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Post by bbg95 on Jul 6, 2022 15:39:44 GMT -5
I remember the two Tonga sisters...pretty sure they were from Texas. Maybe our AZ can remember. One played at Utah or Utah State then transferred back to BYU to play with her sister who married a football player. The older one was back in Texas and working with Skyline years ago when I was still involved in club volleyball. I imagine current BYU staff is tied in with her--I agree, it helps to be in Texas. Euless in the DFW area specifically has an extensive Mormon/South Pacific/Tongan/Samoan population. Plenty of history of kids in all sports heading to BYU and other programs with strong South Pacific ties. It's not the only place, but it's undoubtedly the most notable. Interesting. The Tonga sisters are from Allen, which is also in the Dallas area, though further north. For as long as I've been following the team (2005 or so to present), I don't think BYU has recruited nationally all that much. The 2007 roster that made it to the Elite 8 is entirely from the West, and even the 2014 roster that was the national runnerup is all from the West except for Alexa Gray, who is from Canada. The 2018 Final Four roster is also all from the West. I know in the Elaine Michaelis years, they had a fair number of European players, particularly from Finland (including 1986 NPOY Mariliisa Salmi). I'm a little surprised that both BYU women's volleyball and women's soccer don't recruit in Brazil very much, as there are a lot of LDS people (~1.5 million) in Brazil. |
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Post by bbg95 on Jul 8, 2022 12:30:10 GMT -5
BYU has a new volunteer assistant coach.
Edit: apparently, her uncle is The Rock. Yes, that one. Also, she was Pac-12 setter of the year for Arizona in 2016.
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Post by mintonetteman on Jul 8, 2022 13:09:43 GMT -5
Euless in the DFW area specifically has an extensive Mormon/South Pacific/Tongan/Samoan population. Plenty of history of kids in all sports heading to BYU and other programs with strong South Pacific ties. It's not the only place, but it's undoubtedly the most notable. Interesting. The Tonga sisters are from Allen, which is also in the Dallas area, though further north. For as long as I've been following the team (2005 or so to present), I don't think BYU has recruited nationally all that much. The 2007 roster that made it to the Elite 8 is entirely from the West, and even the 2014 roster that was the national runnerup is all from the West except for Alexa Gray, who is from Canada. The 2018 Final Four roster is also all from the West. I know in the Elaine Michaelis years, they had a fair number of European players, particularly from Finland (including 1986 NPOY Mariliisa Salmi). I'm a little surprised that both BYU women's volleyball and women's soccer don't recruit in Brazil very much, as there are a lot of LDS people (~1.5 million) in Brazil. We do on the men's side...for sure. Loved my Brazilian teammates and Puerto Rican teammates. I have wondered why this doesn't translate to the women's side for BYU--Hugh seems to have some nice Puerto Rico players consistently and just hired a Brazilian assistant. |
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vvv
Sophomore
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Post by vvv on Jul 8, 2022 13:42:53 GMT -5
Alex Bower just committed to BYU. I think our setting will be on point with older Bower, Decker, Damuni and younger Bower in tow. Club V tied for third place in the USAV National Junior Olympics, with Coast- 4 BYU commits on that podium- Little, Lee, Miller, and Damuni. Amazing finish.
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Post by bbg95 on Jul 8, 2022 13:45:36 GMT -5
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Post by bbg95 on Jul 8, 2022 14:05:35 GMT -5
Alex Bower just committed to BYU. I think our setting will be on point with older Bower, Decker, Damuni and younger Bower in tow. Club V tied for third place in the USAV National Junior Olympics, with Coast- 4 BYU commits on that podium- Little, Lee, Miller, and Damuni. Amazing finish. 6'5" middle and 2023 commit Brielle Kemavor of Metro was also at that tournament (they played a memorable match against Club V that included a 42-40 second set), and she looked quite good from what I saw. I think she could be the Cougars' most physically imposing player since Jennifer Hamson. |
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vvv
Sophomore
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Post by vvv on Jul 8, 2022 14:09:38 GMT -5
Oh Yes!!! I heard about that match- 42-40!!! That made history- Has to be the highest set score in USAV history. She does look amazing- 6'5.
