Post by bayarea on Jan 25, 2019 22:07:31 GMT -5
It seems way too early to start this, and many personnel issues will be up in the air for months yet, but since there is already some movement of transfers on the transfers thread, I guess it's time to gather some preliminary information.
BYU - The Cougars are losing the phenomenal Roni Jones-Perry and Lyndie Haddock-Eppich, as well as Lacy Haddock, Stetler and Martindale, but have a huge incoming recruiting class. They should still be the best team in the conference, but probably not quite as dominant as this past season. The biggest question seems to be who will set.
Returning players: 2 outstanding MB's: 6'5" AA HM Eschenberg and 6'4" NCAA FOY Gneiting (with Stapleton, McEwan, and possibly Lewis-Bushman as backups).
At OH: AA HM McKenna Miller, presuming she is fully recovered, and sophomores Madi Robinson and Riley Lyman
At Opp: 6'7" Sara Hamson, who seems to have recovered from her knee injury, 6'3 Taylen Ballard, who really struggled last season, and possibly 6'4" Lewis-Bushman
At Libero: AA 2nd team Mary Lake... 'nuff said.
At Setter: 5'10 Senior Kiani Moea'i or 5'8" Sophomore Taylor Tausinga, neither of whom have any setting experience with the team yet. Will Coach Olmstead stick with these two setters, or try to bring in a transfer/late recruit?
Hitter recruits publicly announced: Senior Ace #22 Kate Grimmer, 6'1 RS (AZ Storm), Senior Ace #89 Erin Anderson, 6'2 OH/Opp (Forza1), Abbey Dayton, 6'1 OH (T-Street), Morgan Johnson, 5'10 OH (Forza1) (It seems likely that one or both of their senior ace hitter recruits will start at the pins this fall.)
and the littles: Morgan Bower, 5'6 DS/L (Idaho Crush), Grace Wee, 5'7 DS/L (Kuikahi, HI), Callie Whitney, 5'8 DS/L (Salt Lake CC)
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Pepperdine - After 5 years of struggling, Pepperdine seems to have turned the tide and had a good 2018 showing (2nd round NCAA), as well as much improved recent recruiting.
They lose their senior setter, Blossom Sato and excellent all-around player, Heidi Dyer. Junior Grace Nielsen is no longer on the roster. However, they return a trio of excellent starting pin hitters: Shannon Scully, Hannah Frohling and Rachel Ahrens. They also return Jaiden Farr, Taylor Akason, and Savannah Greene to compete for playing time.
Returning MB's include starters Alli O'Harra and Tarah Wylie, and Rosie Ballo.
On defense, they return Libero Hana Lishman, and DS's Madison Shields and Julia Dibona
Only 2 recruits are listed on Rich Kern, but they are both Senior Aces: #43 Kayleigh Hames, 6-1 OH (K2 -Tennessee) and #63 Isabel Zelaya, 5-11 S/OH (Houston Juniors). With the only returning setter on the roster the 5'9" Lily Dyer (who I believe missed much of last season with an injury?), it seems very likely that Zelaya could set as a freshman. Hames will need to outplay Scully, Frohling or Ahrens, or substitute for whichever of them is struggling.
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San Diego - San Diego loses HM AA MB Addie Picha, and another excellent MB Kaity Edwards, as well as OH Lauren Fuller. USD's MB's have been their bread and butter for the last few years, so it will be interesting to see if they can continue that high level of play in the middle.
They return both experienced setters (Madill and Newsome), so it seems likely they will continue to run a 6-2 offense.
At MB, they return experienced Senior Megan Jacobsen, who filled in well after Edwards' injuries, and 6'1 Lauren Turner, who redshirted her freshman year.
At the pins, they return a lot of experienced 6'2 hitters: Katie Lukes, Roxie Wiblin, Cami May, and Hannah Patrick, as well as Thana Fayad and Elise Austin.
USD had a bit of a revolving door at libero last season, but all of the littles should return to compete for the starting spot.
Their only publicly announced recruit is Senior Ace #62, 6'5 Opp Grace Frohling (Sunshine), sister of Pepperdine OH Hannah Frohling.
