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Post by volleydad859 on Mar 7, 2024 8:28:27 GMT -5
UK and Craig Skinner are very good at what they do, but there are some concerns from watching this spring match. It's been talked about a lot but their MB production is a huge question mark. I'm sure the MB's will improve with more development but compared to last year is not close. Maybe the recent commitment of Kennedy Washington helps. No Wilson tonight and Hannah Benjamin's arrival in the fall will help the pin production. It seems that you went to the match, How as was Bultema? I thought she was going to be solid. We all know we will have to wait until fall to see how the second MB position works out. ANy other insights from seeing the match?
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Post by 4theloveofvb on Mar 7, 2024 8:55:55 GMT -5
IMO, the MB production was not at the level that is expected from UK. The UC MB's outplayed the UK MB's. Bultema will be a solid defensive middle, but is still developing offensively.
In reality, UK lost 3 of its top 4 offensive players and Wilson didn't play. That is kind of how they looked last night.
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Post by wildcat403 on Mar 7, 2024 9:16:52 GMT -5
UK and Craig Skinner are very good at what they do, but there are some concerns from watching this spring match. It's been talked about a lot but their MB production is a huge question mark. I'm sure the MB's will improve with more development but compared to last year is not close. Maybe the recent commitment of Kennedy Washington helps. No Wilson tonight and Hannah Benjamin's arrival in the fall will help the pin production. This was my concern as well, but people will get after you for any criticism. In the portal era, it just didn't make sense for Craig not to land a proven stud middle to finish out his roster given they only have one in Bultema currently. I'm still hoping for a late addition, but I feel like they struck out on all the good options this winter unfortunately.
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Post by floatserve22 on Mar 7, 2024 10:06:10 GMT -5
Was there as well. Here's my take aways from match:
Match was split 2-2. Not too familiar with UC's roster but feel like they didn't use the whole roster like UK did. UK only had 9 players available with Wilson out and Whitworth is no longer with the program. (This was confirmed by source connected to UK). Beavin was the libero for sets 1 & 3 and Tuzzo was for 2 & 4. Grome set the first 2 sets, Jenkins set the third and Sarafa set the 4th. Melby and DeLeye were the OHs for first 2 sets while Lamb was the OPP playing all the way around.
- DeLeye: Was the best player on the court. She looked great out of the backrow and probably had double the amount of kills than anyone else on UK. Was using a top spin jump serve and served about 10 straight points in Set 4 win.
- Setters: Grome was solid but Jenkins and Sarafa both struggled to put their hitters in great positions. I kind of understand why Skinner never subbed out Grome in previous years when she struggled at times. Gap is a lot bigger than I expected..
- Middles: Offensively Bultema and Dailey both are a bit behind compared to what UK's middles are used to. Both were getting blocked a good amount by the UC middles. Blocking in middle wasn't bad though. Bultema's highlights came behind the service line. She has a nasty jump float and probably had about 5-6 aces on the night.
Pins: Already talked about DeLeye. Lamb had to play OPP with Wilson out and short handed at pins in the spring and could tell she was a bit uncomfortable. She did still swing some from the leftside and had some nice kills. Melby was the other outside and she struggled a lot. Couldn't really hit around the block and when she tried to she would miss the court.
L/DS: Beavin and Tuzzo were as solid as they usually are. No complaints there and both had some standout plays.
Overall, I am concerned about UK's offense. DeLeye is the only All-American hitter they have and the gap is pretty wide from there. When Lamb is on, she is near that caliber but she has shown she can struggle with being consistent. I agree with Wildcat403. I think they really need another MB. I know they have a freshman MB coming in but it is so hard for freshmen to come in and make an immediate impact since they do not get much training time with coaches in the offseason. If there's not any solid MBs left in the portal, I think trying to get at least an OPP would be beneficial.
