More Apples-to-Oranges

As we’ve noted in several posts, this 2011 Penn State Women’s Volleyball team is very, very young.  Here’s an updated look at how the performances of two of the the 2011 freshmen — 5-11 S Micha Hancock and 6-2 MH Nia Grant — compare to several notable freshmen from previous seasons: MHs Christa Harmotto and Arielle Wilson; and setters Sam Tortorello and Alisha Glass. 

It’s worthwhile repeating our upfront disclaimers and disclosures from the first time we posted this comparison.

First, and foremost, we are not suggesting that any of the current crop of freshmen will be as successful as our comparison group. We’re simply curious as to what the comparison shows. 

Second, we know we are making apples-to-oranges comparisons in two significant ways: 1) pre-2008 statistics from the 30-point per-set era, and 2) statistics for complete seasons to statistics for a 2011 season that is only 16 matches old.

With respect to the first point, we’ll leave that fine-tuning to someone else.  As to the second, we’ll update these tables as the 2011 season progresses.

Still, even though the comparisons are admittedly imperfect, a few things stand out.  Grant is having a very respectable freshman season, but for a variety of reasons — including who she’s playing with, the experience (or lack thereof) of her setter, who she’s played against — her offensive and blocking numbers are significantly below those for Harmotto and Wilson.  Not surprisingly, Hancock’s assists/set average is also lower than Tortorello and Glass.   

But Hancock’s average for kills stands up very well to those of Glass and Tortorello, as does her points/set average.  She’s significantly below Glass when it comest to blocks/set, but her serving is in a league by itself.  Hancock has already surpassed the complete-season totals for Glass and Tortorello after little more than half a season.

Both freshmen have plenty of room for improvement — probably including in important, but subtle, ways that we don’t even notice.  But through these first 16 matches, the statistics we have access to say they’ve played pretty well. 

Debuts Compared - Attack Stats 10-8-11

#	Name	Pos.	Class	SP	MP	MS	K	K/Set	E	TA	Pct.
3	Harmotto, Christa	MH	Fr. - 2005	94	na	na	278	2.96	77	564	.356
7	Wilson, Arielle	MH	Fr. - 2007	83	30	21	198	2.39	40	354	.446
7	Grant, Nia	MH	Fr. - 2011	56	15	15	65	1.16	19	141	.326
6	Tortorello, Sam	S	Fr. - 2002	107	33	30	81	0.76	28	212	.250
6	Glass, Alisha	S	Fr. - 2006	113	35	35	131	1.16	43	335	.263
12	Hancock, Micha	S	Fr. - 2011	60	16	15	54	0.90	19	116	.302

Debuts Compared - Set/Serve - 10-8-11

#	Name	Pos.	Class	SP	MP	MS	Ast	Ast/S	SA	SA/Set	SE
6	Tortorello, Sam	S	Fr. - 2002	107	na	na	1338	12.50	37	0.35	19
6	Glass, Alisha	S	Fr. - 2006	113	35	35	1413	12.50	21	0.19	39
12	Hancock, Micha	S	Fr. - 2011	60	16	15	570	9.50	49	0.90	29

Debuts Compared - Recept/Dig - 10-8-11

#	Name	Pos.	Class	SP	MP	MS	RE	Dig	Dig/Set
6	Tortorello, Sam	S	Fr. - 2002	107	na	na	0	225	2.10
6	Glass, Alisha	S	Fr. - 2006	113	35	35	2	230	2.04
12	Hancock, Micha	S	Fr. - 2011	60	16	15	4	138	2.30

Debuts Compared - Blocking/Points - 10-8-11

#	Name	Pos.	Class	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	Total	B/S	BE	BHE	Points	Points/Set
3	Harmotto, Christa	MH	Fr. - 2005	94	na	na	25	116	141	1.50	10	2	361.0	3.84
7	Wilson, Arielle	MH	Fr. - 2007	83	30	21	18	131	149	1.80	11	1	281.5	3.39
7	Grant, Nia	MH	Fr. - 2011	56	15	15	4	48	52	0.93	2	0	93.0	1.66
6	Tortorello, Sam	S	Fr. - 2002	107	na	na	7	54	61	0.57	3	18	152.0	1.42
6	Glass, Alisha	S	Fr. - 2006	113	35	35	12	117	129	1.14	9	28	222.5	1.97
12	Hancock, Micha	S	Fr. - 2011	60	16	15	3	28	31	0.52	6	11	120.0	2.00