I was there. Elder's outside's seemed to be the opposite of clutch down the stretch, and that hurt. The big middle for Darby ran train at points, but where Darby really took advantage was running those 12 balls for their outsides, Elder's middles were late getting outside very often, leaving Darby's outsides with one blocker, and they took advantage.
Elder's problem is that they still won't (and probably never will w/ Tierney) run any plays. High outs, 1 balls, and high backs, with an occasional back 1. Darby's quick offense won the game IMHO.
You have to play with what you have. Like berry said, with C. Wessels they ran a real quick offense, that was because they had the tools to do so. They had the middles like Neiheisel and Malone that could run a 32/31 or a quick slide. They had the outsides in Gay and A. Wessels that could also run the 32 or the shoot/go ball. Now, Elder is faced with middles that are not as quick as a Neiheisel or a Malone. You cant force something upon your guys that they cant do. Elder thrives on having a dominate middle. Look at their championship teams (Neiheisel, Malone, Harpenau). If Elder wants to get back in this, their middles must put it in their hands
Upper Arlington def Dublin Scioto 25-17, 25-27, 25-16, 25-21
Chaminade Julienne def Purcell Marian 25-17, 25-19, 25-18
Fairfield def Oak Hills 24-26, 25-14, 25-16, 21-25, 15-12
LaSalle def Fenwick 25-22, 25-22, 25-14
Lakota West def Edgewood 25-5, 25-9, 25-12
Watterson def Dublin Coffman 25-15, 25-10, 25-14
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 2-0
St Xavier def Alter 25-18, 25-20, 25-19 (were they gassed from the Moeller match the night before or X that good?)
Westerville North def Westerville South 25-23, 25-15, 21-25, 25-19
You have to play with what you have. Like berry said, with C. Wessels they ran a real quick offense, that was because they had the tools to do so. They had the middles like Neiheisel and Malone that could run a 32/31 or a quick slide. They had the outsides in Gay and A. Wessels that could also run the 32 or the shoot/go ball. Now, Elder is faced with middles that are not as quick as a Neiheisel or a Malone. You cant force something upon your guys that they cant do. Elder thrives on having a dominate middle. Look at their championship teams (Neiheisel, Malone, Harpenau). If Elder wants to get back in this, their middles must put it in their hands
You're telling me Bertke and Morman aren't athletic enough to run shoots and 31/2s?
My opinion is that they stick to the way they have always done it which doesn't always work...
Like you said, Elder's middles have always led them when the've been successful, (whether thats true or not). Maybe Vater and Dorsey can't shoulder the load, so they need to change something. Idk. The offense seemed stagnant against Darby.
You're telling me Bertke and Morman aren't athletic enough to run shoots and 31/2s?
My opinion is that they stick to the way they have always done it which doesn't always work...
Like you said, Elder's middles have always led them when the've been successful, (whether thats true or not). Maybe Vater and Dorsey can't shoulder the load, so they need to change something. Idk. The offense seemed stagnant against Darby.
What in the world does that mean?
Didn't see the Dary match, but Morman got some 32s/shoots against X and Fletcher just sat on them and roofed him twice. From where I was sitting I couldn't tell if the set was tight or if Morman just slammed it hoping it would go through. Either way, I would tend to agree, the offense is pretty vanilla, but then again it was only the 2nd weekend of the season. No need to show off everything this early, if they even have worked on tandems or those quick plays at all to this point.
You also have to remember Bertke is very new to the OH position. I realize coming in and hitting a 32/shoot isn't the hardest thing in the world to do, but you do have to time it up with the setter and work those things out. It isn't all natural reaction.
I say give it time, they'll figure it out. Elder always seems to play its best ball at the end of the season, and the calender just flipped to April, I'm not worried.
You're telling me Bertke and Morman aren't athletic enough to run shoots and 31/2s?
My opinion is that they stick to the way they have always done it which doesn't always work...
Like you said, Elder's middles have always led them when the've been successful, (whether thats true or not). Maybe Vater and Dorsey can't shoulder the load, so they need to change something. Idk. The offense seemed stagnant against Darby.
No i did not say anything like this. My argument was that Elder's middles need to continue to improve. Dorsey runs a real quick one ball, but that is all I have seen from either of the two middles thus far. Going back to the argument of having Neiheisel, Harp etc, with thier presence, the blocking on the other side of the net seemed to follow them a lot more, opening up single blocks/no blocks for the outsides and weaksides. Dorsey did that a few times for Morman but that was it. Establishing middle is a lot more important than you think
Hilliard Davidson def Delaware Hayes 25-20, 25-15, 25-15
Mt Vernon vs Upper Arlington 25-16, 25-18, 25-16
Purcell-Marian vs Roger Bacon
Jackson vs Canton McKinley
I think McAndrews (Eds), Flesner (X), Fletcher (X), Kanetzke (Moe), and Pieper (Moe) are among the top contendors for POY right now. Moe has started off the season well, as had X, so that puts them at the top of the state list right now for me. McAndrews is obviously a force to be reckoned with as well. Flesner is a great outside as he has been for three years and Fletcher is an excellent setter, having not played the role consistently before for X. Pieper and Kanetzke seem to have a similar connection, though I have not seen much of them yet this year. Overall, I think McAndrews, Flesner, and Fletcher are at the top right now.
That or Davidson isn't as good as they've been in previous years. Darby was absolutely spanked by X twice in the St Charles Tournament. It is still April, so who really knows?
That or Davidson isn't as good as they've been in previous years. Darby was absolutely spanked by X twice in the St Charles Tournament. It is still April, so who really knows?
At least the last couple of seasons, it seems like Darby starts out slow and then gets better as the season wears on.
Last year, Darby lost to a pretty decent (but hardly great) Bradley team early in the season. This year, they were beaten handily by St. X. Since then, they've beaten Elder in 5 and won most of their other matches pretty easily. As you seemed to indicate, April results are nice, but there's a lot of volleyball to be played before the tournament starts. Of course, as a Darby fan, I like to see the Panthers notch a big "W" over our rivals.
Elder usually plays throughout the season in a similar fashion. Slow start, but things click and turn it on at the end of the season, when it matters. Wish I was there for the Elder-Darby match, sounded like a good one.
St Edwards vs St Ignatius
Mt Vernon vs Hilliard Bradley
Elder vs Moeller
Roger Bacon vs McNicholas
St Edwards vs Hoban
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin vs Stow Munroe Falls
Gahanna Lincoln vs Pickerington Central
Hilliard Davidson vs Upper Arlington
Delaware Hayes vs Pickerington North
Thomas Worthington vs Dublin Coffman
Jackson vs Walsh Jesuit
Loveland vs Northmont
Olentangy Liberty vs Westerville Central
Westerville South vs Dublin Scioto
Hudson vs Medina
Wayne vs Centerville
Lakota East vs Fairfield
Princeton vs Lakota East
Oak Hills vs Sycamore
Middletown vs Mason
Westerville North vs Dublin Jerome
Linear Mode
