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Post by Pasquale on Dec 15, 2015 20:39:52 GMT -5
Thanks.
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Post by alt on Dec 15, 2015 23:44:52 GMT -5
I'm ready for 2016 - thought it would be a good time to create a new thread. Below is the projected roster for next year's team. I have to believe Hambly is looking for another middle blocker. I recognize that Palmer was primarily used as a serving specialist this year, but she will be the team's backup setter in 2016. Discuss . . . SetterJordyn Poulter 6'2", Sophomore Allison Palmer, 5'9", Senior OutsideMichelle Strizak, 6'1", Senior Katie Roustio, 6'2', Senior Beth Prince, 6'3, R-Freshman Jacqueline Quade, 6'2", Freshman Kaylin Korte, 6'1", Freshman OppNaya Crittenden, 6'2", Senior MiddleKatie Staddick, 6'3", Senior Alison Bastianelli, 6'3, Sophomore Libero/DSBrandi Donnelly, 5'8", Junior Danielle Davis, 5'9, Senior Caroline Welsh, 5'8', Freshman McKenna Kelsay, 5'7" Senior You're missing freshman Annike Gereau at DS.
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Post by alt on Dec 15, 2015 23:56:39 GMT -5
Hey Girlfriend. I'll bite. I'm most comfortable with our setter, middle, and right side positions. Another year of practice and reps can only improve the connections between Poulter and those three hitters. Most excited about the potential of Bastianelli as she really started to come on offensively at the end of the year. Blocking should be solid. Biggest question mark is on the outside. First time in many years where we won't have that established returning hitter to rely on out there. Doesn't seem like Strizak or Roustio will be the answer, does it? And will either of them be good enough defensively to play back row and receive serve? Everyone's hoping Prince can make a splash next year, but I don't know that we have the data yet to put any real stock in that hope. Birks redshirted, then came on like gangbusters her first year. Can Prince do the same and stay injury-free? Maybe the real wild card will be if this is the year that Hambly decides to speed up the offense a bit. I don't know what style is the true strength of Poulter, but whichever style that is, I hope that Illinois lets her run it. Poulter is special and I don't feel like we got to see all she has to offer this past season. The great thing about college volleyball is that you can never be too sure if a certain group will "click" on all cylinders. Illinois never got over the hump this season though expectations were pretty high. Who knows...maybe next season will be the other way around! I think if Michelle Strizak could play the way she did at the beginning of season and the last game against Minnesota she could be really good for the Illini. Big problem with her is she ever varies her shots. She pretty much always hits cross court and the libero easily digs it up. Illinois hitters need to learn how to hit various shots. I'm not sure if any of the hitters know how to tip a ball well. Stadick started to a little there at the end of season but other than that the hitters did not know or just never chose to tip. Which was frustrating because hitters need to be smart. If you smash the ball straight down or tip it over the block a point is a point. I think Quade is going to be a good player for Illinois. She is ranked low but I think she is a smart hitter. Kaylin maybe can be used if we do a faster system or just a DS. One thing I never understood about Hambly is why they never set up Stark in the back. Why not? Thant's just an extra option they could have gone to. Hambly doesnt step out of his comfort zone which is annoying. Stark is used to hitting use what you got..... I do think that Poulter was not confident this year. She was a freshman coming in taking a senior setters position and trying to set a team that is somewhat new to each other. I really wish she becomes more confident and becomes more offensive. I don't think she realizes by her being offensive that will only help out her hitters. Also she needs to be a leader even tho she may be a soph next year she needs to lead her team every setter does.
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Post by big10vb on Dec 16, 2015 8:43:48 GMT -5
IMO, Illinois will be successful in 2016. Poulter and Bastinelli will be much more confident playing in the B1G. The OHs will probably be some combination of Prince, Roustio and Strizak. Can any of that group play backrow? Will either Korte and Quade redshirt? The passing should be much improved with the new group coming in. Illinois needs another viable middle and setter in the event of injury.
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Post by Pasquale on Dec 16, 2015 22:17:27 GMT -5
It's important to note that we return five starters (plus Donnelly) from a team that went to the Sweet 16. Birks will be difficult to replace, but I thought the same thing after Borske, DeBruler, Ward and Bartsch graduated. I have a feeling we will be more competitive next season.
