San Diego St.
11 Becky Belland 6-0 MB Central Missouri
12 Theresa Sebacher 5-11 OH Southeast Missouri
13 Eunice Thomas 5-11 MB Kentucky
15 Sue Nucci 6-2 OH Illinois
21 Suzanne Oren 5-10 OH St. Louis Univ.
22 Dori Hoffert 5-10 OH Missouri-Columbia

The Thunder are coached by Gary Sato, and the Spirits are guided by
Kent Miller. Like I said, I arrived at game time so I'm not totally
positive on starting lineups. The Spirits of course put Endicott
at setter, Moore and Thomas in the middle, with Belland (though listed
as a MB) and Nucci (though she played middle in college) on the outside,
and Oren on the right. Colorado responded with Sabrina Hernandez at
setter, Lucas-White and Buck-Sax or Johannsen in the middle, Armbrustmacher
opposite the setter, and Faris and Ryer at leftside. I was a little
surprised to see Downey on the bench, but there she was (she did play
a little backrow in game 1). Since the substitution rules are rather
liberal (no limit on team or individual entries), the Thunder took
advantage by putting in a big blocker for Hernandez at key points and
bring McNair and especially Julaton into the backrow for ball control.

Game One was a feeling-out sort of thing for these teams. Neither
seemed to establish much momentum, with points seesawing early, but
in the middle of the game, St. Louis was able to put together a string
of points on Thunder errors. Poor passing led to an outside offense,
and the Spirits, while putting up a good block, also got some good
balls up in transition to score points. I frankly didn't think that
Endicott was playing with international-level intensity (would be
tough here), but clearly she is a great setter. Her accuracy and
lightning-quick release are something to behold, though I think that she
hasn't quite got dialed in to where her hitters want the ball. There
were a couple of times that it looked like she was putting the ball
farther outside than the hitter was expecting (though it's probably where
the set should be anyway). Not trying to dig on Lori, she set a good
match, and both blocked well and played good defense.

Colorado, on the other hand, in game one, did some things well, but not
consistently. Hernandez is a good setter but did a lot of chasing.
The outside hitting core could've hit smarter, though they were facing
a good block. Ryer squeezed some balls through the block with some
Irish technique, but was relatively effective. Lucas-White can pound,
but neither she nor Johannsen were especially effective in this game
since they couldn't get the ball to them. St. Louis wins after pushing
for the game from about 8 or 9 on, ending up at 15-12.

Last weekend, (Feb. 22) the Thunder won over the Spirits in four, so
they knew how to come back after dropping a game. And that's exactly
what they did.

Game Two rolled out Hernandez again at setter, with Buck-Sax in to block
periodically, Penny and Johannsen back as MBs (with McNair in regularly
for Johnnsen), and Armbrustmacher on the right (again with Julaton in
regularly for defense). The big change in my mind was the change of
Downey in at OH joining Faris. Ryer didn't hit too poorly, but she wasn't
having a stellar passing night and was having difficult putting the
ball away to terminate a rally. Downey brought out stability with
passing and smart hitting. She showed this by passing a bunch of the
court and hitting high on the block. Furthermore, Colorado was able
to get their middles more involved and St. Louis' passing went a little
south. Also, #13 Eunice Thomas can down on another one of her players
while blocking and went to the floor. It looked at first like it was
a knee problem, but the trainer brought her over to the stands right in
front of us (literally) and began examining her ankle. They eventually
taped it up, but she was done for the night. This seemed to stifle any
life that the Spirits had in this game, and quieted the crowd some, too.
The Spirits overpassed a few balls and basically suffered a mental
breakdown. It didn't help that they didn't have another MB available
to insert immediately. They shuffled their players in the front row
around a little, but clearly lost focus. Penny Lucas-White of the
Thunder relatively _pounded_ a couple of the overpasses and clearly has
a worthy shoulder. Colorado wins this going away, 15-7.

With the same lineup for Game Three, Colorado looked to continue rolling
with their momentum, and they did, eventually winning this game 15-11.
St. Louis did seem to adjust their strategy, moving Nucci back to her
collegiate position of MB and putting #12 Theresa Sebacher out on the left.
Hoffert still played quite a bit of backrow. They gave the Thunder a
little more trouble in this game, finally getting their passing back on
track a little. Endicott is fairly awesome in locating that high outside
ball. She just needs Tara out their to fairly awesomely routinely put it
away. Colorado, for their part, continued playing consistent ball,
keeping their middles involved (who hit 1 v 1 all night), and getting
good gutty play from Downey and Faris on the left.

This league, in addition to funky sub rules, also changes the scoring
in games four and five, going to rally-scoring. I suppose that this is
to promote a quicker ending, but I'm not sure I like it, because it
doesn't seem even. Oh well. Colorado changed their lineup some in
this game, so that instead of having Lucas-White leading Hernandez
(strongest middle leading setter, typical), they moved Sabrina back a
notch so that she was behind Faris and in front of Johannsen. Maybe
this created a better matchup for the hitters or for Hernandez
blocking, or maybe it freed up a passing lane. Could be their rally-
scoring plan. Who knows. Whatever it was, this rally game was pretty
even up until about 8 or 9 points. In fact, both teams would get a
sideout point and then a real point here and there, so to a casual
observer, it might be difficult to determine if it was indeed a rally
game or not. In the end, some mental errors from the Spirits and some
tough gutty play from the Thunder closed out the match, 15-10 in the fourth.

