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Message: [QUOTE="bballnut90, post: 2957617, member: 2117"] Just got back from Target Center...what a freaking match. Regardless of what happens in the finals, I got my money's worth tonight. Illinois was a little bit too much of a 1 trick pony with Quade and it ultimately came back to bite them in the 4th/5th when she struggled finding the floor. Poulter was a joy to see in person, she contacts the ball at such a high point and her sets to the pin are absolute bullets. I think Carlini is the best collegiate setter I've ever seen, but in raw setting ability I think Poulter is better than Carlini. We couldn't see a replay of the overturned call, but even without it, but from another forum it sounded like the overturn was questionable at best. Tough way to go out, but honestly Illinois didn't deserve to win that 5th set with 3 consecutive services errors and passing breaking down. For Nebraska, their setter struggled in stretches but made some big plays for them too. Foecke seemed to have a quiet night and then I saw she finished with 19 kills and hit .300....very impressive. Stivrins was great (when she was set), Schwartzenbach is still so raw offensively but had a couple of good swings. Sweet was effective for the first time in a while, and Sun was her normal streaky self but overall played quite well. Maloney was a stud per usual. First match was a snoozer. Gray was absolutely stellar and BYU just looked completely overmatched. Setter Haddock also struggled locating sets and BYU was self destructive with hitting errors. Hentz looked great, so did Plummer, so did all of Stanford's players. Looking at the final, it has all the makings of being an absolute classic. You have 2 of the very best programs ever: a big underdog in Nebraska who will be playing in front of a home crowd, and Stanford who is the favored juggernaut. I think the x-factor will be Lexi Sun for Nebraska...if she plays like she did tonight, Nebraska has a good shot. She needs to choose her shots well and come through when they're stuck with her/Hames/Schwartzenbach upfront. For Stanford, I think Megan McClure is their x-factor. If she can't terminate against Nebraska's good defense, they'll become over-reliant on Plummer who doesn't excel taking a ton of swings in long matches. Looking at skill/random breakdowns I'd say: -Leftside hitting: Advantage Stanford -RS hitting: Advantage Stanford -Middle Hitting: Advantage Stanford -Libero Play: Draw/Slight edge Stanford -Blocking: Advantage Stanford -Backrow attacking: Advantage Nebraska -Coaching (in game strategy): Advantage Nebraska -Backrow defense: Edge Nebraska -Passing: Edge Nebraska -Experience/late game situations: Draw Can't wait for Sunday, should be a heck of a match. [/QUOTE]

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