Cal Volleyball Outlook

[oskibear]

Cal hosting UCDavis in an exhibition game this Saturday 8/24 at 2pm. Hoping to make it and see how the team looks this year. Anyone planning to attend?

2024 Roster
Setters
6-1 Sr Maeder, likely to start given her experience the past 3 years
6-0 R-Jr Morningstar, hasn't seen much court time after transferring from Louisville last year, can she beat out Maeder?
6-0 Jr Lau, mainly been a serving sub so far in her Cal career

Outsides
6-3 Soph Maggie Li, returning Pacific region FOTY
6-1 Jr DeJardin, saw limited playing time behind Taumoepeau the past couple years, hopefully she can step up
6-3 Soph Ashley Li, played sporadically at Opp last year

Middles
6-1 Jr Hayden, consistently started since her arrival at Cal
6-3 Jr Scott, started all freshmen year but injured most of last year
6-4 Sr Hamm, walk on but filled in well last year
6-3 Soph Thomsen, had a few career nights at Opp last year
6-2 Fr Mansfield

Opposites
6-1 R-Jr Mehrten, lefty who split time at Opp last year
6-4 Sr Antonio, transfer from Syracuse, led team in points last year
6-1 Fr Agoli, listed as Opp but also set in HS

Liberos/DSes
5-9 Soph Johnson, #1 DS last year
5-7 5th yr Bartolo, starting libero transfer from Denver
5-10 Fr Williams

Very thin at OH but heavy at MB and Opp this year. Guessing they'll start the year with

S: Maeder, maybe 6-2 with Morningstar/Lau
OH: M.Li and DeJardin for defense/passing, sub in A.Li for offense
MB: Hayden and Scott, Thomsen for more offense maybe
Opp: Antonio, Mehrten/Thomsen if 6-2?
L: Bartolo, DS Johnson for Opp?

Will wait to comment on the freshmen

[devilhorns24]

woah wasn't sam taumoepeau coming back for her COVID year? did things change over the summer?

[oskibear]

Thought Taumoepeau was coming back too, not sure what happened??? Maybe circumstances changed with the new coaching staff?

Roster updated with new photos
calbears.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster

[oskibear]

Was able to attend the exhibition match vs Davis yesterday. Scott, Morningstar, ALi not in uniform

Set 1 Cal lost 22-25
S Maeder
M Hayden, Thomsen
OH MLi, DeJardin
Opp Agoli, DS Bartolo
L Johnson

Set 2, Cal won by more than 10
Same lineup as set 1, but Johnson DS and Bartolo as L
Agoli injured (ankle??) when landing from a kill and replaced by Mehrten

Set 3, Cal won by ~5
Same lineup as set 2 but with Mansfield in for Thomsen

Set 4 Cal lost 25-22
S Lau
M Hamm, Mansfield
OH DeJardin, Antonio (upper thigh heavily taped up), DS Williams
Opp Mehrten, DS Bartolo
L Johnson

Set 5 Cal lost by ~4 pts
Same lineup as set 4

Things that stid out, good and bad
MLi clearly the star, you can hear the extra pop in her attacks, nearly unstoppable, esp when they shoot it out to her, passing solid also
DeJardin tipped or rolled most of her hits, connection not there with either setter. Looked like a deer in headlights on defense but settled down as the match progressed
Antonio needs to work on her passing if shes going to play outside, started rough but then got a few good swings later on
Maeder probably their best option but didn't really stand out
Lau's sets to the outside were inconsistent but she was dealing with passes from the B team
Hayden quietly consistent, had a few good 1s and slides
Thomsen had some nice 1s but not much pop, probably needs some work in the weight room, didn't see any slides from her
Mansfield started set 3 with a really powerful slide, looking forward to seeing more from her. Needs to work on reading the opposing offense though, was really late closing the block.
Hamm hit a nice 1 at the end but needs to work on her slide
Agoli rolled a lot of shots
Mehrten had a couple powerful swings but really needs a perfect set, not able to adjust
Bartolo's experience shows, definitely ahead in the race for libero, more vocal and able to command the back row.
Johnson too quiet to be L but had some good digs toward the end
Don't remember if Williams had any digs

Offense...mostly going to be MLi, and Hayden is the passing is there, and I'm hoping Mansfield and Antonio
Defense wise, really need to work on blocking, tip coverage, and communication.
Need to also clean up service errors.

I would probably start the following

S Maeder
OH MLi, Antonio with DeJardin in back row
MB Hayden, Scott (experience)
Opp Mehrten, DS Johnson
L Bartolo

Don't think they gain much with a 6-2 in terms of offense, but it would stress the passing
Missing a 2nd passing OH who can also hit
DeJardin doesn't hit hard enough, and don't think ALi or Antonio can pass well enough
Another option to get more height might be ALi at OH (DeJardin back row), and Antonio at Opp.
2nd MB going to be interesting between Scott for blocking, vs Mansfield for offense, and Thomsen and Hamm somewhere in between

[oskibear]

S: Maeder
OH MLi and DeJardin, both playing 6 rotations
MB Thomsen and Hayden
Opp Mansfield (DS Johnson)
L Bartolo

I think everyone was in uniform, but Antonio still had her leg taped up.

