Post by azvolleydad on Jun 26, 2020 19:19:13 GMT -5
Thanks to a lot of help from various posters, I'm ready to present the Big East 2020 thread. We generated 54 pages of excitement on the Big East 2019 thread and I expect even more for 2020.
In order of last-year's regular season finishes:
Creighton in 2020 will be a mix of familiar and new faces. Like 2019, the Bluejays probably lost as much to graduation as any Big East team: First Team Big East MB Megan Ballenger, First Team Big East and 2x HM AA S Madelyn Cole, and All American Libero Brittany Witt. But also like last year, Kirsten Bernthal Booth returns tons of talent for her 18th season as HC. Notable returners include the trio of great pin hitters, Keely Davis (3.35 k/s), Jaela Zimmerman (3.13 k/s), and Erica Kostelac (2.86 k/s). These three combined for over 61% of Creighton's kills from 2019 and will be joined by senior MB Naomi Hickman (3rd in Big East in hitting % and sixth in blocking). Obviously, with the loss of the amazing Cole, setting will be the question mark. Sophomore Ally Van Eekeren (6'0") will vie with incoming transfer Mahina Pua'a from Arizona. Annika Welty, Kiana Schmitt and incoming freshmen Kiara Reinhardt (Senior Ace #46) will all battle for the vacant MB spot. Welty battled injury in 2019 but ended the season on the RS while Kostelac was injured. Schmitt saw limited action in 2019, but hit .409 over 18 sets. Creighton's defense will be anchored by Grace Nelson (1.45 d/s) and Emily Bressman (1.31 d/s). Incoming freshmen Ellie Bolton (Senior Ace #97) should also compete for a spot.
Marquette will have to adjust to change in 2020 after the graduation of Allie Barber. Barber, the reigning Big East Player of the Year and three time All-American (Second-Team, Honorable Mention x2), was responsible for over 30% of Marquette's kills in 2019 and left as the all time MU kills leader (1,8710). MU will also miss setter Lauren Speckman (711 assists), and MB Gwyn Jones (184 kills, 76 blocks). For setting, soph. Claire Mosher (4.78 a/s) will look to step in as senior Sarah Rose's (4.97 a/s) pair in the 6-2. Head Coach Ryan Theis has a very strong offensive core returning, led by senior Hope Werch (335 kills, 57 aces, all-BigEast) and soph. Hannah Vander Berg (222 kills, 163 digs, all BigEast Freshmen). Pin hitter senior Kaitlyn Lines (2.57 kps) will look to bounce back from injury. Martha Konovodoff (all-BigEast, 1554 career digs) returns to anchor the defense. In the middle, MU will return leading blocker Elizabeth Orf. Marquette's new faces include Breyan Ashley (OH, All-WCC Honorable Mention) from St. Mary's and Savannah Rennie (MB/RS) from Cal. Theis says Ashley has the tools to be a 6 rotation OH and Rennie will compete for spots in the middle or on the right. MU also brings in former Ten. Tech libero Carly Skrabek and PrepVolleyball no. 88 Senior Ace Carsen Murray, MB. EDIT: Konovodoff graduated early and is not returning. EDIT: Senior setter Sarah Rose is sitting out her senior year for medical reasons.
