Omaha @ USD | Thursday 9/22 7 PM | Free stream

[kiyoat]

                       

Omaha Mavs

@

USD Coyotes

Vermillion, SD Sanford Coyote Sports Center (SCSC)

Thursday, September 22nd

7:00pm CT

Watch (free): link

Stats: link

Tickets: link

               

	@
#80* Omaha Mavs		#43* USD Coyotes
5-5 (0-0)		11-1 (0-0)
* National rankings from: MasseyRatings.com

Omaha		South Dakota
Schedule		Schedule
Roster		Roster

Series History

All-time: Omaha leads the series 54-24

Division I: USD leads the series 17-7

@ SCSC: (built prior to 2016 season) USD leads 5-3

in 2021: Omaha beat USD twice in the regular season, and lost to USD in the championship match in Vermillion

     

[kiyoat]

Massey is predicting a 3-2 Coyote win, so this should be a very competitive match from the top-2 Summit teams at this point. Basically a re-match from the championship last year in the same location!

[yotevolleyballfan]

My "human" prediction is, Yotes in 4. Im glad to hear Massey is favoring USD, but the one thing these yote women have this year is heart and thats something that cant be predicted by a computer. So far this years yotes team has shown time and again that when backed up against a wall.....they start moving forward and push back. Coach W has assembled a very unique team this year. some experience. some rookies. tall gals gets digs. and some yes, some shorter gals getting kills. Its like every single person that comes in is giving everything they have in their tanks. And its working wonderfully. The only year i can even compare them to so far is the year of undefeated in conference play. So many new players that year (juhnke, harms, slaughter and wiedenfeld) mixing with experience in Loschen, Rasmussen, Jurgs and weideman.
Talent wise, i dont see anyone in the Summit league keeping up with the Yotes. What will be tough is the mental game. And the coaching staff is pretty darn good at that. There might be a few losses coming, who knows. but they aint gonna be gifts. They are going to have to be earned by the other team.

[kiyoat]

Some notes on individual Mavs players (copied from the omavs.com pregame article):


#4 McKenna Ruch
6'-2" Junior Middle Blocker

• McKenna Ruch is coming off her best week of the season so far, racking up 37 kills, a .389 attack percentage, and 20 total blocks in the Classic. She has now eclipsed 100 kills and slots in at third in the league with a .350 attack percentage. She also remains atop the leader boards in blocks with a career-high 63.



#11 Shayla McCormick
5'-11" Sophomore Outside Hitter

• Shayla McCormick led all Mavericks and was second in the tournament in kills with 38, while also recording the second most digs on the team at 36 and was tied for the second most blocks with 11. With 155 kills on the season, McCormick ranks fourth in the Summit League, as well as third in kills per set (3.88). She also makes the top 10 in digs with 123.



#15 Sami Clarkson
5'-11" Senior Setter

•Sami Clarkson recorded 118 assists in Kansas, good for second in the tournament. Along with this she produced four service aces and 11 blocks. She now has 430 assists in 2022, placing her third in the league, while her 10.75 assists per set are still the most of any Summit League player.



#3 Kali Jurgensmeier
6'-1" Freshman Outside Hitter

• Kali Jurgensmeier continued to excel in her rookie season, adding another 22 kills, three aces, and four blocks over the weekend. Her 105 total points place her at 20th in the league.

[kiyoat]

Stats-wise, both of these teams are top-50 in the country in blocks per set, and both have great hitting percentages (Omaha with slight edge in blocking, USD with slight edge in hitting efficiency).

both teams have average digs numbers, but I think there is often an inverse relationship between blocks and digs (sometimes teams with bad blocking get a ton more digs, or good blocking teams give the back row less dig opportunities, etc.). So I'm not saying either team has a bad back row, just that both teams are built similarly with dominant blockers in the front row (and both teams have tall setters that get involved in blocking)

The Mavs are only allowing 1 ace per set, which is quite low. I'll assume their "serve-receive" game is very good.

The Yotes are allowing their opponents to hit just .191, which is quite low. That could be a big advantage in a game like this. Forcing hitting errors (I assume) is a combination of a lot of things:  preventing kills with good blocks and digs is obvious, but there are lots of intangibles,  like positioning of blocks to direct attacks where you want them, or smart placement of attacks to get the opponent "out-of-system". Lots of things that are hard to quantify in stats. As an example, the Yotes WBB team has always been good at forcing turnovers, but how that's accomplished doesn't always show up in stats. "deflections" and "frustrating the ball handler" and "clogging passing lanes" are not recorded stats.

It's clear to me that both teams have top-shelf setters, too.  Everything goes through them.  I wondered about Schramm's readiness or experience before the season, but... clearly I shouldn't have questioned Williamson's roster decisions.  She always has a good setter.  Always.  It's a non-negotiable with her.  If she is ever questioning the ability of her setter we will probably see a high-level transfer in the future.

[kiyoat]

[kiyoat]

Yotes take set one! 25-22

[kiyoat]

Juhnke is doing everything. Just amazing.

[kiyoat]

Yotes drop the second set…. Mavs take it 25-16

[kiyoat]

Yotes down 9-18… not looking good

[fightsd]

Omaha is really good, but the Yotes are killing themselves.

[kiyoat]

Mavs take the 3rd 25-18. Crap

Mavs up 2-1 in sets

[kiyoat]

Not dead yet… Yotes start the fourth set on a 6-0 run!

[kiyoat]

Now 11-1, holy cow. Timeout Mavs

[kiyoat]

Yotes up 15-8