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Post by jma22 on Dec 16, 2015 23:37:26 GMT -5
It's important to note that we return five starters (plus Donnelly) from a team that went to the Sweet 16. Birks will be difficult to replace, but I thought the same thing after Borske, DeBruler, Ward and Bartsch graduated. I have a feeling we will be more competitive next season. Well, we did have a pretty huge drop off when Ward and Bartsch graduated. Of course there were two of them and only one Birks. But Birks was really our only go-to, dominant hitter. Either Strizak, Prince, or Roustio is going to have to step up big.
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Post by 2muchbs on Dec 16, 2015 23:56:57 GMT -5
What happens if one of our middles is injured? Maddie Myers decided to graduate early. Illinois is actively looking for a transfer middle this offseason. my understanding is she gave up her scholarship and will attend graduate school at the university. Also strange. To jma you are absolutely right we had one player in Birks trying to replace two all Americans Bartsch and Ward. Birks still managed to break records,she will be greatly missed. Hopefully Prince is of that caliber. I still believe Roustio could have a bigger impact of given a decent chance.
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Post by alt on Dec 18, 2015 20:44:58 GMT -5
I really don't think we will go far next season. It's not the players, I think it's time for Illinois to get a new coach.
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Post by huskerjen on Dec 18, 2015 21:10:19 GMT -5
I really don't think we will go far next season. It's not the players, I think it's time for Illinois to get a new coach. Or maybe just better assistant coaches? Hambly can recruit and seems like a good guy. Maybe he just needs some assistants that can develop the players he brings in? I'm not bagging on their current assistants since I don't know much about them. There does seem like something is missing. I will say, their desire to run a faster tempo wasn't a great decision with a true frosh setter and their primary pin being more adept at terminating in a slower high ball offense.
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Post by alt on Dec 19, 2015 0:58:07 GMT -5
I really don't think we will go far next season. It's not the players, I think it's time for Illinois to get a new coach. Or maybe just better assistant coaches? Hambly can recruit and seems like a good guy. Maybe he just needs some assistants that can develop the players he brings in? I'm not bagging on their current assistants since I don't know much about them. There does seem like something is missing. I will say, their desire to run a faster tempo wasn't a great decision with a true frosh setter and their primary pin being more adept at terminating in a slower high ball offense. Birks was not successful running a fast ball and was not too great at putting away out of systems either. She's a picky hitter, and she's even said that her setters think it's hard to set her because she likes it at a specific tempo. Illinois can run a fast tempo but thats if the serve receive in good. Hambly is a laid back kinda guy, and sometime to me it seems like he's not even interested. In his post match conference he kept saying "it's just volleyball"... I understand it is but this is your job to get your program to be the best and thats his mentality?? YIKES
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Post by 2muchbs on Dec 19, 2015 13:36:46 GMT -5
Or maybe just better assistant coaches? Hambly can recruit and seems like a good guy. Maybe he just needs some assistants that can develop the players he brings in? I'm not bagging on their current assistants since I don't know much about them. There does seem like something is missing. I will say, their desire to run a faster tempo wasn't a great decision with a true frosh setter and their primary pin being more adept at terminating in a slower high ball offense. Birks was not successful running a fast ball and was not too great at putting away out of systems either. She's a picky hitter, and she's even said that her setters think it's hard to set her because she likes it at a specific tempo. Illinois can run a fast tempo but thats if the serve receive in good. Hambly is a laid back kinda guy, and sometime to me it seems like he's not even interested. In his post match conference he kept saying "it's just volleyball"... I understand it is but this is your job to get your program to be the best and thats his mentality?? YIKES Because I have a fairly close tie to some of the players from 2011 2012 squad I feel like I can speak fairly accurately that this statement about Birks is so far off the mark, the exact opposite is true. It's almost comical the remarks that are posted on here. Birks had three different setters with all three having different styles. She managed to break records for kills and attempts and her role as Hambly has stated numerous times was to be the "clean up hitter" she had the majority of oss. This year in particular because not one of the other hitters could even attempt the os. Did you watch the team at all ? Not to mention Vilunis and Birks played together for approx 10 years. Let's look at the reality - started the season with a mediocre record with the new "system" . She was injured missed several games then came back strong in the Wisconsin match . They continued to struggle until Indiana when Vilunis returned. The won several matches and gave a good battle in Purdue. As soon as they removed Vilunis we began to lose again to anyone in the upper half of the Big. That's just reality. I think everyone witnessed what happened in the tournament. Louisville we included her in more then just os and it was remarkable, during Minnesota we reverted back to only os, again we know the results . 500+ kills every season but the last. I would suggest it makes It obvious who struggled. I imagine you have never personally heard her say she's " picky" I'd also venture a guess that this is damage control for the new setter. I can say honestly in all the time she's been there I've never heard anything even remotely close to that about her. Actually there has been lots of criticism for her being too laid back similar to your criticism of Hambly. Strange nothing like this has never come up prior.