Villanova graduated three four-year starters in setter Emma Decker (all-time assist leader), libero Regan Lough (2nd in career digs), and MB Allie Olsonoski (2nd in career hitting percentage), and a lot of depth in OH Remy Fairchild (2.06 career kps). All leave huge holes both in stats and leadership for the Wildcats to fill. Head coach Josh Steinbach enters his 12th year, but has yet officially to designate a replacement for AC Meredith Schamun, who left to become the HC at Penn. There are reasons for optimism for 2020. On offense, Nova returns RS-soph. MB Sophia Howling (222 kills, 114 blocks), senior OH Mallory Potts (275 kills), junior RS Sanaa Barnes (220 kills), junior OH Claire Delaplane (202 kills), and soph. RS Kathleen Johnson (2.90 kps). Returning defenders include senior Sarah Allman (162 digs), junior Anna Morse (176 digs), and soph. Maddie Schieder (42 digs). They'll be joined by grad-transfer Averi Salvador, who played libero for Temple in 2019 (415 digs). Setting looks to be the biggest hole to fill. Soph. setter Belle Morgan is 6'1, but only played in one match in 2019. Junior setter Emily Curtis played as a ds/serving specialist in 2019. Incoming freshman make up Villanova's highest-ranked recruiting class: OH Riley Homer, MBs Maddie Barber and Kiera Booth, setter Andrea Campos, and DS/L Taryn Whittingham. Interestingly, Whittingham and Barber are the younger sisters of USC star Taylor Whittingham and Marquette star Allie Barber, respectively. EDIT: The Wildcats hire Lauren Plum as their new AC. Plum is a former setter. 2nd EDIT: I hear that Barnes will not play in the spring 2021 season in order to focus on track.
St. John's was 4th at 12-6 in regular season play, but won the conference tournament in 2019. SJU also joins Nova and Creighton in looking to replace a great libero and setter - Erica DiMaulo leaves as the SJU all-time assists leader (4,995) and Amanda Sanabia ended her SJU career 2nd on their all-time digs list. Head coach Joanne Persico enters her 27th season with a lot of returning talent, including junior OH Efrosini Alexakou (491 kills, 274 digs), senior OH Klara Mikelova (299 kills, 221 digs), junior RS Rachele Rasteli (369 kills, 136 digs), and MBs junior Ariadni Kathariou (136 kills, 97 blocks) and senior Maria Angelica Palacios (112 kills, 75 blocks). Persico hopes to fill the setter spot with either senior Tiziana Baumrukova (who did not play in 2019), or incoming JC transfer Laura De Pra, who was a junior college all-American at Seward County Community College. Other recruits include MB Amariis Garcia from Hawaii and RS Eleonora Tosi from Italy.
Butler fell just short of earning a spot in the 2019 conference tournament with an 11-7 record. They lost a ton of production including All-Big East Brooke Gregory (283 kills, 108 blocks), Anna Logan (302 kills, 352 digs), and setter Megan Ramseyer (920 assists). Another big blow to the line-up is the transfer of libero Elizabeth LaBue (4.70 dps) to Rice University. Coach Sharon Clark enters her 21st season, looking to rerebuild around returning All-Big East MB Melody Davidson (Jr.). Davidson led the Big East in Total Blocks with 134 and was second in Blocks per Set at 1.17, and won a spot on the USA Collegiate National Team. Defense and serve receive will be vital and incoming Austin Peay transfer Libero Jaymeson Kinley (So.) and returner Jillian Ziemba will contribute. Setting should be in the hands of Maria Schorr (R-Jr.), who filled in for Ramseyer and was second on the team in total Assists. A wild card for the Bulldogs is the return of leftie RS Natalie Ravenell (R-Jr) who was a redshirt in 2019 . Ravenell was the Big East Freshman of the week 4 times in 2017 and was second in kills in 2018. Butler also has a large signing class including 2 MBs, 3 L/DS, and 2 Setters along with DePaul transfer OH Elana Brueggeman (So.). EDIT: Butler also adds junior transfer Allyson Cathey from Penn State. In 2019, Cathey had 186 kills and 26 blocks in 93 sets for PSU.