-----------------------
Loyola Marymount - LMU did the impossible, knocking off unbeaten BYU in their final conference match, to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament, and then advanced to the second round before falling to eventual champion, Stanford.
LMU graduates an excellent Opp, Sara Kovac, and their libero, Kekai Whitford. 6'1 Sophomore OH Emilee Rohrer is transferring to Grand Canyon.
Key starters returning include OH's Savannah Slattery and Bo Culo. The outstanding Megan Rice missed last season with a knee injury, but hopefully will return to form in 2019. Meredith Teague and Sierra Bartley also return on the pins. At MB, they return starters Emma Johnson and Alexis Morrow, and Ella Knowlton.
They return only one DS, Ella Boehle, who played sparingly last season as a freshman.
Outstanding 5'8" setter, Tess Reid, returns for her senior season. She set a 5-1 last season after splitting the setting duties her first two seasons with Jessie Pritchard, who redshirted last season. Will LMU stick with the very successful 5-1 with Reid and leave Pritchard on the bench?
Announced recruits include: Senior Ace #100 6'3 MB Emmelyn Walters, WA Vball Academy), 6'0 OH Rose Booth (Athena - OR), 6'1 OH/S Audrey Klemp (KS Invasion), 6'0" OH Piper Manross (AZ East Valley Jrs), 5'9 L Mary Shroll (AZ East Valley Jrs)
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I will be surprised if these ^^^^are not the top 4 teams at the end of 2019, but I love to be surprised.
-----------------------------
Saint Mary's - Like Pepperdine, SMC is coming off their best season in 6 years and first trip back to the NCAA since 2012. Unfortunately, they are graduating some key 4-year starters in OH Lindsey Knudsen, OH Sarah Chase and MB/Opp Lindsey Calvin, in addition to Emily Bible, an excellent defender and occasional hitter.
It will be a rebuilding year for Saint Mary's. They return at OH: 5'11 Breyan Ashley, 6'2 Selbie Christensen, 5'11 Sienna Young, and 5'10 Chandra Cowell. They return both of last season's setters in a 6-2: Alosina Thompson and Crash Parker. They return some good MB's in 6'2 Aubrey Pitts, 5'11 Alex O'Sullivan, 5'11 Jennifer "Boo" Laird, and 6'0 Madison Baumann. They return Soph libero Kelsey Knudsen, who was injured part way through her freshman season, and Soph DS Abigail Matoso.
New recruits include 2 OH's: Elena Baka from Greece and 6'0 Jadyn van Santen, from Vancouver, BC, who both are said to be accomplished indoor and beach players.
-----------------------------
Gonzaga - Gonzaga graduates 6 seniors from a large squad of 18, but also loses a setter to the transfer portal. Seniors graduating include setter Faith Smith, DS/OH Tiyanna Hallums, MB/OH Kaylie Loewen, MB/OH Peighton DeVon, OH Perry Ramsey, and DS Marit Thorkildsen. Sophomore setter Mary Marzo, from Illinois, is heading back close to home to Western Michigan.
Gonzaga still has an experienced setter/Opp in Jenna Kuehn, who will be a senior. At OH, they return junior Sarah Penner, Soph Kennedy Croft, Jr Chapin Gray, Soph Dani Batenhorst. At Opp, they have Jr Abby Knapp, RS Soph Claire Barbe, and Kuehn. At MB, RS Jr Katelyn Oppio, and Senior Payton Mack. At DS/OH, Jr Gretchen Rudel, and DS Julia Talarico.
For recruits, I see 6'0 OH Marlee Nunley (Temecula Valley Vipers) as the only one listed on Rich Kern. The Gonzaga website counts 3 recruits as signing NLI's: 6'2 MB Alyssa Hughes, from Portland, OR, 5'11 OH Zoe Thiros, from Pocatello, ID, and 5'10 OH/Setter Tia Andaya, from Ellensburg, WA.
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Santa Clara - Coming off of their worst ever season, the AD immediately let go of longtime coach, Jon Wallace, and hired Stanford assistant, Erin Lindsey, to take over. The assistants are not in place yet, so it's hard to know exactly what this program will look like by fall. They do have two announced recruits who have signed NLI's and there are no rumors of any players leaving the program. They graduate only a DS; Tatiana San Juan, so they still have quite a large roster.
