Wow... That's all I gotta say. Congrats to the Pandas.

From the NDA Twitter account

 

stats from tonight: Hentz 27 kills @ .333 Salkowski 16 kills @ .464 Colvin 22 digs, Hardig 6 blocks, Talkers 64 assists

 

thats a TEAM effort

Hentz is definitely hitting at a higher clip than last season. Errors have come down for sure.

Congratulations Pandas!

i was there and have some thoughts on the game. Notre Dame is not only talented but obviously a very well coached team. Minus Morgan and maybe Salkowski they dont have any world beaters but they are solid from top to bottom. They played in system most of the night and had great composure to never give up on a play. I can not think of any long rallys that i witnessed that ND did not win (usually off a middle kill, becuase the pass was a good one). ND is also excellent at hitting "shots." They hit rolls, tips, etc and put them in the places where the defense isn't. It isnt hard to be impressed with Morgan's playmaking ability but what I was more impressed with was her leadership. She took time and picked up multiple teammates after a bad play and helped change their mindset to not let it carry over into the next play, even with other seniors on the team.

 

To me SHA looked out of sorts, especially in the beginning of the night. Credit to ND for serving Hammons off the court early, but credit to Hammons for battling back and never giving up and getting better as the night went on. Hammons hit the ball high and hard but needs to take a page out of ND's book and learn where to hit the ball. Hitting the ball over the block is something not many kids can do, but they hitting it right at a defender makes it manageable to dig. She needs to use the deep tempo (hard roll) shot to her advantage and put it in the corners where nobody is playing since she has the advantage to go over girls to get there. I thought Zwiebel was not nearly as aggressive as she usually is and was not much of an offensive threat. ND dominated the middle position. They did a great job of running slides and turning the ball back across their body and hitting it cross court (much harder to defend, esp bc the defense drifts with the ball). NDs DS/Liberos were superior but that could have been because SHA only plays a few and both of their lefts play all the way around.

 

In the end this was a good match and hopefully we will see these teams play again at state (if not before at LVIT or in Chicago).

Having hammers like Hentz and putting up a big block certainly helps and are crowd pleasers. However, playing "in system" and having superior ball control is usually the difference when teams are pretty evenly matched.

It sounds like Morgan Hentz and her high school team are out to good start. I am a fan of Stanford University volleyball. I am glad Morgan chose us. I heard it was a difficult decision between Stanford and Penn State. I am going to follow Hentz's progress from afar until she starts college. Thanks for the reports on the volleyball matches.

NDA takes down #14 Cardinal Gibbons in straight sets today. That's #14 (defending NC state champs), 16, and 17 (defending Ohio state champs). All in one week.