Xavier finished in the bottom half of the Big East Conference in 2019 (8-10) and 11-17 overall. Although the Musketeers are only losing one senior, she is a good one in libero Madi Kutruff . Kutruff led the team in digs and finished 6th in the league with 426 digs at 4.22 per set. Fifth year HC Christy Pfeffenberger (only coach in BE history with three "Fs" in her last name) is returning talented players in RSs Moriah Hopkins (Sr.) and Lauren Hanlon. Hanlon, who a fourth-year RS-Soph, led the team in kills with 255 last season and earned a spot on the Big East All-Freshman Team. Also returning is middle blocker Jayda Carlton (Jr.) who led the Big East in blocks per set at 1.23. Setters Ailsa Watson (Sr.) (4.80 a/s) and Carrigan O’Reilly (So.) (5.84 a/s) return and will likely share the duties again in running Xavier’s 6-2 offense. Xavier returns OH Norah Painter (Jr.) (2.21 kps) and Maryanne O'Toole (SO.) (1.79 kps), but will need them to step up if they expect to compete. Xavier welcomes to the team three new freshman – including two middles (Delany Hogan and 6’2” Hunter Fry) along with L/DS Stevie Wolf.
DePaul went 6-12 in BigEast play in 2019. The losses of RS Brittany Maxwell (443 kill, 239 digs) and S Katie Dolan (505 assists) to graduation are going to hurt. The transfer losses of setter Natalie Hayward (666 assists) to Tennessee and OH Elana Bruggemann (145 kills, 110 digs) to Butler are nearly as painful. Luckily, new head coach Marie Zidek has firepower in returning MBs junior Donna Brown (250 kills, 102 blocks) and senior Avarie Evans-Allen (204 kills, 88 blocks). Senior RS Emma Price (290 kills) and soph. OH Nelson Bailey (167 kills) will also help. Defense will be solid, anchored by retruning senior Isabel Banez (4.72 dps). Incoming junior transfer OH Allison Dennemann from Pacific (338 kills) will help ease the loss of Bruggemann. Zidek is also confident in the incoming recruiting class, ranked Hon. Mention by PrepVolleyball, of Sierra Ellison (OH), Hanna Karl (OH), Rachel Krasowski (L), Phoenix Lee (S), Julia Nagy (L) and Jill Pressly (OH). With the loss of both setters, Zidek will likely be very dependent on Lee. The Canadian was a Provincial All-Star and MVP, Canadian Nationals MVP, USAV HP All-Tournament in 2018, and a 2018 silver medalist with YNT Canada at NORCECA.
Georgetown had to be disappointed with last year's 3-15 record in BigEast play. Their website still lists Toby Rens as head coach, even though it's widely reported that he was sacked and assistant coach David Heller has been promoted. No new ACs have been announced either. In 2020, the Hoyas will have to replace the production of OH Iva Vujosevic (379 kills; 44 Aces), RS Margo Snipe (161 kills; 33 blocks), and the depth of OH/DS Charlotte Kelly. Luckily for Heller, the Hoyas return nearly 60% of their kills including Junior OH Elissa Barbosa (260 kills; 261 digs) and Peyton Wilhite (All-Big East Freshman Team; 169 kills; 44 blocks). Georgetown returns experienced setters in Sophomore Emma Plutnicki (591 assists) and Senior Margo Pivonka (379 assists), and defensive standouts in Junior Jessica Cusi (431 digs) and Sophomore Kelly Chen (169 digs). Sophomore MB Makayla Serrett (84 blocks; 98 kills) and RS Junior MB Brennan Wilhite (48 blocks; 77 kills) are expected to hold down the middle. The Hoyas have five incoming freshman who hope to contribute: pin hitters Ruth Kayongo and Lydia Schubert, middle blockers Chanelle Smith and Gabby Williams, and libero Abby Lutterloh.
Seton Hall hopes to improve on its 3-15, 8th place BigEast finish in 2019. Losses to graduation include kills leader Haylee Gasser (2.95 k/s), setter Maggie Cvelbar (751 assists) and MB Madison Salkowski. Returning are MB pair Amanda Rachwal (2.27 k/s) and Reece Koehler (1.75 k/s), libero/ds Raygan Murray (3.89 d/s) and Eden Dolezal (2.21 d/s), as well as OH Julia Wilkins (2.12 k/s). The Hall brings in a class of six freshmen, OH Perri Lucas, S Cagla Bengi (Turkey), MB Mary Okereke, OH Tsvetelina Ilieva (Bulgaria), and S Taylor Jakubowski.
