Match Analysis: Wisconsin - Nebraska
It turns out that First Ball Strength is a winning profile...
February has been First Ball Month for the indoor analysis.1 I shared some analysis of First Ball Strength profiles as well as First Ball Weakness profiles. And earlier this week I posted some additional exploration into First Ball, parsing out some differences between offense-reliance and defense-reliance. We’ll tackle those topics a lot more this summer as we keep exploring nuances of The Triangle.
Last week we talked about the First Ball Weakness profile and saw an example of how you can win a match despite losing the First Ball game.
This week, I’ll break down a match where a team lost the Terminal Serve and Transition battle, but still won the match by dominating the First Ball portion. And it turns out, it was the biggest NCAA Women’s match of the year. I’m talking about the barnburner National Championship between Wisconsin and Nebraska.
Like most of my Match Analyses, I’m sticking this one behind the paywall. Consider subscribing if you want to help me get out of Disney-vacation induced debt more great content. Here’s some previous Match Analyses if you haven’t seen them yet:
Minnesota v Baylor NCAA Tournament
Wisconsin v Louisville NCAA Tournament
Nebraska v Pitt NCAA Tournament
USA v Italy Tokyo Olympic Women
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Smarter Volley by Joe Trinsey to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.