The first two games were an exercise in domination. Between
Logan Tom(ahawk), Oganna Nnamani and Tara Conrad, the kills
flowed like water. Huge mismatch. A few exciting points, but it
mostly looked like a clinic.
Then in the third game, Stanford's setting went south -
bigtime. The hitters missed or dinked a lot of balls that should
have been point-ending swats, given better sets. Utah, to their
credit, did pull together for some of their best play, but
Stanford just snoozed through this one.
Dunning got the crew in order, and the good guys put away game
four in a hurry. I thought there was pretty good blocking on both
sides of the net in this game. Give credit to Conrad and friends
for very good blocking through the whole match, though.
Seeing Nnamani in person is eye-opening. She gets more air
than many D-IA men's basketball players, and she is a powerful
hitter. I haven't seen much of this team this year (only what
I've seen on TV), but they way they played the first two games, I
don't see how they lose in San Diego... much less tonight.
Stat of the day: Stanford's kill percentage was more than 3X
Utah's percentage in game one. The exact numbers elude me.
Something on the order of .460 to .132. Yikes.
Player of the game may have been Tara Conrad. The Utah team
looked a little young and undersized at times, but she was
friggin' dominating when she got set in the middle. Great
leverage for some nasty vertical smashes.
Kill percentages:
Conrad .591
Nnamani .458
Tom .404
Kills:
Tom 26
Nnamani 15
Conrad 15
Logan Tom also led all players with 16 defensive digs.
Smokin'.
And despite my unkind words about game three, Robyn Lewis
played a very good setting game. Moved around well, and got under
some tough balls. I didn't see brother Chris in the stands, but
did notice a good number of the guys from the football team in
attendence.