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Post by Pasquale on Dec 15, 2018 9:21:58 GMT -5
After an exciting and successful year, it's clear the future of Illinois volleyball is bright. We have an outstanding coaching staff, some excellent returning players and some very talented recruits committed to Illinois volleyball. While Poulter and Bastianelli will be missed, we have several key players returning. The first contact should be solid with all passers returning and all starting pin players return. Here's a look at the 2019 roster (not including any transfers):
OH Jacqueline Quade, 6'2', Sr. (Indiana) Beth Prince, 6'3", Sr. (Indiana) Megan Cooney, 6'4", Jr. (Kansas) Emily Hollowell, 6'4", Jr. (Texas) Ellie Holzman, 6'2", Fr. (Louisiana) Kennedy Collins, 6’3” OH (Illinois)
MB Ashlyn Fleming, 6'4", Sr. (California) Kyla Swanson, 6’3”, Fr. (Nebraska) Rylee Hinton, 6’2” Fr. (Illinois)
Setter Diana Brown, 6'0", R-Fr. (Ohio) Kylie Bruder, 5'11", Jr. (Florida) Mica Allison, 6’1”, So. (Illinois)
Libero and DS Morgan O'Brien, 5'8", Jr. (Illinois) Taylor Kuper, 5'8", So. (Kansas) Caroline Welsh, 5'8, Sr. (Georgia) Alyssa Eske, 5’3” Fr. (Wisconsin) Lexie Smith, 5'8, Jr. Texas) Emmaline Walters, 5'7", Jr. (California) Madison Chi, 5’8”, Fr. (California)
Do Bruna and Allison join the team? Will other players transfer to Illinois? Does anyone transfer from the team? Does the team travel this summer? Discuss.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2018 10:26:57 GMT -5
When was the last foreign trip? I would imagine if they can legally, they will since I don't think the Illini are hurting for funding. It will be an excellent opportunity to break in the new hands.
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Post by bballnut90 on Dec 15, 2018 10:37:24 GMT -5
Setting is the obvious question mark IMO. Going for Poulter to whoever replaces her is going to be a huge change. Quade routinely had massive holes in the block to hit against created by Jordyn...guessing she will have to face a lot more well established double blocks next year. How effective she can terminate OOS balls will be important for Illinois success.
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Post by Pasquale on Dec 15, 2018 13:48:44 GMT -5
I believe their last international trip was 2014 or 2015. They should be eligible to travel again and the experience would be immensely helpful as they have two key positions to fill.
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Post by vbkahuna on Dec 15, 2018 14:00:22 GMT -5
While it's understandable that virtually all the VB experts expect a sharp drop in how Illinois does in 2019 due to the graduation of Poulter and Bastianelli, I believe they're underestimating the value of the Illinois coaching staff in assembling, realigning, and developing the team as a unit. Even though you can't really replace a unique talent like Poulter in particular, I expect to see not just some personnel changes but also some system changes.
At the beginning of 2018, everyone was paranoid about the looming problems with the lack of top level pins and #2 middles, and the disaster the season would become if Bruna wasn't cleared. So what happened? Bruna wasn't cleared, they didn't get any new pins...and they made it to the Final Four.
So what happened? Quade developed into the "new" super OH. Fleming transfered in as a moderately rated middle, who developed into a terminator-type blocker/hitter. Kuper, a terrific athlete who had been an undersized hitter, got transformed into a quality DS and deadly server. And the entire back row steadily developed into a quality passing unit. In addition, the Illinois serving game became among the most aggressive (possibly best collectively) in D1. Speaking of their serving, the frequently made comments on VT about how Nebraska was "sloppy" in the semi-final match completely missed the fact that it was Illinois' aggressive and accurate serving in games 1 and 2 that totally disrupted Nebraska and kept them from running their middle slides and quicks to Stivrins. FYI, that's also a key to how they beat Wisconsin in the regional final.
I don't have any special insight into how the Illinois coaching staff is going to adjust the system or the personnel. But I've seen enough about what they did in 2018 to believe that 2019 is going to bring more good surprises for Illinois fans (and bad surprises for prematurely higher rated Illinois competitors). This is a really superior coaching staff. Should be very interesting to see what they do to build "Illinois 2019".
