[thesportscritic]

LU and CAL are tied at one game a piece heading into the third game

[thesportscritic]

Game one Cal 30-20 and game two LU 30-26

[vadimivich]

Watching it online ... Nicki is just having a monster match.

12 kills on .500 hitting % through the first two games. Cal's frontline is no joke either.

[thesportscritic]

most definitely about Cal's front line. i saw three girls that appear to be 6-3 in the last moments of game 2. i am watching the game online too.

[vadimivich]

Liberty looks really sloppy in game #3

[thesportscritic]

now the video just went out.

[vadimivich]

Great season for Liberty. There's a lot of young talent and they'll be back in the tournament soon.

[thesportscritic]

hopefully next year we will be back in that NCAA tournament.

[Stevev]

Those west coast teams are brutal. We played well up until the 3rd game but it was a nice effort. We had a very good year this year and we will be back to the tournament next year.

[WinthropEagleFan]

Congrats on a very good season. Winning a game against Cal is impressive.

It should be a good race between WU and LU again next year. I'd say LU will almost definitely be the favorite, but WU doesn't lose much from this year's team (though Tara Toepke's serving will be missed), and the freshmen from this year's squad got alot of good experience, so I would think the Eagles will be strong again. But as long as Corbin, Scripko, & co. are still around, the Flames are going to be very strong.

[thesportscritic]

Congrats on a very good season. Winning a game against Cal is impressive.

It should be a good race between WU and LU again next year. I'd say LU will almost definitely be the favorite, but WU doesn't lose much from this year's team (though Tara Toepke's serving will be missed), and the freshmen from this year's squad got alot of good experience, so I would think the Eagles will be strong again. But as long as Corbin, Scripko, & co. are still around, the Flames are going to be very strong.

LU and WU will be a rivalry for years to come. WEF what type of recruits does Winthrop have for next year?

[thesportscritic]

Post game quotes from the Cal vs LU game

Quotes: Cal 3, Liberty 1
Courtesy: Duke Sports Information
Release: 11/30/2007


California Coach Rich Feller

“It’s always tough to travel and play anyone when you’re one and done. Liberty has 27 wins this year, and they’re a pretty good team. They came out and had a ton of energy. They have a great system with a good team that is willing to pay whatever price. In game one, we worked as head as we could and took them out of there rhythm, but they kept pushing. That’s a credit to their program that they were able to continue to push and get a game. We’re not used to that.”

“We’re feeling pretty good now that we have a game under our belt and some of the travel concerns out of the way. We can focus on the winner of this next match and settle into our routine. One of the biggest things for us is that we play in a tough conference, but we also play back-to-back nights against two very good teams in a row. That was something that we’re really used to feeling. We’ll be ready tomorrow for whoever we face.”

Liberty Coach Shane Pinder

"I watched Cal all year. If you’re in this profession, you watch the best-of-the-best a lot, and I got to see them against Stanford in their last match. Coming in, being in the Pac-10, they’re the best blocking and serving team in the conference. Preparing for them, we were trying to get ready for those things – just trying to control the ball and trying to score with them. The serving and blocking goes hand-in-hand. If you don’t serve tough, then they can get into their blocking systems a lot better.

"I was proud our kids and their effort tonight. They don’t see the importance of winning that game, but from my standpoint that’s a huge win. For our program and what we’re trying to do, that’s something we can build off of. Talking to them in the locker room, I told them if that doesn’t make you hungry to be back here and have another chance, then I recruited the wrong kids. They all looked me, and I asked them how much time they were going to take off and they all said none. I said 'that’s the right answer.' "

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml? ... ID=1330528

[WinthropEagleFan]

Congrats on a very good season. Winning a game against Cal is impressive.

It should be a good race between WU and LU again next year. I'd say LU will almost definitely be the favorite, but WU doesn't lose much from this year's team (though Tara Toepke's serving will be missed), and the freshmen from this year's squad got alot of good experience, so I would think the Eagles will be strong again. But as long as Corbin, Scripko, & co. are still around, the Flames are going to be very strong.

LU and WU will be a rivalry for years to come. WEF what type of recruits does Winthrop have for next year?

I honestly have no clue...I haven't seen anything about WU recruits, and I'm not close enough to the program to know about any of the new players without them being announced by the program (and I haven't seen anything from Coach Polhamus about recruiting yet this fall).

[SuperJon]

I'm not claiming to be a volleyball expert by any means, and will admit that I didn't have a clue what was going on half the time tonight. With that being said, some thoughts more about the experience of going down than the games:

One thing that impressed me were the Liberty athletes in general. They really supported the volleyball team tonight. I saw players from football, men's basketball, baseball, women's soccer, softball, and men's volleyball there tonight. It says a lot about the program when the athletes in other sports show up to support a team.

We had two Duke fans behind us tonight watching the match. As it went on, and our fans kept cheering and trying to make Cameron into The Vines South, one of the Duke fans said that we had more fans there cheering than they would in the 7pm match. I thought that was a testament to the Liberty Volleyball fans. I'm not a huge volleyball follower, so I let the guys who are there normally lead things, and they didn't miss a beat the entire night.

A couple Cal fans stopped us after the match and asked us about the school and really complimented the team and how impressed they were with them and everything. I know that's easy to do after a win, but I still thought it was a good compliment to the coaches and girls on the squad.


Now, here's where I'm showing my ignorance of the sport, and one of the volleyball parents can fill me in. During the match, one of the Duke fans pointed out #26 for Cal's shoulders (she was the one that was probably their best player, her or #6). He said that the reason she could get so much power behind her serve and hits was because her shoulders were so muscular. He told us that one of the main ways to work your shoulders up like that is to swim a lot in the off-season. I'd never thought of that before. Is this something that's common? Do our girls use it as a form of training?


