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Post by donut on Jan 24, 2019 16:18:48 GMT -5
I think she can beat Prince on Cooney. She is pretty impressive. Does not make too many errors and plays smart. Verticle needs work but she can kill another team with that swing Beth Prince deserves an All-American senior year. I'm hoping she has an injury free 2019. If not, that door is open... Unless she becomes THE go-to hitter, playing 3-rotations is going to make it very hard for her to get an AA award. Allie Barber, Big East POY, is a 3-rotation OH who hit .356 on the year with almost 4.7 kills/set, and was a Second Teamer this year (and with better numbers was an HM AA in 2017). I unfortunately just don't see it happening for Prince, especially with Quade still around.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Jan 25, 2019 6:15:02 GMT -5
Ellie reminds me of the 2010 Gatorade winner Ashley Wittman from Minnesota. I believe Wittman was a 4 year starter for the Gophers with a rocket launcher arm, who was a steady presence on the court for Minny. From what I know of the two players, Ellie may be more of a team leader on and off the court. Once red-shirt senior Beth Prince graduates after next season, Holzman may assume the natural leadership position that Beth now holds.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Jan 25, 2019 14:37:34 GMT -5
My motto since Chris Tamas became the Illinois coach is "in Coach Tamas I trust!". Coach is going to have some tough decisions next season in who sees court time for the Illini. Beth Prince had a better than expected season last season that was good enough to get Illinois to the Final Four. I truly believe if Kevin Hambly had still been the coach at Illinois that Prince would have not been the second outside for Illinois. I believe that he was surprised at Prince's improvement two seasons ago when Stanford visited Illinois. He said as much in interviews here. Obviously, Coach Tamas and his staff are much better at developing players than Hambly. My opinion is that Jackie Quade would not have made the incredible advancement in performance from her sophomore to her junior season without the tutelage of Coach Tamas and his staff. Same can be said for the libero and defensive specialists that made the incredible transformation from two seasons ago to last season with the addition of defensive coach Alfie Reft. Fortunately for Hambly, Stanford does not need a coach who can transform their top level recruits into Final Four quality players and Coach Tamas and his staff can. Unless Ellie Holzman is willing to redshirt her freshman season at Illinois, I believe it will be very hard to keep her out of the starting lineup at OH. However, I am a not very knowledgeable, yet devoted Illinois fan. Once again, I say, "in Coach Tamas I trust!"
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Jan 25, 2019 15:24:54 GMT -5
Clearly, with Holzman being named Gatorade POY, and Illinois' very surprising march to the Final Four, the Illini program is in the spotlight for women's collegiate volleyball. How did Chris Tamas accomplish this in just two years of being named the head coach? He did not take over a program such as Nebraska, Stanford, or Penn State. He did take over an Illinois program with a history of good coaches such as Mike Hebert and Kevin Hambly. He also was previously under the wing of a great collegiate volleyball coach Nebraska's John Cook. As an Illinois volleyball fan, I want to pay my respects to young, Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman. AD Whitman knew a winner when he met one, and hopes to build on his hiring of Chris Tamas to build the Illinois athletic program as a whole.
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Post by bkedane on Jan 25, 2019 21:42:35 GMT -5
Tamas must be the very best coach of all time. It's so clear to everyone.
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Post by Pasquale on Jan 26, 2019 20:38:38 GMT -5
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Jan 29, 2019 6:27:43 GMT -5
Happy to post this recent FloVolleyball interview with a favorite Illini volleyball alum Michelle Bartsch-Hackley. Michelle is playing for the top team in arguably the top professional volleyball league in the world. One of her teammates is fellow U.S.A. National team member, Lauren Carlini (MBH is asked about playing with Carlini). If there is a young volleyball player out there who wants to grow up to be a successful volleyball player and a wonderful human being, she could not do much better than Michelle. My appreciation of her as a person just continues to grow! www.flovolleyball.tv/articles/6337202-catching-up-with-vnl-hero-michelle-bartsch-hackley
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Post by alt on Jan 29, 2019 8:57:10 GMT -5
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Post by deohge on Jan 30, 2019 10:51:58 GMT -5
Tamas must be the very best coach of all time. It's so clear to everyone. The volleyball gods have touched this mans soul. All hail Tamas.
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Post by ilalum92 on Jan 30, 2019 20:07:07 GMT -5
With the incoming class and the addition of Mica & Bruna, it’s going to be a dog fight in the practice gym for playing time. This is how championships are built. Illinois volleyball is in good hands for many years to come!
I - L - L
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Feb 2, 2019 16:39:08 GMT -5
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Post by Pasquale on Feb 3, 2019 22:45:05 GMT -5
Just realized Illinois will have back-to-back AAU championship MVPs on its roster this fall, Allison (2017) and Holzman (2018). Go Illini!
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Post by TuesdayGone on Feb 4, 2019 23:44:18 GMT -5
With the incoming class and the addition of Mica & Bruna, it’s going to be a dog fight in the practice gym for playing time. This is how championships are built. Illinois volleyball is in good hands for many years to come! I - L - L Which one of those was the one that took steroids? or is it both of them?
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Post by vbkahuna on Feb 5, 2019 0:30:42 GMT -5
With the incoming class and the addition of Mica & Bruna, it’s going to be a dog fight in the practice gym for playing time. This is how championships are built. Illinois volleyball is in good hands for many years to come! I - L - L Which one of those was the one that took steroids? or is it both of them? Oooh...the butthurt is strong in this one. Maybe you should worry less about what may or may not happen at Illinois and more about why your team of super-duper, super tall athletes keeps under-performing year after year.
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Post by TuesdayGone on Feb 5, 2019 0:59:43 GMT -5
Which one of those was the one that took steroids? or is it both of them? Badger education? Which one is the drug cheat?
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