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Post by Bearkitten on Jan 10, 2023 7:49:01 GMT -6
Hawaii will raise their 2022 National Championship banner Friday night when the Rainbow’s host Ball State in the 2nd of back to back matches. First 6000 fans thru the Stan Sheriff Center turnstile’s will receive a National Championship rally towel and an autograph picture of the 2022 team. A sellout of 10500 is expected Friday and over 9000 fans expected for the season opener Thursday for the 2022 NCAA Final Four rematch. Ball State features 2 players from Hawaii in sophomore Xander Pink freshman Keau Thompson. BSU 2022 “National Coach of the Year” Donan Cruz is from Hawaii as well. Both matches will be televised live on ESPN+ at midnight Thursday and Friday.
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Post by lmills72 on Jan 10, 2023 9:31:33 GMT -6
So Hawaii had only 2 seniors on last year's roster and neither played much. All their major contributors return.
Meanwhile BSU lost a ton of experience, but has a lot of new faces. Any word on how the BSU lineup/rotation is expected to look? I assume Jenness will play a significant role, but other than that how are the newcomers mixing in with the established players?
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Post by swenocha on Jan 10, 2023 11:08:51 GMT -6
Both middle blockers (Feliz and Vanis) are also back, as are Ball and Behrendt (who saw significant action last year as well). But yes, a lot of new faces.
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Post by sdacardinal on Jan 10, 2023 11:36:58 GMT -6
Really tough opening but BSU toward the middle and last part of season will really be good. I am looking forward to attending the BYU match as my two grand daughters attend BYU.
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Post by lmills72 on Jan 10, 2023 15:02:51 GMT -6
I assume Wiercinski will be the new setter? Both he and Satterfield are new, but Wiercinski is listed as a 21-year-old sophomore who I assume has a lot more experience. Apologies if I'm being too hasty in writing off Flores.
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Post by Bearkitten on Jan 10, 2023 22:20:24 GMT -6
After watching the BSU fall tournament in Worthen Arena that featured Ohio State, Purdue Fort Wayne and Lindenwood, I believe David Flores will start at the setting position Thursday night against Hawaii. Flores is a senior and was a co-captain a year ago and is an excellent setter. Jacob Wiercinski, the 6’6” sophomore from Poland is an excellent setter as well giving Coach Donan Cruz two solid setting options. Both will likely get lots of early season playing time.
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Post by loganberrie on Jan 13, 2023 8:56:19 GMT -6
Ball State gave #1 Hawaii a very tough battle last night losing 3-1. Hawaii returned their same stating line-up from last year’s national champion team and they are impressive! BSU returns 3 starters from a season ago. Inexperience and first match jitters took its toll last night, but overall BSU looked really good! Caleb Jenness with 18 kills was named the Cardinals “Player of the Match.” Great volleyball atmosphere in Hawaii. Big rematch tonight at midnight and it will be televised on ESPN+. The Hawaii broadcast is excellent!
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Post by lmills72 on Jan 13, 2023 13:37:53 GMT -6
Just able to watch the replay of the match. Hawaii looked like a team in midseason form and BSU clearly did not, but I guess that's what you get when one team returns everyone and the other team is mixing in a lot of new faces. A lot of promise on the BSU side though.
Tinaishe Ndavazocheva (according to last night's announcers pronounced just like it's spelled "N-dava-zo-cheva", aka Mr. T), the 6-6 sophomore from Zimbabwe, would appear to have a lot of promise but seems very raw. He exited with some type of injury in the fourth game. Hope it's nothing that will keep him out for long and maybe was just some cramping. Keau Thompson, freshman from Hawaii, also got the start. Lukas Pytlak the new libero. Flores the setter.
Cards seemed to really struggle with Hawaii's serving, among other things, but, as as been stated, they seemed to have a lot of first-game jitters. Hopefully, tonight they'll handle things better. Sure to be a great atmosphere.
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Post by BSU Card Fan in AZ on Jan 14, 2023 9:40:17 GMT -6
Times of great play, not consistent as would be expected this early with new guys. Hawaii may get the 3peat.
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Post by lmills72 on Jan 14, 2023 11:54:35 GMT -6
Times of great play, not consistent as would be expected this early with new guys. Hawaii may get the 3peat. Agreed. Some really impressive play, but lots Cruz and the team have to work on, and I would think we will see significant improvement but who knows how long that will take. Got some more people into the mix last night ... Ball, Wiercinski. Think I also saw Pink, Rawitz and Adkisson in primarily for service opportunities. Nice for the Cards to get early experience in that type of environment, but had to be kind of disappointing for a 2-time defending national champ to draw only 5,500 and 6,600 at home, if they were truly expecting 9,000 and 10,500. |
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Post by loganberrie on Jan 14, 2023 22:29:11 GMT -6
Considering BSU lost 4 starters from a year ago including two 1st team All-Americans, the Cardinals put up a great fight both nights with the defending 2-time national champion Rainbows of Hawaii. Hawaii has an incredible team and will be the team to beat this season and favored to win the national championship. BSU will improve tremendously this season and by year end will give Hawaii everything they want on a neutral court providing both teams return to the Final Four. Invaluable experience for our Cardinals to play in the great match environment Hawaii plays in along with learning about your team’s weaknesses right out of the gate. BSU must improve their serve receive and team defense to beat Hawaii and we have 4 months to get there before a potential rematch.
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