Fans Treated to Competitive Match (and Pizza) in Blue-White Women’s Volleyball Scrimmage

We weren’t there, but our crack team of researchers and statisticians reports that the Penn State Women’s Volleyball Blue-White Scrimmage on Saturday at Rec Hall was a roaring success.  Newly-hired assistant coach Steve Aird offered this:

“It was a really cool event that the fans and players enjoyed.  The support from the Booster Club was fantastic as usual and we appreciate their efforts.  Blue-White weekend at Penn State is a great time to be in Happy Valley.  I thought both teams did some nice things and competed hard.”

Fanalysis

Both teams ran a 5-1 offense, with Kristin Carpenter setting the Blue team and Micha Hancock setting the White (see below for the rosters for the two squads).

The White team got off to a good start, winning the first set 25-22.  The Blue team fought back to take the second set, also by a 25-22 score.  In the third set, the White team prevailed for a hard-fought 26-24 victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.  But the Blue team dug deep, and secured a tie by winning the fourth set 15-9.

Here’s a sampling (in no particular order) of comments we received from fans who were at the match.  You’ll undoubtedly note that we don’t have comments on the play of Katie Slay, Nia Grant, Erica Denny, Ariel Scott, Dominique Gonzalez, Lacey Fuller, and Maggie Harding.  The only conclusion you should draw from that is that the fans who sent us comments were there to enjoy the match, not as reporters.  Every player worked hard this spring and in the match.

“Both teams played hard — there were several long rallies.”

“Marika Racibarskas played at OH and looked good as a hitter.”

“Both teams were pretty aggressive from the end line, so there were a number of missed serves.  Micha Hancock and Kristin Carpenter were letting it rip and Prieto-Cerame has a rocket as well.”

“Everyone looked to have improved from last year.  Hitting errors appear to have been reduced, and passing and defense both appear to have improved.”

“Prieto-Cerame looked good at OH, as did Aiyana Whitney, Maddie Martin and, of course, Deja McClendon.”

“Ali Longo was in civies watching the action from the bleachers, as was Alyssa D’Errico.”

“I’m really looking forward to the upcoming season.”

Numbers Game

The word before the match was that the team would be evenly-divided for the Blue-White Match, and judging by the score, that goal was accomplished.  Digging deeper, our crack team of researchers and statisticians came up with these numbers:

Experience

The seven members of the Blue Team averaged 1.86 years on the team; the seven White Team members averaged 1.28 years on the team.  Distinct advantage – Blue!

 Height

The Blue Team averaged 6′ 1/7″ per player, as did the White Team.  Tie!

2011 Stat Leaders

For attacking, the statistical advantage (based on 2011 stats) appeared to favor the White, but not by much.

Blue Team Attack Leaders - 2011

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	K	K/Set	E	TA	Pct.
18	McClendon, Deja	122	33	33	432	3.54	144	1090	.264
14	Whitney, Aiyana	65	24	0	113	1.74	51	320	.194
7	Grant, Nia	117	32	32	151	1.29	44	309	.346

White Team Attack Leaders - 2011

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	K	K/Set	E	TA	Pct.
1	Scott, Ariel	118	33	31	418	3.54	136	1083	.260
16	Slay, Katie	122	33	33	257	2.11	63	502	.386
6	Martin, Maddie	98	33	24	141	1.44	60	410	.198
12	Hancock, Micha	121	33	32	110	0.91	34	246	.309

In blocking, the White enjoyed a bigger statistical advantage, but again, pretty evenly divided.

Blue Team Blocking - 2011 Stat Leaders

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	Total	B/S	BE	BHE
7	Grant, Nia	117	32	32	13	94	107	0.91	4	0
18	McClendon, Deja	122	33	33	13	48	61	0.50	6	3

White Team Blocking - 2011 Stat Leaders

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	Total	B/S	BE	BHE
16	Slay, Katie	122	33	33	27	146	173	1.42	11	3
1	Scott, Ariel	118	33	31	5	81	86	0.73	2	1
12	Hancock, Micha	121	33	32	5	54	59	0.49	9	19

In serving and setting, the White (read “Micha”) had a distinct advantage based on 2011 stats.

Blue Team Set/Serve Leaders - 2011

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	Ast	Ast/S	SA	SA/Set	SE
5	Carpenter, Kristin	100	33	4	76	0.76	14	0.14	37
33	Fuller, Lacey	67	30	0	4	0.06	7	0.10	6

White Team Set/Serve Leaders - 2011

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	Ast	Ast/S	SA	SA/Set	SE
12	Hancock, Micha	121	33	32	1275	10.54	91	0.75	76
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	84	29	6	19	0.23	8	0.10	21

In recepts/digs – pretty much a dead heat.

Blue Team - Recept/Dig Leaders - 2011

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	RE	Dig	Dig/Set
18	McClendon, Deja	122	33	33	22	245	2.01
5	Carpenter, Kristin	100	33	4	12	182	1.82
33	Fuller, Lacey	67	30	0	13	59	0.88

White Team - Recept/Dig Leaders - 2011

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	RE	Dig	Dig/Set
12	Hancock, Micha	121	33	32	4	279	2.31
6	Martin, Maddie	98	33	24	21	156	1.59
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	84	29	6	10	123	1.46

Bottom Line – a Toss-up

Blue – more experienced.  White – a slight statistical advantage based on 2011 stats (which of course, ignores improvement and the role of Paulina Prieto-Cerame, who wasn’t on the team last season).

All-in-all, the 2-2 result in the match makes sense.

The Rosters

2012 Blue Team Scrimmage Roster

Number	Name	Position	Eligibility	Height	Hometown	State/Nation
5	Carpenter, Kristin	DS/L/S	Sr.	5-6	Mechanicsville	Virginia
7	Grant, Nia	OH	So.	6-2	Warren	Ohio
8	Denny, Erica	MH	So. (RS)	6-5	Centennial	Colorado
10	Racibarskas, Marika	S	Sr.	6-0	Chatham	New Jersey
14	Whitney, Aiyana	OH	So.	6-5	Ridgewood	New Jersey
18	McClendon, Deja	OH	Jr.	6-1	Louisville	Kentucky
33	Fuller, Lacey	DS/L	So.	5-6	San Diego	California

2012 White Team Scrimmage Roster

Number	Name	Position	Eligibility	Height	Hometown	State/Nation
1	Scott, Ariel	Opp/MH	Jr.	6-4	Ridgewood	New Jersey
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	DS/L	So.	5-6	San Antonio	Texas
6	Martin, Maddie	OH	Jr.	6-2	Tampa	Florida
12	Hancock, Micha	S	So.	5-11	Edmond	Oklahoma
15	Harding, Maggie	DS	So. (RS)	5-6	State College	Pennsylvania
16	Slay, Katie	MH	Jr.	6-6	Raleigh	North Carolina
tbd	Prieto Cerame, Paulina	OH/MH	Fr.	6-2	Miami	Florida