Matches thread - Volleyball goes to L.A. to face #23 UCLA (Thurs., 11/7, 8:00 PM MT) and (RV) USC (Sat., 8:00 PM MT)

[AztecBuff]

Buffs call their 2nd timeout down 14-17 in the 4th.

 

[AztecBuff]

Buffs can't handle Lanier, along with some good USC defense, and lose the 4th set 19-25 and the match 1 set to 3.
(Ms. Lanier led the Pac heading into this weekend with just short of 5 kills per set, and for the 2nd match in a row, has over 8 per set (33 in total) in this match. I believe she was dealing with some injury issues early in the season which kept her numbers a little down, and the Trojans aren't considered title favorites, but if they were, I'd think she would be in the NCAA Player of the Year discussion.)

Still a VERY good effort for the Buffs, and hope they can build from this in their 6 remaining matches, 4 of which are at the CEC.

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[buffgal]

Note- One thing that didn't help the Buffs in the 3rd set- for the 1st time I remember, it looks like Spann had maybe hit a tip in at a crucial time late in the set, but it was called out. Coach Mahoney challenged, but after a few minutes his challenge was disregarded (he wasn't charged a challenge) due to "technical difficulties". The Pac or NCAA may want to adjust their rules so a home team is penalized for that kind of thing.

How does a challenge get disregarded because of technical difficulties? Does that mean there was no video for the officials to watch? The point should have been replayed if that is what happened.

 

[Uncle Ken]

Shout out to Aztec for his devotion to the Volleyball threads all season (and seasons past). I really do follow the updates, and I truly appreciate his dedication.

 

[AztecBuff]

How does a challenge get disregarded because of technical difficulties? Does that mean there was no video for the officials to watch? The point should have been replayed if that is what happened.

They showed the replay of the challenged call on TV (the camera was on the other side of the court, but it looked a little "grainy" to me), so I'd GUESS (???) the refs didn't think the quality was high enough (or they weren't able to get freeze frame and/ or zoom working to see where the ball exactly was when it hit the ground?) to evaluate the play?

Note- Although I heard the public address announcer say right after the CU challenge was waived off that both teams still had 3 challenges left, I don't remember either coach making another challenge (and I have never watched another match where no challenge has been made since the challenge rules were instituted in the Pac 2-3 years ago), so I'd assume the refs probably told both coaches that, due to whatever technical issues USC was having, challenges were not allowed for the rest of the match.

(As I seem to remember also saying in a thread after another match in a prior year (and still seems to be true from what I watched this weekend)- I always find it a little strange/ ironic that USC and UCLA, the 2 teams in "Tinseltown", and with 2 of the most famous and (I assume) top-rated film schools in the country, always seem to have some of the shoddiest video streams I see across the Pac 12 for sporting events.)

 

[buffgal]

Agree with you @AztecBuff on the live streams produced by USC and UCLA. I've noticed the quality sucked for several years.

 

[BeBe]

Buffs finally use their 1st timeout as they face their 1st set point against down 26-27 after being unable to quite convert on their own 1st 3 set points.

I think Coach Mahoney waits too long too often to take that timeout. Buffs had 3 set points, all of which they failed to convert, and he waits even longer, until they are down a set point to USC, before he finally calls time out. I've seen similar actions from him too often for my liking.

 

[buffgal]

Jesse definitely waits too long to call time outs. That has been frustrating me all season.

The last coach who did that was Pi'i Aiu. Drove me crazy.