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Post by madden55 on Mar 7, 2024 10:30:37 GMT -5
Was there as well. Here's my take aways from match: Match was split 2-2. Not too familiar with UC's roster but feel like they didn't use the whole roster like UK did. UK only had 9 players available with Wilson out and Whitworth is no longer with the program. (This was confirmed by source connected to UK). Beavin was the libero for sets 1 & 3 and Tuzzo was for 2 & 4. Grome set the first 2 sets, Jenkins set the third and Sarafa set the 4th. Melby and DeLeye were the OHs for first 2 sets while Lamb was the OPP playing all the way around. - DeLeye: Was the best player on the court. She looked great out of the backrow and probably had double the amount of kills than anyone else on UK. Was using a top spin jump serve and served about 10 straight points in Set 4 win. - Setters: Grome was solid but Jenkins and Sarafa both struggled to put their hitters in great positions. I kind of understand why Skinner never subbed out Grome in previous years when she struggled at times. Gap is a lot bigger than I expected.. - Middles: Offensively Bultema and Dailey both are a bit behind compared to what UK's middles are used to. Both were getting blocked a good amount by the UC middles. Blocking in middle wasn't bad though. Bultema's highlights came behind the service line. She has a nasty jump float and probably had about 5-6 aces on the night. Pins: Already talked about DeLeye. Lamb had to play OPP with Wilson out and short handed at pins in the spring and could tell she was a bit uncomfortable. She did still swing some from the leftside and had some nice kills. Melby was the other outside and she struggled a lot. Couldn't really hit around the block and when she tried to she would miss the court. L/DS: Beavin and Tuzzo were as solid as they usually are. No complaints there and both had some standout plays. Overall, I am concerned about UK's offense. DeLeye is the only All-American hitter they have and the gap is pretty wide from there. When Lamb is on, she is near that caliber but she has shown she can struggle with being consistent. I agree with Wildcat403. I think they really need another MB. I know they have a freshman MB coming in but it is so hard for freshmen to come in and make an immediate impact since they do not get much training time with coaches in the offseason. If there's not any solid MBs left in the portal, I think trying to get at least an OPP would be beneficial. I think Wilson could be very good for Kentucky at OPP when she’s healthy
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Post by floatserve22 on Mar 7, 2024 10:35:39 GMT -5
Another thing to note... UNC transfer Sydney Nolan that is now at UC was playing OH for them and looked really good there. Pretty sure she was a MB at UNC. Looked very comfortable for UC on the leftside and had some big swings.
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Post by cbrown1709 on Mar 7, 2024 10:39:20 GMT -5
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Post by wildcat403 on Mar 7, 2024 10:59:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the insights floatserve! Greatly appreciated.
Hopefully Craig has some magic up his sleeves to get this team in a great position for next fall. Right now I feel like we're a middle and arm short, but I'm really high on Benjamin so could see her getting a lot of run as a freshman.
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Post by volleydad859 on Mar 7, 2024 13:37:43 GMT -5
Was there as well. Here's my take aways from match: Match was split 2-2. Not too familiar with UC's roster but feel like they didn't use the whole roster like UK did. UK only had 9 players available with Wilson out and Whitworth is no longer with the program. (This was confirmed by source connected to UK). Beavin was the libero for sets 1 & 3 and Tuzzo was for 2 & 4. Grome set the first 2 sets, Jenkins set the third and Sarafa set the 4th. Melby and DeLeye were the OHs for first 2 sets while Lamb was the OPP playing all the way around. - DeLeye: Was the best player on the court. She looked great out of the backrow and probably had double the amount of kills than anyone else on UK. Was using a top spin jump serve and served about 10 straight points in Set 4 win. - Setters: Grome was solid but Jenkins and Sarafa both struggled to put their hitters in great positions. I kind of understand why Skinner never subbed out Grome in previous years when she struggled at times. Gap is a lot bigger than I expected.. - Middles: Offensively Bultema and Dailey both are a bit behind compared to what UK's middles are used to. Both were getting blocked a good amount by the UC middles. Blocking in middle wasn't bad though. Bultema's highlights came behind the service line. She has a nasty jump float