Providence struggled to a 1-17 conference mark in 2019. Despite losing OH Addison Root (270 kills) and Jenae Alderson (210 kills) to graduation, the Friars have reason to believe that they can improve significantly on 2019. Senior Allison Barber (3000+ career assists) returns, as do sophomore OH's Jenny Leitman (2.78 kps, all BigEast Freshman) and Emma Nelson (2.55kps), both of whom struggled with injury in 2019. Sophomore Sasha Rudich and talented newcomer Mimi Boyle (Mintonette / St Francis DeSales HS) figure to anchor the middle. Junior Emma Fink will likely spend time at both pins, while versatile Brielle Mullally can contribute as a pin or a setter. Soph Addison Witte will compete on the right side while Soph Elena Leontaridou of Greece will shore up the MB slot. To have success, the Friars need to improve first contact. Soph Caroline LaMacchia returns from an injury-shortened season and will compete with Juniors Mackenzie Taylor and Natalie Benson for play time. Freshmen DS Noelle Carey and S Sammie Ruggles will add depth and work to crack the Providence lineup.
UCONN made some late season strides with wins against Tulsa and Houston, but still finished tied for 7th with 3 other teams in the AAC (6-10 record) and didn't qualify for the 6-team AAC Tournament. The Huskies return almost everyone from their 2019 roster, including Caylee Parker and Kennadie Jake-Turner. Parker is an complete all-around OH (3.32 kps, 2.56 dig/s) while Jake-Turner is a physical MB/RS (2.26 kps, .8 bps) who recorded multiple double-digit kill performances at the end of the season. The Huskies return both setters from last season, 6'1 RS-Jr. Courtney Morris (8.32 aps) and 5'10 Soph. Madi Whitmire (7.41 aps).
This is a work in progress, so please let me know if I've missed anyone or anything.
I hope that everyone has a fun and healthy season. My predictions:
Midwest division: 1. Creighton, 2. Marquette.
East division: 1. St. John's, 2. Villanova.
In order of last-year's regular season finishes:
Creighton in 2020 will be a mix of familiar and new faces. Like 2019, the Bluejays probably lost as much to graduation as any Big East team: First Team Big East MB Megan Ballenger, First Team Big East and 2x HM AA S Madelyn Cole, and All American Libero Brittany Witt. But also like last year, Kirsten Bernthal Booth returns tons of talent for her 18th season as HC. Notable returners include the trio of great pin hitters, Keely Davis (3.35 k/s), Jaela Zimmerman (3.13 k/s), and Erica Kostelac (2.86 k/s). These three combined for over 61% of Creighton's kills from 2019 and will be joined by senior MB Naomi Hickman (3rd in Big East in hitting % and sixth in blocking). Obviously, with the loss of the amazing Cole, setting will be the question mark. Sophomore Ally Van Eekeren (6'0") will vie with incoming transfer Mahina Pua'a from Arizona. Annika Welty, Kiana Schmitt and incoming freshmen Kiara Reinhardt (Senior Ace #46) will all battle for the vacant MB spot. Welty battled injury in 2019 but ended the season on the RS while Kostelac was injured. Schmitt saw limited action in 2019, but hit .409 over 18 sets. Creighton's defense will be anchored by Grace Nelson (1.45 d/s) and Emily Bressman (1.31 d/s). Incoming freshmen Ellie Bolton (Senior Ace #97) should also compete for a spot.