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Dec 15, 2018 14:48:54 GMT -5
As far as high school recruits go and as would be expected, it has already been stated by the Illinois coaching staff that there has been a considerable uptick in interest in coming to the University of Illinois.
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Post by alt on Dec 15, 2018 15:22:37 GMT -5
As far as high school recruits go and as would be expected, it has already been stated by the Illinois coaching staff that there has been a considerable uptick in interest in coming to the University of Illinois. Good to hear. It's hard to sell University of Illinois to great players when U of I is in the middle of cornfields and most athletics are not too successful. But I think the culture of this program has changed. That final four match hurts because we looked like a team that was coached by Hambly. This new Tamas era players are much more stronger mentally.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Dec 15, 2018 15:40:31 GMT -5
As far as high school recruits go and as would be expected, it has already been stated by the Illinois coaching staff that there has been a considerable uptick in interest in coming to the University of Illinois. Good to hear. It's hard to sell University of Illinois to great players when U of I is in the middle of cornfields and most athletics are not too successful. But I think the culture of this program has changed. That final four match hurts because we looked like a team that was coached by Hambly. This new Tamas era players are much more stronger mentally. I don't want to criticize our former coach. However, we looked awfully good in the first two sets. In those two sets we looked like a Tamas-coached team! I'd be on pins and needles if we were playing in the championship. I am rooting for Hambly to win his first NCAA championship. He was a former Illinois coach after all. Go Stanford!
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Post by brucks on Dec 15, 2018 23:21:45 GMT -5
I heard yesterday that Maddie Whittington's (2019 recruit) mother played for Illinois in the mid 80's. Does anyone know who that would be?
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Post by tallguy86 on Dec 16, 2018 2:09:20 GMT -5
I’ll say it. More than a setter, Illinois need a transfer Libero to come in. While o’brien, Welsh, and Kuper have done a great job, we have the worst defenders of the elite teams this year. Libero transfers are rare though, especially good ones. Probably because typically only one scholarships gets used on defense. Given how thin Illinois was at every hitting position, I would love to see from Tamas if he would consider two schollies for defense anyway.
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Post by ilalum92 on Dec 16, 2018 14:16:23 GMT -5
Just like the 2011 team helped get us the #1 class, this 2018 team making the final four will help us get recruits. Kids want to go to schools who win. Combine this with our amazing coaching staff - we are going to be landing great recruits for years to come.
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Post by tallguy86 on Dec 17, 2018 15:24:58 GMT -5
Just like the 2011 team helped get us the #1 class, this 2018 team making the final four will help us get recruits. Kids want to go to schools who win. Combine this with our amazing coaching staff - we are going to be landing great recruits for years to come. Cross your fingers!
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Post by gbuttah on Dec 17, 2018 15:57:59 GMT -5
I’ll say it. More than a setter, Illinois need a transfer Libero to come in. While o’brien, Welsh, and Kuper have done a great job, we have the worst defenders of the elite teams this year. Libero transfers are rare though, especially good ones. Probably because typically only one scholarships gets used on defense. Given how thin Illinois was at every hitting position, I would love to see from Tamas if he would consider two schollies for defense anyway. I agree. Kuper's passing was a train-wreck in the FF match. Overall Illinois had the worst back row defense of all the FF teams.
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Post by brucks on Dec 17, 2018 16:01:21 GMT -5
The back row was very young and inexperienced this year. Kuper is a freshman who was converted from an outside hitter. They will improve.
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Post by Wiswell on Dec 17, 2018 16:03:41 GMT -5
As far as high school recruits go and as would be expected, it has already been stated by the Illinois coaching staff that there has been a considerable uptick in interest in coming to the University of Illinois. Good to hear. It's hard to sell University of Illinois to great players when U of I is in the middle of cornfields and most athletics are not too successful. But I think the culture of this program has changed. That final four match hurts because we looked like a team that was coached by Hambly. This new Tamas era players are much more stronger mentally. Do you think the athletic facilities are a drawback? I don't know about the support facilities, like strength and conditioning, student-athlete support facilities, etc, but Huff Hall, while definitely an awesome atmosphere, is kind of challenging overall. OTOH, the players can be superstars since the rest of Illinois sports are generally average. I don't think the "cornfields" are that much of a drawback. Chambana is a nice college town and I enjoy coming down there.
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