SCU had a lot of freshmen playing key roles last season, and a lot of players with injuries, who may return healthy. They will return All-freshman team OH Michelle Shaffer, as well as other pin hitters: Sr Michelle Gajdka, RS Jr Allie Kantor, RS Soph Kathryn Decker, RS Sr Anna McCreadie, Soph Kamrin Caoili. At MB, they should return Sr Alexa Dreyer, Soph Alex Anthony, possibly RS Sr Taylor Odom.
They used freshman 6'1 setter Liliana Light almost exclusively last season in a 5-1, and also return senior setter/DS Tessie Powers. Their sophomore OH-turned-libero, Chloe Loreen should return, along with two other littles.
Announced recruits include 6'3 MB/OH Haley Flanagan (Laguna Beach), and 6'3 (have heard she's 6'5) OH/RS Julia Sangiacomo (Absolute)
With new coaching, I won't make any guesses about the 2019 lineup.
----------------------------
Portland - They are coming off of their best ever season with 20 wins, but something seems amiss. They graduate leading scorer, OH Reghan Pukis, and DS Lauren Naatz. Edit: 3-year starting setter, Cali Thompson, is apparently transferring. Also second-leading scorer, OH Izzy Guzik, is transferring to Ole Miss, with 2 seasons left. RS Frosh MB Kylie Ristvedt is also no longer on the roster.
Despite losing their top two scorers, Portland should be returning three excellent starters who played every set and were the next 3 scorers: Shayla Hoeft, Katie Barker, and Liz Reich, as well as their libero, Carey Williams.
They also return OH's Emily DeMots and Kassidy Naone, S Kellie Hughes and DS's McKenzie Schwan and Emma Scanlan.
Two new recruits have already arrived on campus: Boise State libero transfer Jessie Brigham, and DS Grace Zilbert, a Portland player from Athena VBC. That makes 11 players on the Spring training squad, including one 5'6 setter and 4 littles. Edited: Other recruits include 5'10' S/Opp Noelani Helm from Walla Walla, WA (Central Region United VBC), and Jayde Harris, a 5'11 OH from Forza1.
------------------------------
Pacific - A year after all of their top players transferred, "the little team that could" just lost their main scorer, WCC First Teamer, OH Kaitlyn Lines, who is on the transfer portal. There are 9 players currently on campus and listed on the beach volleyball roster...one player short of a competitive 5-team roster. RS Senior Alex Holt should be graduating and leaving the program.
Rich Kern doesn't list any recruits, but the UOP website shows that 6'3 MB Sedona Sherman from AZ signed her NLI. No other recruits mentioned. (The website news release also shows that head coach, Greg Gibbons, signed a 3-year contract extension earlier this month. But something definitely seems amiss at Pacific.)
It looks like only 8 returning players next fall: 6'2 OH Riley Ramsey, who made the WCC All-Freshman team, 5'8 OH Soph Riley Patterson, 5'10 Soph pin Allison Dennemann, setters 5'10 Jr Hannah de Schrijver and 5'5 Soph Gabby Leo, 5'10 Soph Opp Lucy Carpenter, and 6'2 MB Lauren Cline and Soph L Jadyn Tubbs. The incoming MB recruit makes 9 players again.
Pacific needs to find some bodies, quick!
Edit: Pacific just added a midyear transfer, 6'3" MB Kennedy Kaminsky, from Chandler, AZ, who played last fall for Eastern Washington as a freshman.
-----------------------------
San Francisco - USF continues to struggle with rebuilding the program up to where it was 5 years ago. Coach Frank Lavrisha will head into his 3rd year at SF. It looks like the team will only lose one player this year, which should help with stability: Marjolijn Oksam, the 6'4 RS Sr from the Netherlands.
They return:
Setter: sophomore Ally Wada and junior Erin Anthony, who ran a 6-2 last season.
OH: 5'10 Sr Kathya Garcia, 5'11 Grad Lena Bondar, 5'10 Soph Sophie Sydenham, 6'0 Soph Victoria Rogers, 6'1 Soph McKenna Marshall, 6'0 Soph Saige Madden
MB: 6'0 Soph Katie Wagstaff, 6'3 Senior MB/Opp Kate Ashman
Opp: 6'3 Jr Emily Zinger
Libero/DS: Jr L Anna Dalla Vecchia, Sr L Shannon Levinson, Sr Camille Araujo, Soph Pemberton
They bring in a 5'7 setter, Grace Talpash, from Forza1
This is a work in progress. Still editing.
