|
|
Post by psuphdstudent on May 10, 2024 12:49:04 GMT -5
Some notes I have on the scrimmage it was very informal and I didn’t have any tools to take stats so take them with a grain of salt as I am only a fan haha. They were occasionally switching balls between the Baden and Mikasa balls perhaps to get used to the ball they use in Europe. -Passing was a little suspect in the scrimmage. It was still mostly good but there were patches of a few iffy passes. But I’m sure the team will iron that out. It may also be because of the switching between the balls. Floor defense is excellent though! These ladies are scrappy. -Serving has a lot of potential with this group. Now if you look at Penn State’s serving stat in the Big Ten we were always kinda close to the bottom in the ace department. I’m not saying we’ll be at the very top but we definitely have a considerable amount more service pressure more. Can Hannah serve when she gets her hand contact just right is killer. Jess and Gill always have good float serves but tend to be on the higher risk side. I hope Carol always goes for that topspin that’s gonna be such a crowd pleaser. - Blocking has made me hopeful, more than it has the past few years. I am very impressed with many more POSITIVE touches the block is getting. Particularly Izzy, Taylor and Maggie. - The scrimmage confused me even more on who the pin hitters should be. All of them did well. I still think that Jess and Cam are in the lead but the last spot is up for grabs. Anje, Alexa and Carol did pretty well in the scrimmage. There’s definitely a lot of depth in that area. And good news is that Karis had her leg brace off. She didn’t participate in the scrimmage and she isn’t running but she seems to be walking normally. -Setting feels a tad more stable. I think Izzy is faster than Mac was and seems to be more comfortable setting on the run. The connection with the middle is getting so good, it’s exciting. I think her placement when it comes to faster plays with pins needs more finessing but she will absolutely get there. I also wanna commend Quinn. I am so impressed with her stepping up to be the back up setter and with this scrimmage, I was very happy with how she was leading and setting up plays. Thank you so much for the update!! Its great to hear that we have depth in the OH position, 2015-2019 is screaming FINALLY some consistency  I'm excited to see the defensive players show out this year I have a feeling its going to be tough to put a ball away with Gill, Ava, & Joce back there. oh, and to hear we have a setter getting block touches LOVE that, I know Mac was a taller setter but Izzy already seems to be a better blocker than any setter we've had in the past 10 years? It’s great. It’s the first year in a while since we have kept pins. I think since 2018 or 2019. After that season we have had a revolving door of outside hitter combos. What I really like about Izzy is that she comes in as a very well-rounded player. She can do everything pretty well. She can block, defend, set and serve very reliably. Mac was good for us last year but there were holes in her game and the reason why she was amazing for OSU was that she had 4 years of chemistry with her team that she didn’t have enough time to replicate with the team last year. Izzy I think is the most complete freshman setter we’ve had since Micha and I think she comes in as a better setter than Micha was as a freshman, although nothing can replace that serve. What’s even better is this is the first time in the KSC era that we have an almost full team (15/16) that practiced together! Slap on a foreign tour and this team could go places. I’m trying to temper my expectation cause of last year but it’s hard not to get excited. |
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 10, 2024 22:07:14 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by idseer2 on May 11, 2024 14:50:20 GMT -5
admittedly i'm more of a casual fan. anyone care to tell me what the coming season will look like? will we be serious contenders or are we still building? who is our star(s)?
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 12, 2024 18:11:36 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 13, 2024 12:33:57 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 13, 2024 15:46:36 GMT -5
Jordan Hopp was at today’s send-off event at Campus Steaks with the rest of the team. She appeared to be at ease around her new teammates ahead of tomorrow’s European tour.
|
|
|
|
Post by jojonito on May 16, 2024 7:24:04 GMT -5
admittedly i'm more of a casual fan. anyone care to tell me what the coming season will look like? will we be serious contenders or are we still building? who is our star(s)? I think that this year's team will be better than last year's team. I haven't seen the team scrimmages/pre-season matches, so take this with a grain (or two) of salt 
1. Setting appears to be better. Mac Podraza was a bit inconsistent last year. Izzy Starck will have had more time to adjust to the players as she started school in Jan and will have 7 months to adjust to her new teammates.
2. Middles - Will miss Allie Holland and her 1.33 blocks per set. I didn't think that the setter/middle connection was all that good last year. It appears that Izzy Starck has a decent connection already with the middles. Both middles last years averaged approx 1.5 kills per set. To put that in perspective, Jess Mruzik averaged 4.4 kills per set and Cam Hannah averaged 2.95 kills per set. Also have Jordan Hopp, a grad student transfer who will also be competing for a starting role.
3. OH - Outside hitters could be better than last year as both Jess and Cam are coming back. Their seems to be a log-jam at the third OH position with Caroline Jurivicious, Alexa Markley and Anjelica Starck competing for the job. This could give Katie the option of subbing in a OH when one of the OH is having an off night.
4. Back Row - Gillian Grimes should win the libero job with Ava Falduto close behind. Appears that our back row could be really good this year, with Ava coming in as the first DS off the bench. Our back row defense could be really good this year.
As far as stars go, I'm guessing that -- Jess Mruzik will have a great year and will be the goto hitter for the team. -- Gillian Grimes will continue to develop and will be delivering some really great digs. She had a lot of good digs last year. She will only improve if our blocking is as good as last year. -- Taylor Trammell will continue to improve offensively and will get even better defensively. -- Izzy Starck may develop into a REALLY good setter. Hoping that is what happens. (She was the overall #1 recruit for the 2024 class.) Course that and $5 will get you a cup of coffee.
This answer was probably much longer that you expected (or wanted).
P.S. Although PSU should be better this year, it remains to be seen if they will make up any ground on NEB or WISC as NEB and WISC both had some high powered transfers in to their programs also.
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 17, 2024 8:57:40 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 17, 2024 8:57:56 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 17, 2024 8:58:16 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 17, 2024 8:58:35 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 17, 2024 8:59:02 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 17, 2024 12:31:22 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 17, 2024 12:57:37 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ethankasales on May 19, 2024 11:04:57 GMT -5
|
|
I'm excited to see the defensive players show out this year I have a feeling its going to be tough to put a ball away with Gill, Ava, & Joce back there. oh, and to hear we have a setter getting block touches LOVE that, I know Mac was a taller setter but Izzy already seems to be a better blocker than any setter we've had in the past 10 years? 
