(VB) Ongoing Volleyball Thread

I watched a little of Vols vs. Cats and I wasn’t wowed. Will be interesting to see each matchup with the rest of the SEC. Jmo of course

 

One thing about UK is they’re not a factor recruiting the Louisville area, which imo is one of the top 3 areas in the nation putting out top VB talent. They have one DS from there, but L’ville puts out a dozen top flight passers to D1 annually. I’m sure there’s some internal strife as well…always seems to be these days in college sports

 

That makes sense. If Kennedy Muff cannot play for whatever reasons, Trinity Adams moves to setter. I'm guessing Trinity has cross trained the position sometime during her 3 years with UF and certainly is doing so now. Muff is undersized at 5'11" as stated by CMW so Adams is really undersized at 5'9".

In the "I heard the other day" department, what else have you heard but not told?

 

Gators - aggies has been bumped from ESPNU to ESPN and a national audience.

Gators-Aggies to Air on ESPN - Florida Gators

The Gators are a big-ticket item even though the AVCA Coaches Poll downgraded UF to 4th behind Stanford, you know the Cardinal team the Gators swept 3-0 in their house.

 

Hmm, somebody else said they watched the full match that UTn won 3-0 over UK and came away impressed with the vols. This much I do know, the vols took Wisky to a hard-fought 5th set in Madison before losing 3-2. That is their only loss. Time will tell.

 

Unfortunately, not nothing.

 

That’s indeed possible as I watched ten minutes, and definitely didn’t like UK, and definitely thought better of UF

 

There are tons of 5’9 girls who were setters, but decided to go the route of DS in order to play at a higher level school. My oldest was such who was recruited by Russ Rose at PSU as a DS but she wanted to set and did so at UMBC…who also offered full ride x 4 years. Setters are often very good passers so the transition to DS isn’t that brutal. Jmo

 

Texas A&M at Florida:

Gators Welcome Aggies for Midweek Matchup - Florida Gators

Should be a good matchup for ESPN to televise. ESPN would like to see another 5 setter. I'd prefer a UF win in 3 or 4 sets. Otherwise, 2023 is turning into the year of the Cardiac Gators.

 

I've only been watching Women's College VB starting last year when my daughter became a huge fan. I know that it helps to be taller as a setter like Stuckey and be able to get more kills and blocks, but is 5'11" really undersized for a setter? I know that 5'9" is. I think it depends on the athlete. AC Fitz is a great hitter at 5'11" and that is considered way undersized for the position.

 

These gals are getting taller each year…and it’s always been a tall person’s game. We had some good teams with setters under 6’0. One, Jen Sanchez, is a friend of mine and she was 5’10. But for a final four team most are 5’11 or more. Stucky was perfect imo. Even at 5’9 the girls can get 6-8” above the net and with good technique can at least slow the ball down. The Monserrez gals were the kind of players you’d go to war with, but for a final 4-8 team not so much. That was Mary’s choice…her team after all. OH’s on top teams are almost always 6’4 or taller. If the set is on point, no contest-or at least it shouldn’t be. Jmo

 

The undersized tag for Muff at 5'11" was used by Coach Mary Wise. I defer to her as I don't want to do the research right now. If I did, I'd take the top 15 teams, say out through Arkansas, to look to see if any of their setters are in the 5'9" to 5'11" height range. It's easy to do but too time consuming for today. If anyone wants to tackle this, please do. Otherwise, I'll take a look later tonight or in the morning.

Asked specifically about AC's performance, CMW said her improved play over last season has come from maturity, experience, and knowing what to do to play within herself. That's not a quote, but you get the idea. What I like about AC is her extreme talent and athleticism which goes well beyond 5'11". That's why I hope the coaching staff is looking to use her at setter in strategic situations, especially those defensive situations when Muff went out and freshman Madi Gravlee came in. Madi Gravlee has an excellent future ahead of her with UF, but she does not compare to AC at this time.

 

On Sunday I only got to watch set five live but today I watched the whole match on ESPN+. We have work to do but Georgia is not a bad side. A win is a win.

Nice to see Muff score some kills on dumps, but she has a long way to go to be a Stuckey. Stuckey vey often could see the opposing team setting up a block and bringing in a backrow defender looking to clean up a dink and she would "dump" a ball deep into the undefended corner. That is a special skill from a special player.

 

The research to see the heights of the starting setters on the AVCA top 15 teams was much easier than expected. First, the AVCA Coaches Poll:

DI Women's Volleyball Rankings - AVCA Rankings | NCAA.com

I reviewed the top 15 team, but have to report on 16 setters as Wisconsin has 2 setters who share the position regardless of who starts:

1. Wisconsin: Izzy Ashburn 5'11" & MJ Hammill 6'2"
2. Nebraska: Bergen Reilly 6'1"
3. Stanford: Kami Miner 6'0"
4. Florida: Kennedy Muff 5'11"
5. Louisville: Elle Glock 6'0"
6. Oregon: Hannah Pukis 5'11"
7. Washington State: Argentina Ung 6'0"
8. Pittsburgh: Adiamar Beaz 5'6"
9. BYU: Whitney Bower 5'9"
10. Texas: Ella Swindle 6'3"
11. Georgia Tech: Isabella D'Amico 6'0"
12. Tennessee: Caroline Kerr 5'11"
13. Minnesota: Melani Shaffmaster 6'3"
14. Arkansas: Hannah Hogue 5'8"
15. Penn State: Mac Podraza 6'2"

Average Height for Top 5 (6) - 6'1/4"
Average Height for 6-10 - 5'10 1/2"
Average Height for 11-15 - 6'0"
Average Height for 16 Setters - 5'11 3/8"

Range of heights for these setters runs from 5'6" - 6'3".

The 3 shortest of the 16 setters: 5'6" - 5'8" - 5'9"

The 4 tallest of the 16 setters: 6'3" - 6'3" - 6'2" - 6'2"

Remaining 9 setters range: 5'11" - 6'1"

I'm not quite sure why CMW described Kennedy Muff as undersized other than she is 3" shorter than Alexis Stucky. I don't consider it material that Muff is shorter than the 5'11 3/8" height of these 16 setters.

I'm actually surprised to see the results. I'm sure it depends on the offense or defense being run, but height doesn't appear to be as big of a deal as I suspected for setters.

 

Good stuff. 5’6 for Pitt is pretty amazing

 

Rating the Gators behind the Cardinal now is nuts. Ratings should be based on what you have done to date and should not take into consideration what might happen in the future because your best player went down for the season.

 

I will say the Aggies have been a pain to us in all sports. Kudos to them.

 

What’s the “RV” mean in our game vs ATM? Haven’t seen that before, or if I did I didn’t think to question it.

 

Received votes.

 

With Jimbo Fisher’s buyout at $77 million the Aggies can’t afford to fly into Gainesville and instead will be traveling the 948 miles to Gainesville in an RV.