BYU - The Cougars are losing the phenomenal Roni Jones-Perry and Lyndie Haddock-Eppich, as well as Lacy Haddock, Stetler and Martindale, but have a huge incoming recruiting class. They should still be the best team in the conference, but probably not quite as dominant as this past season. The biggest question seems to be who will set.
Returning players: 2 outstanding MB's: 6'5" AA HM Eschenberg and 6'4" NCAA FOY Gneiting (with Stapleton, McEwan, and possibly Lewis-Bushman as backups).
At OH: AA HM McKenna Miller, presuming she is fully recovered, and sophomores Madi Robinson and Riley Lyman
At Opp: 6'7" Sara Hamson, who seems to have recovered from her knee injury, 6'3 Taylen Ballard, who really struggled last season, and possibly 6'4" Lewis-Bushman
At Libero: AA 2nd team Mary Lake... 'nuff said.
At Setter: 5'10 Senior Kiani Moea'i or 5'8" Sophomore Taylor Tausinga, neither of whom have any setting experience with the team yet. Will Coach Olmstead stick with these two setters, or try to bring in a transfer/late recruit?
Hitter recruits publicly announced: Senior Ace #22 Kate Grimmer, 6'1 RS (AZ Storm), Senior Ace #89 Erin Anderson, 6'2 OH/Opp (Forza1), Abbey Dayton, 6'1 OH (T-Street), Morgan Johnson, 5'10 OH (Forza1) (It seems likely that one or both of their senior ace hitter recruits will start at the pins this fall.)
and the littles: Morgan Bower, 5'6 DS/L (Idaho Crush), Grace Wee, 5'7 DS/L (Kuikahi, HI), Callie Whitney, 5'8 DS/L (Salt Lake CC)
---------------------
Pepperdine - After 5 years of struggling, Pepperdine seems to have turned the tide and had a good 2018 showing (2nd round NCAA), as well as much improved recent recruiting.
They lose their senior setter, Blossom Sato and excellent all-around player, Heidi Dyer. Junior Grace Nielsen is no longer on the roster. However, they return a trio of excellent starting pin hitters: Shannon Scully, Hannah Frohling and Rachel Ahrens. They also return Jaiden Farr, Taylor Akason, and Savannah Greene to compete for playing time.
Returning MB's include starters Alli O'Harra and Tarah Wylie, and Rosie Ballo.
On defense, they return Libero Hana Lishman, and DS's Madison Shields and Julia Dibona
Only 2 recruits are listed on Rich Kern, but they are both Senior Aces: #43 Kayleigh Hames, 6-1 OH (K2 -Tennessee) and #63 Isabel Zelaya, 5-11 S/OH (Houston Juniors). With the only returning setter on the roster the 5'9" Lily Dyer (who I believe missed much of last season with an injury?), it seems very likely that Zelaya could set as a freshman. Hames will need to outplay Scully, Frohling or Ahrens, or substitute for whichever of them is struggling.
---------------------
San Diego - San Diego loses HM AA MB Addie Picha, and another excellent MB Kaity Edwards, as well as OH Lauren Fuller. USD's MB's have been their bread and butter for the last few years, so it will be interesting to see if they can continue that high level of play in the middle.
They return both experienced setters (Madill and Newsome), so it seems likely they will continue to run a 6-2 offense.
At MB, they return experienced Senior Megan Jacobsen, who filled in well after Edwards' injuries, and 6'1 Lauren Turner, who redshirted her freshman year.
At the pins, they return a lot of experienced 6'2 hitters: Katie Lukes, Roxie Wiblin, Cami May, and Hannah Patrick, as well as Thana Fayad and Elise Austin.
USD had a bit of a revolving door at libero last season, but all of the littles should return to compete for the starting spot.
Their only publicly announced recruit is Senior Ace #62, 6'5 Opp Grace Frohling (Sunshine), sister of Pepperdine OH Hannah Frohling.