Marquette will have to adjust to change in 2020 after the graduation of Allie Barber. Barber, the reigning Big East Player of the Year and three time All-American (Second-Team, Honorable Mention x2), was responsible for over 30% of Marquette's kills in 2019 and left as the all time MU kills leader (1,8710). MU will also miss setter Lauren Speckman (711 assists), and MB Gwyn Jones (184 kills, 76 blocks). For setting, soph. Claire Mosher (4.78 a/s) will look to step in as senior Sarah Rose's (4.97 a/s) pair in the 6-2. Head Coach Ryan Theis has a very strong offensive core returning, led by senior Hope Werch (335 kills, 57 aces, all-BigEast) and soph. Hannah Vander Berg (222 kills, 163 digs, all BigEast Freshmen). Pin hitter senior Kaitlyn Lines (2.57 kps) will look to bounce back from injury. Martha Konovodoff (all-BigEast, 1554 career digs) returns to anchor the defense. In the middle, MU will return leading blocker Elizabeth Orf. Marquette's new faces include Breyan Ashley (OH, All-WCC Honorable Mention) from St. Mary's and Savannah Rennie (MB/RS) from Cal. Theis says Ashley has the tools to be a 6 rotation OH and Rennie will compete for spots in the middle or on the right. MU also brings in former Ten. Tech libero Carly Skrabek and PrepVolleyball no. 88 Senior Ace Carsen Murray, MB. EDIT: Konovodoff graduated early and is not returning. EDIT: Senior setter Sarah Rose is sitting out her senior year for medical reasons.
Villanova graduated three four-year starters in setter Emma Decker (all-time assist leader), libero Regan Lough (2nd in career digs), and MB Allie Olsonoski (2nd in career hitting percentage), and a lot of depth in OH Remy Fairchild (2.06 career kps). All leave huge holes both in stats and leadership for the Wildcats to fill. Head coach Josh Steinbach enters his 12th year, but has yet officially to designate a replacement for AC Meredith Schamun, who left to become the HC at Penn. There are reasons for optimism for 2020. On offense, Nova returns RS-soph. MB Sophia Howling (222 kills, 114 blocks), senior OH Mallory Potts (275 kills), junior RS Sanaa Barnes (220 kills), junior OH Claire Delaplane (202 kills), and soph. RS Kathleen Johnson (2.90 kps). Returning defenders include senior Sarah Allman (162 digs), junior Anna Morse (176 digs), and soph. Maddie Schieder (42 digs). They'll be joined by grad-transfer Averi Salvador, who played libero for Temple in 2019 (415 digs). Setting looks to be the biggest hole to fill. Soph. setter Belle Morgan is 6'1, but only played in one match in 2019. Junior setter Emily Curtis played as a ds/serving specialist in 2019. Incoming freshman make up Villanova's highest-ranked recruiting class: OH Riley Homer, MBs Maddie Barber and Kiera Booth, setter Andrea Campos, and DS/L Taryn Whittingham. Interestingly, Whittingham and Barber are the younger sisters of USC star Taylor Whittingham and Marquette star Allie Barber, respectively. EDIT: The Wildcats hire Lauren Plum as their new AC. Plum is a former setter. 2nd EDIT: I hear that Barnes will not play in the spring 2021 season in order to focus on track.
St. John's was 4th at 12-6 in regular season play, but won the conference tournament in 2019. SJU also joins Nova and Creighton in looking to replace a great libero and setter - Erica DiMaulo leaves as the SJU all-time assists leader (4,995) and Amanda Sanabia ended her SJU career 2nd on their all-time digs list. Head coach Joanne Persico enters her 27th season with a lot of returning talent, including junior OH Efrosini Alexakou (491 kills, 274 digs), senior OH Klara Mikelova (299 kills, 221 digs), junior RS Rachele Rasteli (369 kills, 136 digs), and MBs junior Ariadni Kathariou (136 kills, 97 blocks) and senior Maria Angelica Palacios (112 kills, 75 blocks). Persico hopes to fill the setter spot with either senior Tiziana Baumrukova (who did not play in 2019), or incoming JC transfer Laura De Pra, who was a junior college all-American at Seward County Community College. Other recruits include MB Amariis Garcia from Hawaii and RS Eleonora Tosi from Italy.