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Post by alt on Dec 19, 2015 13:51:52 GMT -5
Birks was not successful running a fast ball and was not too great at putting away out of systems either. She's a picky hitter, and she's even said that her setters think it's hard to set her because she likes it at a specific tempo. Illinois can run a fast tempo but thats if the serve receive in good. Hambly is a laid back kinda guy, and sometime to me it seems like he's not even interested. In his post match conference he kept saying "it's just volleyball"... I understand it is but this is your job to get your program to be the best and thats his mentality?? YIKES Because I have a fairly close tie to some of the players from 2011 2012 squad I feel like I can speak fairly accurately that this statement about Birks is so far off the mark, the exact opposite is true. It's almost comical the remarks that are posted on here. Birks had three different setters with all three having different styles. She managed to break records for kills and attempts and her role as Hambly has stated numerous times was to be the "clean up hitter" she had the majority of oss. This year in particular because not one of the other hitters could even attempt the os. Did you watch the team at all ? Not to mention Vilunis and Birks played together for approx 10 years. Let's look at the reality - started the season with a mediocre record with the new "system" . She was injured missed several games then came back strong in the Wisconsin match . They continued to struggle until Indiana when Vilunis returned. The won several matches and gave a good battle in Purdue. As soon as they removed Vilunis we began to lose again to anyone in the upper half of the Big. That's just reality. I think everyone witnessed what happened in the tournament. Louisville we included her in more then just os and it was remarkable, during Minnesota we reverted back to only os, again we know the results . 500+ kills every season but the last. I would suggest it makes It obvious who struggled. I imagine you have never personally heard her say she's " picky" I'd also venture a guess that this is damage control for the new setter. I can say honestly in all the time she's been there I've never heard anything even remotely close to that about her. Actually there has been lots of criticism for her being too laid back similar to your criticism of Hambly. Strange nothing like this has never come up prior. I never said it was bad that she was laid back, she is but it's beneficial for the team. And yes she even said that to news gazette that her setters think she's a hard hitter to set. I'll try finding the article. Every hitters likes a specific tempo, and by watching the games I knew which balls were balls she was going to terminate and which balls she was just going to roll over. And I didnt see a lot of sets that fit her tempo. We used her other than oos during Southern Illinois and she did not produce as much as she did against Louisville.
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Post by 2muchbs on Dec 19, 2015 13:51:57 GMT -5
Birks was not successful running a fast ball and was not too great at putting away out of systems either. She's a picky hitter, and she's even said that her setters think it's hard to set her because she likes it at a specific tempo. Illinois can run a fast tempo but thats if the serve receive in good. Hambly is a laid back kinda guy, and sometime to me it seems like he's not even interested. In his post match conference he kept saying "it's just volleyball"... I understand it is but this is your job to get your program to be the best and thats his mentality?? YIKES Because I have a fairly close tie to some of the players from 2011 2012 squad I feel like I can speak fairly accurately that this statement about Birks is so far off the mark, the exact opposite is true. It's almost comical the remarks that are posted on here. Birks had three different setters with all three having different styles. She managed to break records for kills and attempts and her role as Hambly has stated numerous times was to be the "clean up hitter" she had the majority of oss. This year in particular because not one of the other hitters could even attempt the os. Did you watch the team at all ? Not to mention Vilunis and Birks played together for approx 10 years. Let's look at the reality - started the season with a mediocre record with the new "system" . She was injured missed several games then came back strong in the Wisconsin match . They continued to struggle until Indiana when Vilunis returned. The won several matches and gave a good battle in Purdue. As soon as they removed Vilunis we began to lose again to anyone in the upper half of the Big. That's just reality. I think everyone witnessed what happened in the tournament. Louisville we included her in more then just os and it was remarkable, during Minnesota we reverted back to only os, again we know the results . 500+ kills every season but the last. I would suggest it makes It obvious who struggled. I imagine you have never personally heard her say she's " picky" I'd also venture a guess that this is damage control for the new setter. I can say honestly in all the time she's been there I've never heard anything even remotely close to that about her. Actually there has been lots of criticism for her being too laid back similar to your criticism of Hambly. Strange nothing like this has never come up prior. I've watched all of them over the years and the system Birks and Vilunis set in high school (to win the state title) and club was fast and this was all adjusted coming to Illinois, Hambly ran the slower higher sets because Ward and Bartsch were more successful within that system.