-----------------------
Loyola Marymount - LMU did the impossible, knocking off unbeaten BYU in their final conference match, to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament, and then advanced to the second round before falling to eventual champion, Stanford.
LMU graduates an excellent Opp, Sara Kovac, and their libero, Kekai Whitford. 6'1 Sophomore OH Emilee Rohrer is transferring to Grand Canyon.
Key starters returning include OH's Savannah Slattery and Bo Culo. The outstanding Megan Rice missed last season with a knee injury, but hopefully will return to form in 2019. Meredith Teague and Sierra Bartley also return on the pins. At MB, they return starters Emma Johnson and Alexis Morrow, and Ella Knowlton.
They return only one DS, Ella Boehle, who played sparingly last season as a freshman.
Outstanding 5'8" setter, Tess Reid, returns for her senior season. She set a 5-1 last season after splitting the setting duties her first two seasons with Jessie Pritchard, who redshirted last season. Will LMU stick with the very successful 5-1 with Reid and leave Pritchard on the bench?
Announced recruits include: Senior Ace #100 6'3 MB Emmelyn Walters, WA Vball Academy), 6'0 OH Rose Booth (Athena - OR), 6'1 OH/S Audrey Klemp (KS Invasion), 6'0" OH Piper Manross (AZ East Valley Jrs), 5'9 L Mary Shroll (AZ East Valley Jrs)
-----------------------------
I will be surprised if these ^^^^are not the top 4 teams at the end of 2019, but I love to be surprised.
-----------------------------
Saint Mary's - Like Pepperdine, SMC is coming off their best season in 6 years and first trip back to the NCAA since 2012. Unfortunately, they are graduating some key 4-year starters in OH Lindsey Knudsen, OH Sarah Chase and MB/Opp Lindsey Calvin, in addition to Emily Bible, an excellent defender and occasional hitter.
It will be a rebuilding year for Saint Mary's. They return at OH: 5'11 Breyan Ashley, 6'2 Selbie Christensen, 5'11 Sienna Young, and 5'10 Chandra Cowell. They return both of last season's setters in a 6-2: Alosina Thompson and Crash Parker. They return some good MB's in 6'2 Aubrey Pitts, 5'11 Alex O'Sullivan, 5'11 Jennifer "Boo" Laird, and 6'0 Madison Baumann. They return Soph libero Kelsey Knudsen, who was injured part way through her freshman season, and Soph DS Abigail Matoso.
New recruits include 2 OH's: Elena Baka from Greece and 6'0 Jadyn van Santen, from Vancouver, BC, who both are said to be accomplished indoor and beach players.
-----------------------------
Gonzaga - Gonzaga graduates 6 seniors from a large squad of 18, but also loses a setter to the transfer portal. Seniors graduating include setter Faith Smith, DS/OH Tiyanna Hallums, MB/OH Kaylie Loewen, MB/OH Peighton DeVon, OH Perry Ramsey, and DS Marit Thorkildsen. Sophomore setter Mary Marzo, from Illinois, is heading back close to home to Western Michigan.
Gonzaga still has an experienced setter/Opp in Jenna Kuehn, who will be a senior. At OH, they return junior Sarah Penner, Soph Kennedy Croft, Jr Chapin Gray, Soph Dani Batenhorst. At Opp, they have Jr Abby Knapp, RS Soph Claire Barbe, and Kuehn. At MB, RS Jr Katelyn Oppio, and Senior Payton Mack. At DS/OH, Jr Gretchen Rudel, and DS Julia Talarico.
-----------------------------
Santa Clara - Coming off of their worst ever season, the AD immediately let go of longtime coach, Jon Wallace, and hired Stanford assistant, Erin Lindsey, to take over. The assistants are not in place yet, so it's hard to know exactly what this program will look like by fall. They do have two announced recruits who have signed NLI's and there are no rumors of any players leaving the program. They graduate only a DS; Tatiana San Juan, so they still have quite a large roster.
SCU had a lot of freshmen playing key roles last season, and a lot of players with injuries, who may return healthy. They will return All-freshman team OH Michelle Shaffer, as well as other pin hitters: Sr Michelle Gajdka, RS Jr Allie Kantor, RS Soph Kathryn Decker, RS Sr Anna McCreadie, Soph Kamrin Caoili. At MB, they should return Sr Alexa Dreyer, Soph Alex Anthony, possibly RS Sr Taylor Odom.