Butler fell just short of earning a spot in the 2019 conference tournament with an 11-7 record. They lost a ton of production including All-Big East Brooke Gregory (283 kills, 108 blocks), Anna Logan (302 kills, 352 digs), and setter Megan Ramseyer (920 assists). Another big blow to the line-up is the transfer of libero Elizabeth LaBue (4.70 dps) to Rice University. Coach Sharon Clark enters her 21st season, looking to rerebuild around returning All-Big East MB Melody Davidson (Jr.). Davidson led the Big East in Total Blocks with 134 and was second in Blocks per Set at 1.17, and won a spot on the USA Collegiate National Team. Defense and serve receive will be vital and incoming Austin Peay transfer Libero Jaymeson Kinley (So.) and returner Jillian Ziemba will contribute. Setting should be in the hands of Maria Schorr (R-Jr.), who filled in for Ramseyer and was second on the team in total Assists. A wild card for the Bulldogs is the return of leftie RS Natalie Ravenell (R-Jr) who was a redshirt in 2019 . Ravenell was the Big East Freshman of the week 4 times in 2017 and was second in kills in 2018. Butler also has a large signing class including 2 MBs, 3 L/DS, and 2 Setters along with DePaul transfer OH Elana Brueggeman (So.). EDIT: Butler also adds junior transfer Allyson Cathey from Penn State. In 2019, Cathey had 186 kills and 26 blocks in 93 sets for PSU.
Xavier finished in the bottom half of the Big East Conference in 2019 (8-10) and 11-17 overall. Although the Musketeers are only losing one senior, she is a good one in libero Madi Kutruff . Kutruff led the team in digs and finished 6th in the league with 426 digs at 4.22 per set. Fifth year HC Christy Pfeffenberger (only coach in BE history with three "Fs" in her last name) is returning talented players in RSs Moriah Hopkins (Sr.) and Lauren Hanlon. Hanlon, who a fourth-year RS-Soph, led the team in kills with 255 last season and earned a spot on the Big East All-Freshman Team. Also returning is middle blocker Jayda Carlton (Jr.) who led the Big East in blocks per set at 1.23. Setters Ailsa Watson (Sr.) (4.80 a/s) and Carrigan O’Reilly (So.) (5.84 a/s) return and will likely share the duties again in running Xavier’s 6-2 offense. Xavier returns OH Norah Painter (Jr.) (2.21 kps) and Maryanne O'Toole (SO.) (1.79 kps), but will need them to step up if they expect to compete. Xavier welcomes to the team three new freshman – including two middles (Delany Hogan and 6’2” Hunter Fry) along with L/DS Stevie Wolf.
DePaul went 6-12 in BigEast play in 2019. The losses of RS Brittany Maxwell (443 kill, 239 digs) and S Katie Dolan (505 assists) to graduation are going to hurt. The transfer losses of setter Natalie Hayward (666 assists) to Tennessee and OH Elana Bruggemann (145 kills, 110 digs) to Butler are nearly as painful. Luckily, new head coach Marie Zidek has firepower in returning MBs junior Donna Brown (250 kills, 102 blocks) and senior Avarie Evans-Allen (204 kills, 88 blocks). Senior RS Emma Price (290 kills) and soph. OH Nelson Bailey (167 kills) will also help. Defense will be solid, anchored by retruning senior Isabel Banez (4.72 dps). Incoming junior transfer OH Allison Dennemann from Pacific (338 kills) will help ease the loss of Bruggemann. Zidek is also confident in the incoming recruiting class, ranked Hon. Mention by PrepVolleyball, of Sierra Ellison (OH), Hanna Karl (OH), Rachel Krasowski (L), Phoenix Lee (S), Julia Nagy (L) and Jill Pressly (OH). With the loss of both setters, Zidek will likely be very dependent on Lee. The Canadian was a Provincial All-Star and MVP, Canadian Nationals MVP, USAV HP All-Tournament in 2018, and a 2018 silver medalist with YNT Canada at NORCECA.
