No Grote or Pantovic or Blevins in the game against North Dakota State. The Bears were just all out of sorts. Had they been able to steal set three after storming back from 8 point deficit to briefly take a 23-22 lead, it might have been different.
But, set four was just bad - and I turned off the live feed about when the Bear got down 10. The live feed was difficult for viewing - although the Haas announcer was pretty lively.

Crosson has some major work to do - starting with today's match against Butler - but North Dakota State is not a high performing lower division school and whose record was 3-3 before coming to Berkeley. If the Bears have trouble with the Bisons, matches against much of the Pac12 are going to be .... not fun.

And, except for Mirkovic and Bergmark, the team on the floor last night are his recruits.

Lost to Butler - 3-1
23-25, 25-16, 16-25, 23-25
I didn't watch. I tormented myself watching the football team

Butler is good apparently

calbears4ever said:

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Butler is good apparently

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After beating Cal, Butler is 5-4 and also lost to North Dakota State.
They play UCLA on 17 September in Indiana.
Wins: Cal, Nevada, Illinois-Chicago, North Dakota, and Youngstown State
Losses: North Dakota State, Indiana, Bowling Green, Central Michigan.

Expect to see them in the NCAA's and cal no

Butler has a really good local girl - Friebel, from Redding. Their best player by far against Cal, and just a freshman.

Pantovic was not in Haas as far as I could tell from the video stream tonight in the win against St Marys. Anyone know anything?

Cal looked terrible in the 1st set losing 8-25 to Saint Mary's with a side out percentage of 25% and hitting percentage of .000. Fortunately, from the start of set 2, the serve receive and passing greatly improved, leading to in-system kills. Also, the team was able to have sustain long rallies and started to block as well. At the end of the match, Cal had a 58% side out percentage as well as 217% hitting percentage, pretty much matching those for Saint Mary's.

The potential good news is Lydia Grote suited up although she didn't play, which could mean she'll be playing soon. I hope Katarina Pantovic is OK.

Idk if Pantovic is redshirting or not but I'm happy that Cal won at least

calbears4ever said:

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Idk if Pantovic is redshirting or not but I'm happy that Cal won at least

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So do I! It was tough watching the 1st set of the match yesterday, but I'm glad I continued because starting from the 2nd set, the team played well.

When you consider that of yesterday's starting lineup, only Bella Bergmark and Tara DeSa played together in the abbreviated spring season while Annalea Maeder and Ellie Hamm are true freshmen, Mima Mirkovic and Katie Smoot played beach volleyball, and Leah Schmidt is a transfer.

IMO, it takes playing matches to finally gel as a team, and hopefully yesterday is the beginning of that. Lydia Grote was in uniform so her return will be huge. Katarina Pantovic was 2nd to Grote in kills this spring, so here's wishing her absence is only temporary.

I like Maeder as the setterlp. Didnt see the match but looks like she might offer some offensive skills based on the box score.

OBear073akaSMFan said:

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I like Maeder as the setterlp. Didnt see the match but looks like she might offer some offensive skills based on the box score.

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Some of her attempts were jousts at the net with the opponent, but I remember one where she attacked on-two (the 2nd ball) with some power, although it was dug up by the defender.

As the title of this thread says, it could be a long season. Sigh!

SanseiBear said:

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As the title of this thread says, it could be a long season. Sigh!

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Double 'sigh!'. Yep disappointing so far. We struggled on the OS. Where's the defense? Hamm and Schmidt were outstanding blockers against Nevada but they hardly played against Davis. We are in real trouble with our next game vs Stanford.

Hope cal beats them and puts the worries to bed. Do you think having Mirkovic back helps or harms them?

calbears4ever said:

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Hope cal beats them and puts the worries to bed. Do you think having Mirkovic back helps or harms them?

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Mima is a big plus for the Bears because she is a defensive prowess as well, but I wish the rest of this team was built around the last spring's players such as Grote, Pantovic, Bergmark, and Lilomaiva along with this year's frosh such as Maeder and Hamm. Of course, some of the players could be injured such as Grote who finally was in uniform last week but didn't play. I hope Pantovic is OK.

The coaches know best, but the serve receiving and passing has really been bad compared to this past spring.

I hope they can get some conference wins and get back to NCAA's in Mirkovic's final year as a bear

SanseiBear said:

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The coaches know best, but the serve receiving and passing has really been bad compared to this past spring.

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Yes this and when Smoot is in the back other teams make an effort to target her with the serve and our trying to compensate for this causes problems in the back row.

OBear073akaSMFan said:

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SanseiBear said:

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The coaches know best, but the serve receiving and passing has really been bad compared to this past spring.

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Yes this and when Smoot is in the back other teams make an effort to target her with the serve and our trying to compensate for this causes problems in the back row.

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Agree! When she rotates to the back, I'd let her serve and then put in a DS like they do with Bergmark.

I agree. Someone like Bellizzi or Clark. Or Blevins could be one. But she has to play all six rotations to be a pro. Not saying she has to be one now

"If we can do the things we want to be good at, we are going to be competitive with everyone," (HC Sam) Crosson said.

I hope he's right!

Daily Cal article

Cal lost to spamford 3-1 but didn't give up. They need Pantovic and Grote back ASAP, but Mirkovic did well and so did Smoot. Lilo on the other hand was denied a lot and so was Hamm. Spamford forced them out of system a lot of times as well

Down 2-0 to USC. Can they pull it off?

It's 15-1 usc and a very ugly 4thset

Cal sadly lost to USC 3-1, but hope they get their revenge vs UA. Kat is on concussion protocol and Grote is hurt

calbears4ever said:

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Cal sadly lost to USC 3-1, but hope they get their revenge vs UA. Kat is on concussion protocol and Grote is hurt

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Both Smoot & Mima seem to be struggling offensively. Possible still adjusting to indoor VB?

When is Lydia Grote expected back?

Maybe vs UA but we'll have to see

I think USC knew they were good and did all in their power to deny them. Unpredictability wins matches; you can't just have the same pins hit during a game. If you use the middle more in system it works and that has worked magic for Cal in the past and still does

OBear073akaSMFan said:

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calbears4ever said:

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Cal sadly lost to USC 3-1, but hope they get their revenge vs UA. Kat is on concussion protocol and Grote is hurt

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Both Smoot & Mima seem to be struggling offensively. Possible still adjusting to indoor VB?

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I checked Smoot's stats at Arizona where her attack percentage was around .180 which mirrors this season's percentage of .184. Mima's percentage in 2019 was .242 while this year's is .247. Perhaps, Smoot should try different type of shots, especially on out-of-system balls, to keep the ball in play. Just my non-expert opinion!

Still hoping for Grote and Pantovic to see the court! Go Bears!

Thank you for the comparison. I think the setting is still a WIP which can very much affect their %.

calbears4ever said:

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I think USC knew they were good and did all in their power to deny them. Unpredictability wins matches; you can't just have the same pins hit during a game. If you use the middle more in system it works and that has worked magic for Cal in the past and still does

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With Mirkovic, and Smoot on the outside - there just is no one in the middle comparable to when the Bears had Anderson or Forte. I see Bergmark listed as middle - but when I have watched, it doesn't seem to me that she is playing the middle - at least the way Anderson and Forte played it. Hurry back Lydia Grote!