Better than I expected, esp against Purdue.

Li had a few uncharacteristic hitting errors, but otherwise her usual self leading the team. Maybe too much pressure being so heavily relied upon. She was also trap set quite a few times. Pleasantly surprised by DeJardin, not a hard hitter, but hit a few smart line shots from position 4 and a couple nice back row kills. Still tipping too much for my liking though. Passing held up ok.

Like Mansfield's slides, she has a good arm and gave someone a facial. She was not very successful hitting off 2 feet though when they set her out of desperation. I think she can get those with more practice. I like her quickness, and she had a number of blocks as an OPP, but she'll need to improve her eye work and lateral movement to effectively block from the middle, probably why Thomsen is starting at MB instead. Thomsen got a few good kills but she needs to hit the weight room. Suspect Antonio will take over at Opp when she's fully healthy. Will be interesting to see who ends up at MB opposite Hayden, between Mansfield, Thomsen, Scott, and Hamm.

No question Bartolo should be the libero, but Johnson played well as a DS.

[JJVb]

Sept 6, 2024 23:17:56 GMT -5 oskibear said:

S: Maeder
OH MLi and DeJardin, both playing 6 rotations
MB Thomsen and Hayden
Opp Mansfield (DS Johnson)
L Bartolo

I think everyone was in uniform, but Antonio still had her leg taped up.

Better than I expected, esp against Purdue.

Li had a few uncharacteristic hitting errors, but otherwise her usual self leading the team. Maybe too much pressure being so heavily relied upon. She was also trap set quite a few times. Pleasantly surprised by DeJardin, not a hard hitter, but hit a few smart line shots from position 4 and a couple nice back row kills. Still tipping too much for my liking though. Passing held up ok.

Like Mansfield's slides, she has a good arm and gave someone a facial. She was not very successful hitting off 2 feet though when they set her out of desperation. I think she can get those with more practice. I like her quickness, and she had a number of blocks as an OPP, but she'll need to improve her eye work and lateral movement to effectively block from the middle, probably why Thomsen is starting at MB instead. Thomsen got a few good kills but she needs to hit the weight room. Suspect Antonio will take over at Opp when she's fully healthy. Will be interesting to see who ends up at MB opposite Hayden, between Mansfield, Thomsen, Scott, and Hamm.

No question Bartolo should be the libero, but Johnson played well as a DS.

Unfortunately, due to poor scheduling, they played a few hours later vs. Utah and were gassed and got swept. To add insult to injury Maeder came down after jumping for a block and turned her ankle. Didn't look good. Lau came in to set and seemed to be playing well though.

[oskibear]

Good to hear that Lau did well. Her sets to the outside during the exhibition match were a bit inconsistent, probably due to the poor passes she was getting from the B team.

[oskibear]

Cal vs St Mary's College

Haven't watched it yet, but from the box scores of the recent matches, looks like Lau is doing a good job filling in for Maeder, and Thomsen and Hayden starting at MB, with Mansfield at Opp hitting slides, DSed by Johnson, with Bartolo at L. DeJardin hitting at a high clip opposite MLi, whose numbers are a bit low...probably being targeted by the defense.

[oskibear]

From that match video vs SMC, Antonio no longer has her upper leg wrapped up, will be interesting to see if she can unseat Mansfield, who's got a good arm but limited to slides.

Maeder on the bench not in uniform.

Thomsen not connecting well with Lau, flailed a couple long

[gouci]

Hi Cal fans.

Here is a Cal connection for you. UC Irvine's libero Campbell Jensen is the younger sister of former Cal setter Kendall Jensen. Campbell has been impressive having started all 3 years that she's been at UCI. How was Kendall Jensen at Cal?

[oskibear]

Don't think Kendall Jensen saw the court much. Seems like she was always behind the current setter Maeder, partially due to her height

[rainbowbadger]

Any update on Maeder's status?

[oskibear]

bearinsider.com/forums/5/topics/123045

Sounds like team is plagued with injuries :-(
Maeder and Agoli in crutches.
Didn't realize Scott is redshirting (again?)
Hopefully Hayden and Morningstar back soon

[shark]

I was really hoping for much better from Cal, they have been just so bad for about 4-5 years now and i just don't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

[oskibear]

Covid really did them in. They had a really good season in 2019 and should have made the NCAA tourney that year. Then covid hit in 2020. Their star player Mirkovic focused on beach since the 2020 season ended up being played in Spring 2021, and their 2 all conf MBs transferred out, Anderson to Baylor and Forte to Florida. Things just went downhill from there. Grote came in and made a huge impact but didn't have much support and had to play all 3 front row positions at one point before she transferred. Hayden and Maggie Li were holding their own last year and it was getting better again, but the injury bug this year has really set them back.
With Hayden out, I'd like to see them try Mansfield at MB and Antonio at Opp.