although more than halfway into the season a quick assessment of the team
I predicted a 21-8 regular season. With 6 of 7 starters coming back including the libero we were primed for another solid NCAA season. We took on one of the toughest pre season schedules in the nation with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State from the toughest conference along with Texas, Arizona, florida State. I thought we would go 2-4 maybe 3-3 against that group but ended up 1-5 losing two five setters. I want to commend the coaching staff on the preseason schedule. A program that is in the top 25 needs a non conference schedule like ours. And although outside the Top 25 currently we can and i think will be in it towards the end of the season.
Conference: i thought we would lose maybe 3...so far we are at 5-2 in conference.
Five things i have seen this year.
Kaitlyn Blake has improved every simgle match and will be special player at the end of her career. She has the ability to swing hard and get in front of the hitter on the block. Early on she was guessing wrong on angle of opponent attack but has done much better. She will have to incorporate a fluid slide attack for points.
Holland Hans has exceeded expectations coming in as a freshman and attacking from the pin and service line. Passing has to improve and out of system swings from the outside has to get better from BOTH outside hitters.
Roster is too large IMO. We have way to many players (21/22) and as a group becomes larger it may be affecting team dynamics especially earlier in season. The loss of team leaders last season in Sullivan and Lowak may be something that has taken longer to overcome and has someone step up.
Injuries in the spring have affected fluidity and i dont think all players are still fully healthy but have created points in other ways.
If role players on the back row get 10% better over the rest of the season we will maybe onky lose one more conference match. Passing has got to get a bit better on serve receive and that is accomplished with substitutions and use the front court and back court sub. However it takes away from a back row attack option which most teams in the top 25 use often. We arent a great attacking team from the pins when out of system mainly because we cant see the block being formed from the path of the set off the net. This is where a back row attack option helps and in system as well.
Last year we only lost 2 conference matches because we rode the wave so to speak. This team can catch another wave and do the same but two/three losses may end up this year not able to win the conference due to unbalanced schedules
Notes from the Florida match...Ashlie Reasor had a solid match and stat wise it would have been much better but got blocked a couple of times at the end. Stephanie Aiple has always put up a solid set but her ability to attack and blocking have gotten much better giving us a more productive RS this season in spurts. And The middle for Florida will be on the Olympic team in 2020, her vertical angle of attack is just scary and at times unable to defend.
I predicted a 21-8 regular season. With 6 of 7 starters coming back including the libero we were primed for another solid NCAA season. We took on one of the toughest pre season schedules in the nation with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State from the toughest conference along with Texas, Arizona, florida State. I thought we would go 2-4 maybe 3-3 against that group but ended up 1-5 losing two five setters. I want to commend the coaching staff on the preseason schedule. A program that is in the top 25 needs a non conference schedule like ours. And although outside the Top 25 currently we can and i think will be in it towards the end of the season.
Conference: i thought we would lose maybe 3...so far we are at 5-2 in conference.
Five things i have seen this year.
Kaitlyn Blake has improved every simgle match and will be special player at the end of her career. She has the ability to swing hard and get in front of the hitter on the block. Early on she was guessing wrong on angle of opponent attack but has done much better. She will have to incorporate a fluid slide attack for points.
Holland Hans has exceeded expectations coming in as a freshman and attacking from the pin and service line. Passing has to improve and out of system swings from the outside has to get better from BOTH outside hitters.
Roster is too large IMO. We have way to many players (21/22) and as a group becomes larger it may be affecting team dynamics especially earlier in season. The loss of team leaders last season in Sullivan and Lowak may be something that has taken longer to overcome and has someone step up.
Injuries in the spring have affected fluidity and i dont think all players are still fully healthy but have created points in other ways.
If role players on the back row get 10% better over the rest of the season we will maybe onky lose one more conference match. Passing has got to get a bit better on serve receive and that is accomplished with substitutions and use the front court and back court sub. However it takes away from a back row attack option which most teams in the top 25 use often. We arent a great attacking team from the pins when out of system mainly because we cant see the block being formed from the path of the set off the net. This is where a back row attack option helps and in system as well.
Last year we only lost 2 conference matches because we rode the wave so to speak. This team can catch another wave and do the same but two/three losses may end up this year not able to win the conference due to unbalanced schedules
Notes from the Florida match...Ashlie Reasor had a solid match and stat wise it would have been much better but got blocked a couple of times at the end. Stephanie Aiple has always put up a solid set but her ability to attack and blocking have gotten much better giving us a more productive RS this season in spurts. And The middle for Florida will be on the Olympic team in 2020, her vertical angle of attack is just scary and at times unable to defend.