I was not able to procure the official statistics as I like, but I am
told that Penny Lucas-White had 17 kills with Diane Johannsen adding 15.
This sounds about right, Penny got a few off of overpasses, and Diane,
though not as flashy, was solid hitting both angles. Attendance was
a respectable 1,732 - I suspect that this had something to do with an
article that week in the Denver Post about the team - this is a good
solution to a league with not advertising budget. :)

I'll comment on St. Louis first, they seemed to be pretty solid, but
not outstanding. Clearly, they need to improve ball control, though
Endicott did a lot with what she had. They just didn't seem to have
enough hitting horsepower, and couldn't get enough production from their
middles. Eventually, Colorado dialed in the Spirit hitting options, and
scored many digs and blocks. I'm told by sources close to me that when
Sue Nucci played for Illinois, she was a stud, relatively unstoppable.
She didn't look that way this night, perhaps she wasn't being used effectively.
Though St. Louis was able to consistently put up a good block on the
outside pretty much all night, they needed to commit more on the middle,
as 1 v 1 the Thunder hitters were going with impunity. The Spirits at
least need to teach their leftside OHs to help on the middle, especially
since Colorado didn't run much from the right. Also, St. Louis' poor
transition defense and recovery of balls hit off of the block prevented
them from pushing through and winning the critical points later in the
match.

Colorado appears to be a mix of dynamic, relatively high-flying players
(Penny, Karrie, Melanie, Sabrina) with some solid, get-the-job-done
sorts (everyone else). They play inspired ball at times, and at others
let some balls drop unnecessarily. This is consistent with teams that
don't practice a lot. Hernandez set a good match, getting her hitters
isolated well enough to put the ball away. She set the fast 4 nicely
way out to the leftside, and was able to consistently get the ball
to her middles. They only thing I'd like to see more of is rightside
action, they didn't run the slide much, and their RS hitter, Armbrustmacher,
seemed to just back out and hit a normal ball. I think that she needs
to work with Sabrina more. Diane Johannsen was effective on the one, both
hitting and dinking, and Christa Faris was solid on the leftside. Ryer
was very effective early, hitting high and hard through the block, but
seemed to get shakier both passing and hitting as game one progressed.
Julaton and McNair were effective but not stellar serving and defending.

Penny Lucas-White was an unknown quantity to me (largely due to _when_
she played in college and on the National Team, and due to the large
percentage of her playing career overseas), but I got to meet her at
the Coaches Summit and she was cool. She can also pound a little
(a lot), either in the middle or out of the backrow, she's pretty
versatile. She also had several blocks of the STRAIGHT-down variety,
usually by dropping her left hand into the angle and putting it on
the ball. I had a good view of this, looking directly up the hitter's
approach path.

I've watched Karrie Downey play for a long time (well, maybe not as long
as some, like my wife who played against her in Jrs.), but at least since
her Jr. year at Colorado. I've always liked her explosive and dynamic
play, and stability passing and hitting. If there's someone that I'd
want to model a fluid approach after, it's hers. Beauty. She just
loops out to the leftside, flies, and swings. Karrie doesn't look as
physical as she did when she was at Colorado, but she did the job well
this night, passing much of the court, scoring quite a few blocks
on the rightside (including a pair back-to-back in game three) by just
being in the right position, and playing some tough defense. She's
added a very effective jump floater, too, which was working when
served deep against the Spirits (though she also had a couple of errors
on this serving out). The only criticism I'll really level is that when
she came in for game 2, Karrie was hitting smart, high and deep off the
block, cutting angle, etc. As she got warmed up and into the match,
though, it looked like she was trying to connect more and more with the
ten-foot line, and got blocked unnecessarily a few times as a result.

In all, the Thunder potentially have a very good team, with decent ball
control, good setting, and solid hitting. As long as they continue passing
well, and until teams start doubling up on their middles (which will help
free up the outsides), I don't think that too many teams will stop thier
consistent middle attack 1 v 1. Things that Colorado definitely needs to
work on are a serving strategy which targets weaknesses in the opposition,
a better rightside offense, and a little more structured defensive scheme.
I saw too many balls go unrecovered which should have been, though this
too, is something which comes with practice.

I really don't know how they stack up against the Iowa Blizzard, but I
spoke with Northern Iowa's coach (who coached at least four of the
Blizzard players), and he assures me that they're quite good. We'll see
if all of that playing together really helps.

All in all, this was a satisfying experience. I wasn't sure what to
expect when I showed up at Regis with my wife, my mom, my sister and
her roommate. What I found was a packed house, a cozy if a little small
gym (need to find a bigger place), and a lot of fans demonstrating good
support for the team. Lots of juniors players (whole teams), and lots
of folks that seemed to be getting exposed to volleyball for the first
or second or third time (early exposure, get it?). What they got was
an exciting product, which, while not a top-level collegiate or international
play, was very entertaining and mostly evenly matched, which I think is
very important for the success of the league. Keep the fans interested
with an outcome in doubt. Phil von Hake, the GM, was there in a suit,
_hustling_ to promote his team. We had a serving contest, balls thrown
to the crowd, the usual things, but I really like the energy and spirit
he brings to helping this team. It looked like an all-volunteer staff
at the site, and everyone was friendly and helpful. Perfect for developing
fans, especially in a family atmosphere like this one.

Best point: An entertaining match which appeals to spectators. In the
words of my sister's roommate, "I didn't know volleyball
was so cool to watch. I don't know much about it, but I
didn't need to in order to enjoy the match."

Worst point: Tell the referees to change their uniforms. DOOOR-KEY!
Go back to the white with navy pants.

Lengthy report over. I strongly encourage folks in all of the NVA cities
to get out and support their respective teams. I we're able to consistently
put out crowds like that in Colorado Saturday night, I don't see how this
league can't succeed, and develop opportunities for players everywhere.
Take your juniors, let them see some role models, take your family for
a fun night out.

Michael

wishing I were home in the Rado

--
Michael Bertz
Georgia Institute of Technology
e-mail: gt7...@prism.gatech.edu