Congratulations to the ladies on a great year. We're all proud of you. After the match, we cheered them on just like they won the game and had an LU chant waiting for them after they prayed with Cal. Hopefully next year since I'll be working locally and not in Martinsville I'll be able to make it to a few more matches.

[hurricane fan]

Just got back from Durham and here are some random thoughts:

1. Cameron Indoor is a dump....reminded me a lot of Schilling...minus the national championship banners
2. Cal is the real deal and our girls took it to them in game 2.
3. The girl from Croatia (#26) is incredible. She's about 6'5" & athletic. It sounded like a gun going off when she hit the ball.
4. The pictures of #3 for Cal on the other thread do her no justice.
5. Kallie played really well and you could see the hunger in her eyes after the game to get back next year.
6. They keyed on Nicki and it didnt seem like she was on her game. Found out from Coach she had 18 kills
7. None of the girls were satisfied with winning 1 game. This group and the incoming freshmen are going to be special.
8. Anybody else think Pinder can coach?
9. I've seen better officiating at intramural volleyball games. The up ref was as bad as they come.
10. Read thought #4 again.

[SuperJon]

Not to take anything away from our girls, but I didn't think Beck looked as good as in the pictures. Granted, I was near the top of the bottom section and never got close to her so my view was, uh, skewed.


Cameron is terrible. There's not a single sign for it on campus. Half the Liberty fans drove around for 20+ minutes trying to a) find it and b) find somewhere to park near it. Add that to the fact that none of the Duke students would tell us where it was at, and we missed most of the first game.

[hurricane fan]

Not to take anything away from our girls, but I didn't think Beck looked as good as in the pictures. Granted, I was near the top of the bottom section and never got close to her so my view was, uh, skewed.

I was on the front row of the baseline.

[SuperJon]

You had a much better view than me then. I'll take your word.

[Vadim]

Hurricane Fan,

We must have been watching a different match. To say that Nicki was off her game when she was up against the #1 blocking defense in the #1 conference in the nation and had 18 kills, I know we had to be seeing soething different. She hit over .700 in game 1 and over .300 in game 2. They made a big adjustment in their defense to focus on her in games 3 and 4. Try hitting over or around a double block put up by a pair of 6'3 ladies and see how difficult it can be. Our girls played their hearts out at every position against a tremendous team and gave them more than they bargained for.

I talked with Cal's libero's dad during game 4 and he was very complimentary of our team. He said we were very athletic and played great defense. He said it was clearly obvious that we were very well coached and that Coach Pinder really knew his stuff. After the match, he said he was sure we would be back next year.

Coach was pleased with how the girls played. He knows they have what it takes to grow from this experience and go deeper into the tournament in the next few years.

[Vadim]

We know one of Winthrop's 2008 recruits really well. Nicki played on her JO team 2 years ago. She played middle on that team, but she played right side for PTVC out of Greensboro last season. She is a tremendous blocker. She has improved her foot speed over the last year. She is the real deal. Coach Pinder tried to get her to come to Liberty, but Winthrop had gotten to her first and she decided to stay with them and made her verbal commitment early this year. Her name is Brittany Blackman. Winthrop will certainly be glad they have her. She is a super person on top of being a great player. Almost forgot to mention that she is 6'2.

[hurricane fan]

[quote="Vadim"]Hurricane Fan,

We must have been watching a different match. To say that Nicki was off her game when she was up against the #1 blocking defense in the #1 conference in the nation and had 18 kills, I know we had to be seeing soething different. She hit over .700 in game 1 and over .300 in game 2. They made a big adjustment in their defense to focus on her in games 3 and 4. Try hitting over or around a double block put up by a pair of 6'3 ladies and see how difficult it can be. Our girls played their hearts out at every position against a tremendous team and gave them more than they bargained for.

I'm sorry if you interpreted that wrong or if I did a bad job communicating...it was meant to be a compliment. 18 kills is very impressive against their front line. When they keyed on her it made it much more difficult and I couldn't believe that she still had that many kills.

[ATrain]

We know one of Winthrop's 2008 recruits really well. Nicki played on her JO team 2 years ago. She played middle on that team, but she played right side for PTVC out of Greensboro last season. She is a tremendous blocker. She has improved her foot speed over the last year. She is the real deal. Coach Pinder tried to get her to come to Liberty, but Winthrop had gotten to her first and she decided to stay with them and made her verbal commitment early this year. Her name is Brittany Blackman. Winthrop will certainly be glad they have her. She is a super person on top of being a great player. Almost forgot to mention that she is 6'2.

Verbals mean nothing...she's fair game until an NLI is signed...some coaches learn this the hard way.

[Vadim]

HF, no harm, no foul. Thanks for supporting the team. As for your point #1, I agree totally. I graduated from UNC a long time ago. Never set foot in Cameron until tonight. I was not impressed. The one thing I liked about it is how close the fans can get to the floor, however. I still don't understand how anyone would want to go to a school whose name rhymes with puke.

[Schfourteenteen]

Agreed with alot of what SJ said, also future reference, NEVER TAKE ADVICE OR DIRECTIONS FROM BRYSON

I had alot of fun being loud when we got there in the second game, also glad no one next to me left because I was too loud(like last game)

Girls played well, sloppy in game 3+4 but overall Im proud of these girls

[ATrain]

I had no problem finding the dump that is Cameron Indoor, but the slow cars on 86 just make me sick.

But thats not the issue, the issue is tonight Liberty Volleyball has reached a level its never been at, and I am really proud of this team.