Georgetown had to be disappointed with last year's 3-15 record in BigEast play. Their website still lists Toby Rens as head coach, even though it's widely reported that he was sacked and assistant coach David Heller has been promoted. No new ACs have been announced either. In 2020, the Hoyas will have to replace the production of OH Iva Vujosevic (379 kills; 44 Aces), RS Margo Snipe (161 kills; 33 blocks), and the depth of OH/DS Charlotte Kelly. Luckily for Heller, the Hoyas return nearly 60% of their kills including Junior OH Elissa Barbosa (260 kills; 261 digs) and Peyton Wilhite (All-Big East Freshman Team; 169 kills; 44 blocks). Georgetown returns experienced setters in Sophomore Emma Plutnicki (591 assists) and Senior Margo Pivonka (379 assists), and defensive standouts in Junior Jessica Cusi (431 digs) and Sophomore Kelly Chen (169 digs). Sophomore MB Makayla Serrett (84 blocks; 98 kills) and RS Junior MB Brennan Wilhite (48 blocks; 77 kills) are expected to hold down the middle. The Hoyas have five incoming freshman who hope to contribute: pin hitters Ruth Kayongo and Lydia Schubert, middle blockers Chanelle Smith and Gabby Williams, and libero Abby Lutterloh.
Seton Hall hopes to improve on its 3-15, 8th place BigEast finish in 2019. Losses to graduation include kills leader Haylee Gasser (2.95 k/s), setter Maggie Cvelbar (751 assists) and MB Madison Salkowski. Returning are MB pair Amanda Rachwal (2.27 k/s) and Reece Koehler (1.75 k/s), libero/ds Raygan Murray (3.89 d/s) and Eden Dolezal (2.21 d/s), as well as OH Julia Wilkins (2.12 k/s). The Hall brings in a class of six freshmen, OH Perri Lucas, S Cagla Bengi (Turkey), MB Mary Okereke, OH Tsvetelina Ilieva (Bulgaria), and S Taylor Jakubowski.
Providence struggled to a 1-17 conference mark in 2019. Despite losing OH Addison Root (270 kills) and Jenae Alderson (210 kills) to graduation, the Friars have reason to believe that they can improve significantly on 2019. Senior Allison Barber (3000+ career assists) returns, as do sophomore OH's Jenny Leitman (2.78 kps, all BigEast Freshman) and Emma Nelson (2.55kps), both of whom struggled with injury in 2019. Sophomore Sasha Rudich and talented newcomer Mimi Boyle (Mintonette / St Francis DeSales HS) figure to anchor the middle. Junior Emma Fink will likely spend time at both pins, while versatile Brielle Mullally can contribute as a pin or a setter. Soph Addison Witte will compete on the right side while Soph Elena Leontaridou of Greece will shore up the MB slot. To have success, the Friars need to improve first contact. Soph Caroline LaMacchia returns from an injury-shortened season and will compete with Juniors Mackenzie Taylor and Natalie Benson for play time. Freshmen DS Noelle Carey and S Sammie Ruggles will add depth and work to crack the Providence lineup.
UCONN made some late season strides with wins against Tulsa and Houston, but still finished tied for 7th with 3 other teams in the AAC (6-10 record) and didn't qualify for the 6-team AAC Tournament. The Huskies return almost everyone from their 2019 roster, including Caylee Parker and Kennadie Jake-Turner. Parker is an complete all-around OH (3.32 kps, 2.56 dig/s) while Jake-Turner is a physical MB/RS (2.26 kps, .8 bps) who recorded multiple double-digit kill performances at the end of the season. The Huskies return both setters from last season, 6'1 RS-Jr. Courtney Morris (8.32 aps) and 5'10 Soph. Madi Whitmire (7.41 aps).
This is a work in progress, so please let me know if I've missed anyone or anything.
I hope that everyone has a fun and healthy season. My predictions:
Midwest division: 1. Creighton, 2. Marquette.
East division: 1. St. John's, 2. Villanova.