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Post by 2muchbs on Dec 19, 2015 14:10:18 GMT -5
Because I have a fairly close tie to some of the players from 2011 2012 squad I feel like I can speak fairly accurately that this statement about Birks is so far off the mark, the exact opposite is true. It's almost comical the remarks that are posted on here. Birks had three different setters with all three having different styles. She managed to break records for kills and attempts and her role as Hambly has stated numerous times was to be the "clean up hitter" she had the majority of oss. This year in particular because not one of the other hitters could even attempt the os. Did you watch the team at all ? Not to mention Vilunis and Birks played together for approx 10 years. Let's look at the reality - started the season with a mediocre record with the new "system" . She was injured missed several games then came back strong in the Wisconsin match . They continued to struggle until Indiana when Vilunis returned. The won several matches and gave a good battle in Purdue. As soon as they removed Vilunis we began to lose again to anyone in the upper half of the Big. That's just reality. I think everyone witnessed what happened in the tournament. Louisville we included her in more then just os and it was remarkable, during Minnesota we reverted back to only os, again we know the results . 500+ kills every season but the last. I would suggest it makes It obvious who struggled. I imagine you have never personally heard her say she's " picky" I'd also venture a guess that this is damage control for the new setter. I can say honestly in all the time she's been there I've never heard anything even remotely close to that about her. Actually there has been lots of criticism for her being too laid back similar to your criticism of Hambly. Strange nothing like this has never come up prior. I never said it was bad that she was laid back, she is but it's beneficial for the team. And yes she even said that to news gazette that her setters think she's a hard hitter to set. I'll try finding the article. Every hitters likes a specific tempo, and by watching the games I knew which balls were balls she was going to terminate and which balls she was just going to roll over. And I didnt see a lot of sets that fit her tempo. We used her other than oos during Southern Illinois and she did not produce as much as she did against Louisville. It's simple, southern Illinois we gave her the " garbage " plays (Hambly quote) until the 3rd set and Louisville we made her an intentional part of the offense. It was that way in Colorado early season too. its been an issue for two years it just became blatant this year. The set placement for both Naya and Birks has been off the entire year which is what made them so inconsistent and why I think the setter had confidence giving the ball to Birks - not that Birks was so difficult. You have two big girls that need a full swing to generate the power they both are capable of producing so when you place the ball on top of the net and tight they can't get a full approach or solid swing. It works for the middles on the slide which is why she tried to rely on Stadick so much. Im going to try to look forward to next season in hopes that the adjustments are coming and just wish the seniors well, I have no desire to pick apart someone who's brought so much to the program. Hopefully a year of practicing with the team can bring success and confidence for Prince. Naya is so athletic so I'm hoping they have a better connection also. It was a tough season to watch but on to better days.
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Post by alt on Dec 21, 2015 18:28:42 GMT -5
My predicted lineup. OH: Strizak/Quade M: Bastianelli/Stadick RS: Crittenden L; Donnelly DS: Davis and Welsh
For 2016 I'm thinking Ali B, Naya, and Jordyn will have big years for the Illini. Bastianelli has grown quite quickly as of late and I think she will be better than Stadick next season. Naya also is making a name for herself at Illinois and maybe might become a better RS than Liz. I think we are going to rely on Naya a lot next year. As for Poulter I think confidence was an issue this season. It'll maybe be different now that Alexis will be graduated, sometimes I felt like Poulter felt bad for taking Alexis' spot. really want Poulter to being a whole lot offensive next year, and get better at digging. I think Quade can possibly be the answer Illinois has been looking for she is a good oos hitter. And I think we need that from one of our outsides. Strizak or Roustio is not too great at oos.
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