and probably had about 5-6 aces on the night. Pins: Already talked about DeLeye. Lamb had to play OPP with Wilson out and short handed at pins in the spring and could tell she was a bit uncomfortable. She did still swing some from the leftside and had some nice kills. Melby was the other outside and she struggled a lot. Couldn't really hit around the block and when she tried to she would miss the court. L/DS: Beavin and Tuzzo were as solid as they usually are. No complaints there and both had some standout plays. Overall, I am concerned about UK's offense. DeLeye is the only All-American hitter they have and the gap is pretty wide from there. When Lamb is on, she is near that caliber but she has shown she can struggle with being consistent. I agree with Wildcat403. I think they really need another MB. I know they have a freshman MB coming in but it is so hard for freshmen to come in and make an immediate impact since they do not get much training time with coaches in the offseason. If there's not any solid MBs left in the portal, I think trying to get at least an OPP would be beneficial. Thanks for the great recap. I hope Benjamin can step in and help us on the left. Do we have any info as to what happened with Whitworth? It is strange nothing official has been released. In terms of setting, Jenkins was always just a “break in case of emergency” player. Everyone has high hopes for Sarafa but she hasn’t had much time to work with the hitters and these spring lineups may not be anything like what we see in the fall. I do feel better that it looks like Craig is/was giving everyone a chance on the court etc
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Post by vbshrink on Mar 7, 2024 14:26:36 GMT -5
UNC transfer Sydney Nolan that is now at UC was playing OH for them and looked really good there. Pretty sure she was a MB at UNC. This is part of the reason she left UNC.
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Post by 2Close4Missiles on Mar 7, 2024 14:52:15 GMT -5
Was there as well. Here's my take aways from match: Match was split 2-2. Not too familiar with UC's roster but feel like they didn't use the whole roster like UK did. UK only had 9 players available with Wilson out and Whitworth is no longer with the program. (This was confirmed by source connected to UK). Beavin was the libero for sets 1 & 3 and Tuzzo was for 2 & 4. Grome set the first 2 sets, Jenkins set the third and Sarafa set the 4th. Melby and DeLeye were the OHs for first 2 sets while Lamb was the OPP playing all the way around. - DeLeye: Was the best player on the court. She looked great out of the backrow and probably had double the amount of kills than anyone else on UK. Was using a top spin jump serve and served about 10 straight points in Set 4 win. - Setters: Grome was solid but Jenkins and Sarafa both struggled to put their hitters in great positions. I kind of understand why Skinner never subbed out Grome in previous years when she struggled at times. Gap is a lot bigger than I expected.. - Middles: Offensively Bultema and Dailey both are a bit behind compared to what UK's middles are used to. Both were getting blocked a good amount by the UC middles. Blocking in middle wasn't bad though. Bultema's highlights came behind the service line. She has a nasty jump float and probably had about 5-6 aces on the night. Pins: Already talked about DeLeye. Lamb had to play OPP with Wilson out and short handed at pins in the spring and could tell she was a bit uncomfortable. She did still swing some from the leftside and had some nice kills. Melby was the other outside and she struggled a lot. Couldn't really hit around the block and when she tried to she would miss the court. L/DS: Beavin and Tuzzo were as solid as they usually are. No complaints there and both had some standout plays. Overall, I am concerned about UK's offense. DeLeye is the only All-American hitter they have and the gap is pretty wide from there. When Lamb is on, she is near that caliber but she has shown she can struggle with being consistent. I agree with Wildcat403. I think they really need another MB. I know they have a freshman MB coming in but it is so hard for freshmen to come in and make an immediate impact since they do not get much training time with coaches in the offseason. If there's not any solid MBs left in the portal, I think trying to get at least an OPP would be beneficial. Appreciate the post, thank you! Is it weird I'm kinda Zen about this whole thing? 3 girls playing spots they won't in the fall, 3-4 girls missing who will be solid contributors, spring is always spring, etc. If we served well, Beavin/Tuozzo/DeLeye passed well, and Bultema blocked well I think you call it a W. It does bug me we didn't get any updates. Maybe one of the coaches can put out a highlight video like Anders used to do.