They used freshman 6'1 setter Liliana Light almost exclusively last season in a 5-1, and also return senior setter/DS Tessie Powers. Their sophomore OH-turned-libero, Chloe Loreen should return, along with two other littles.
Announced recruits include 6'3 MB/OH Haley Flanagan (Laguna Beach), and 6'3 (have heard she's 6'5) OH/RS Julia Sangiacomo (Absolute)
With new coaching, I won't make any guesses about the 2019 lineup.
----------------------------
Portland - They are coming off of their best ever season with 20 wins, but something seems amiss. They graduate leading scorer, OH Reghan Pukis, and DS Lauren Naatz. Edit: 3-year starting setter, Cali Thompson, is apparently transferring. Also second-leading scorer, OH Izzy Guzik, is transferring to Ole Miss, with 2 seasons left. RS Frosh MB Kylie Ristvedt is also no longer on the roster.
Despite losing their top two scorers, Portland should be returning three excellent starters who played every set and were the next 3 scorers: Shayla Hoeft, Katie Barker, and Liz Reich, as well as their libero, Carey Williams.
They also return OH's Emily DeMots and Kassidy Naone, S Kellie Hughes and DS's McKenzie Schwan and Emma Scanlan.
Two new recruits have already arrived on campus: Boise State libero transfer Jessie Brigham, and DS Grace Zilbert, a Portland player from Athena VBC. That makes 11 players on the Spring training squad, including one 5'6 setter and 4 littles. Edited: Other recruits include 5'10' S/Opp Noelani Helm from Walla Walla, WA (Central Region United VBC), and Jayde Harris, a 5'11 OH from Forza1.
------------------------------
Pacific - A year after all of their top players transferred, "the little team that could" just lost their main scorer, WCC First Teamer, OH Kaitlyn Lines, who is on the transfer portal. There are 9 players currently on campus and listed on the beach volleyball roster...one player short of a competitive 5-team roster. RS Senior Alex Holt should be graduating and leaving the program.
Rich Kern doesn't list any recruits, but the UOP website shows that 6'3 MB Sedona Sherman from AZ signed her NLI. No other recruits mentioned. (The website news release also shows that head coach, Greg Gibbons, signed a 3-year contract extension earlier this month. But something definitely seems amiss at Pacific.)
It looks like only 8 returning players next fall: 6'2 OH Riley Ramsey, who made the WCC All-Freshman team, 5'8 OH Soph Riley Patterson, 5'10 Soph pin Allison Dennemann, setters 5'10 Jr Hannah de Schrijver and 5'5 Soph Gabby Leo, 5'10 Soph Opp Lucy Carpenter, and 6'2 MB Lauren Cline and Soph L Jadyn Tubbs. The incoming MB recruit makes 9 players again.
Pacific needs to find some bodies, quick!
Edit: Pacific just added a midyear transfer, 6'3" MB Kennedy Kaminsky, from Chandler, AZ, who played last fall for Eastern Washington as a freshman.
-----------------------------
San Francisco - USF continues to struggle with rebuilding the program up to where it was 5 years ago. Coach Frank Lavrisha will head into his 3rd year at SF. It looks like the team will only lose one player this year, which should help with stability: Marjolijn Oksam, the 6'4 RS Sr from the Netherlands.
They return:
Setter: sophomore Ally Wada and junior Erin Anthony, who ran a 6-2 last season.
OH: 5'10 Sr Kathya Garcia, 5'11 Grad Lena Bondar, 5'10 Soph Sophie Sydenham, 6'0 Soph Victoria Rogers, 6'1 Soph McKenna Marshall, 6'0 Soph Saige Madden
MB: 6'0 Soph Katie Wagstaff, 6'3 Senior MB/Opp Kate Ashman
Opp: 6'3 Jr Emily Zinger
Libero/DS: Jr L Anna Dalla Vecchia, Sr L Shannon Levinson, Sr Camille Araujo, Soph Pemberton
They bring in a 5'7 setter, Grace Talpash, from Forza1
This is a work in progress. Still editing.