ah...to be clear, I copied and pasted that after Taylor got slammed in this thread. It is from her website. She seems like a good kid. Gators ranked 15 in pre-season poll and 2nd in the SEC.
The ladies won all five sets. We started slowly and had trouble working together and communicating. But, as the match went on, they improved. Some newcomers to watch- AC Fitzpatrick with good service is and powerful spikes; Emily Canaan a freshman who impressed with her serving and some really good digs; Carly Hendrickson a good outside hitter; Emerson Hoyle showed promise as a server and defensive specialist. The best part of yesterday was at the Gator Attack Club barbeque. The players came and speed-dated the tables. If you want to be wowed, just have conversations with these young ladies. They all are so mature and well-spoken and look you in the eye as they talk. If you are not a member of the Attack Club, I will encourage you to do so. We will have 3- 4 more of these meetings with the ladies. Also, Dave Boos Associate Head Coach will give 3-4 Chalk Talks before home matches. He uses video to show what the opponent will be doing and what we will do to counter them. One thing that blew our table away: Amaya Thomas, a freshman was asked what her major would be. She replied Bio-Medical Engineering. We dropped our jaws and asked how long it would take her as she is a student-athlete. She said I plan on doing it in four years by going to school year-round. This folk is what kind of people we have in our program.
Thanks for the information, We summer in North Carolina and missed this. Really happy to have added defensive specialists with promise. Did Marina Markova play? It sounded like she could be special. Any word on when Alexis Stucky will be available?
Marina started, and so did AC. The other 4 were Birdie, Ellie, Merrit, and, I believe, Gabbi. Everyone played except Alexis, whom Mary said before the match would not. She is not cleared yet from a scope she had this summer. Back to Marina, she got blocked more than anyone. But she did figure it out as the match went on. As an aside, freshman Emily Canaan's last name is Ka Nan'.
Bumpy to say the least Lost the first set....were down 8 before losing 25-20 Second set were down 17-10 but rally to win 25-23 3rd set tight early
Mary did a great job guiding this young team tonight and they will only get better. She is a great coach.
Alexis Stuckey had 36 assists in three sets. She did not play in the set one loss to UNF. Who would think a player from Wyoming would be such a difference maker for the Gators.
Competitive team that will be a tough out. I enjoyed watching volleyball again last night. I like the chemistry and athleticism of the team. Preseason ranked 15 is about right, probably has a shot at the top 8 depending on the draw come NCAAs. Maybe just me as I haven't seen the stats, but this seemed to be a better serving team than last year. Time will tell. The new redheaded freshman is the straw that stirs the drink. Let's hope she stays healthy.
3-1 win vs ETSU almost an exact replay of UNF match. Lose the first set with some sloppy play and without Stucky. Cruise in the remaining 3 sets, another 30 assists from the freshman
Watched most of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sets. I was very impressed by the freshman setter. She has a great feel for the game. Usually a low set near the net is horrible (too easy to block) but if the other team is out of sorts on defense it is highly effective. She picked her spots to make some very effective sets like that.
There have been some great flashes of what they are capable of and the talent they have. Just have to get some consistency and cohesion with all the new faces. Because the lapses this weekend will mean an L against better teams. But already from game one to three the improvement is solid, especially with blocking.
Gators look really good, but Virginia had a big injury in the first set which I think threw off their plan of attack.