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Post by SayonaraTachikara on Mar 7, 2024 15:00:32 GMT -5
Was there as well. Here's my take aways from match: Match was split 2-2. Not too familiar with UC's roster but feel like they didn't use the whole roster like UK did. UK only had 9 players available with Wilson out and Whitworth is no longer with the program. (This was confirmed by source connected to UK). Beavin was the libero for sets 1 & 3 and Tuzzo was for 2 & 4. Grome set the first 2 sets, Jenkins set the third and Sarafa set the 4th. Melby and DeLeye were the OHs for first 2 sets while Lamb was the OPP playing all the way around. - DeLeye: Was the best player on the court. She looked great out of the backrow and probably had double the amount of kills than anyone else on UK. Was using a top spin jump serve and served about 10 straight points in Set 4 win. - Setters: Grome was solid but Jenkins and Sarafa both struggled to put their hitters in great positions. I kind of understand why Skinner never subbed out Grome in previous years when she struggled at times. Gap is a lot bigger than I expected.. - Middles: Offensively Bultema and Dailey both are a bit behind compared to what UK's middles are used to. Both were getting blocked a good amount by the UC middles. Blocking in middle wasn't bad though. Bultema's highlights came behind the service line. She has a nasty jump float and probably had about 5-6 aces on the night. Pins: Already talked about DeLeye. Lamb had to play OPP with Wilson out and short handed at pins in the spring and could tell she was a bit uncomfortable. She did still swing some from the leftside and had some nice kills. Melby was the other outside and she struggled a lot. Couldn't really hit around the block and when she tried to she would miss the court. L/DS: Beavin and Tuzzo were as solid as they usually are. No complaints there and both had some standout plays. Overall, I am concerned about UK's offense. DeLeye is the only All-American hitter they have and the gap is pretty wide from there. When Lamb is on, she is near that caliber but she has shown she can struggle with being consistent. I agree with Wildcat403. I think they really need another MB. I know they have a freshman MB coming in but it is so hard for freshmen to come in and make an immediate impact since they do not get much training time with coaches in the offseason. If there's not any solid MBs left in the portal, I think trying to get at least an OPP would be beneficial. Appreciate the post, thank you! Is it weird I'm kinda Zen about this whole thing? 3 girls playing spots they won't in the fall, 3-4 girls missing who will be solid contributors, spring is always spring, etc. If we served well, Beavin/Tuozzo/DeLeye passed well, and Bultema blocked well I think you call it a W. It does bug me we didn't get any updates. Maybe one of the coaches can put out a highlight video like Anders used to do. Yeah, Anders was definitely the one who drove the social media presence when he was there. On another note, you will all be excited when Hannah Benjamin joins in the fall. She is impressive to say the least. Stumbled upon one of her recent matches on YouTube and she seemed to be 80% of A5’s offense. She will certainly help as it relates to a competitive gym.
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Post by photos1 on Mar 7, 2024 15:03:10 GMT -5
You all know that these exhibitions have only one real purpose-to get ready for next fall-right? 🏐
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Post by stanfordvb on Mar 7, 2024 15:19:47 GMT -5
Was there as well. Here's my take aways from match: UK only had 9 players available with Wilson out and Whitworth is no longer with the program. (This was confirmed by source connected to UK). Beavin was the libero for sets 1 & 3 and Tuzzo was for 2 & 4. Grome set the first 2 sets, Jenkins set the third and Sarafa set the 4th. Melby and DeLeye were the OHs for first 2 sets while Lamb was the OPP playing all the way around. I think because of this, we can't really put any weight at all to this spring match. the lineup played is nothing like what the lineup will be in the fall. Doesn't suprise me that lamb on the right, melby on the left, and someone who spent all of the fall training opp now at MB didnt look like a great lineup. I still expect a transfer MB of some sort maybe when the second window opens. it's like last season when tealer was playing outside... it so different than what we'll see in the fall it doesnt really give any insight
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Post by wildcat403 on Mar 7, 2024 15:58:41 GMT -5
I agree spring is the time to tinker with lineups and try things so not really worried about what the scores are. And if history tells us anything, Craig will put out another solid/good team next fall.
I think some of us are just hoping to get back to the great/elite level we were on before the last few years. I feel like Craig hasn't taken advantage of the whole 5th year, portal, NIL era we are in like other top programs and that has cost him some success.
Either way, I'm excited about the young players we have on this team and I think they'll leave a great mark.
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