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Post by bbg95 on Jul 8, 2022 14:40:32 GMT -5
Interesting. The Tonga sisters are from Allen, which is also in the Dallas area, though further north. For as long as I've been following the team (2005 or so to present), I don't think BYU has recruited nationally all that much. The 2007 roster that made it to the Elite 8 is entirely from the West, and even the 2014 roster that was the national runnerup is all from the West except for Alexa Gray, who is from Canada. The 2018 Final Four roster is also all from the West. I know in the Elaine Michaelis years, they had a fair number of European players, particularly from Finland (including 1986 NPOY Mariliisa Salmi). I'm a little surprised that both BYU women's volleyball and women's soccer don't recruit in Brazil very much, as there are a lot of LDS people (~1.5 million) in Brazil. We do on the men's side...for sure. Loved my Brazilian teammates and Puerto Rican teammates. I have wondered why this doesn't translate to the women's side for BYU--Hugh seems to have some nice Puerto Rico players consistently and just hired a Brazilian assistant. It is a bit baffling given the popularity of those sports in Brazil and the large LDS population. BYU women's volleyball and women's soccer have both played for a national title recently, and I can't help but think (especially in soccer) that having a stud Brazilian player or two may have made the difference. |
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Post by bbg95 on Jul 9, 2022 11:17:55 GMT -5
Oh Yes!!! I heard about that match- 42-40!!! That made history- Has to be the highest set score in USAV history. She does look amazing- 6'5. Someone uploaded the first two sets of that match from the Metro side of the net. Kemavor really stands out on the court, as she towers over everyone else. Apparently, her jump touch is 10'8", which is the same as RJP's best in college and slightly higher than Mia Lee's 10'7.5". |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jul 9, 2022 22:24:51 GMT -5
Yep. That is her. I really liked her. I thought Jackie was good too and also from a volleyball family. My point though...it has been awhile. So, not withstanding Marn's "musings" you can't fault BYU for missing out on some elite libero that is a local high school product that went and did something special at say...San Jose State. That being said, to the more important point -- I agree, passing needs to be addressed--like yesterday. Hopefully, Brielle Miller will be the libero that BYU is looking for, and she's local. After a little vacation after nationals where we tied Club V-17 Reed, I will leave a few comments. Actually, we lost to the national champions and V lost to the runner up so we will claim 3rd and give V 4th! Some great competition over all but I would say that this class of 2023 is a bit weaker than the average talent pool, but there are still some players who will have large impacts at the D-1 level. Brielle Miller has a legit serve and can dig a straight ball with the best of them. Can't fault BYU for going after her. The question marks for her deal with quickness but in particular lateral movement. I do think the more athletic of the 2 V L's is the girl going to Utah State but she wore down and was injured for a decent part of nationals so Miller was the featured L for V. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jul 9, 2022 22:55:49 GMT -5
Speaking of passing, Erin Livingston put up a story on the team's Instagram account indicating that she has been working on her passing the most while training with the US Women's Collegiate National Team. That reminded me that BYU in all likelihood will have a new pin passing six rotations, now that the ones they had the last couple of seasons have graduated. It seems like Livingston may be the most likely option for that. Also, another exciting thing for BYU is that Livingston actually has three more seasons of eligibility, since she redshirted in 2019, and the spring 2020 season didn't count for eligibility. Livingston is a player I like also. She has a disciplined approach and was more consistent than Nixon last year. Stowell, Calahan and E Bower will be right in the mix. From a hitting standpoint, Bower has a bigger presence if the timing is right and with her sister setting to her, she will be ahead in the learning dept. As I predicted the younger Bower setter will be on scholarship with Olmstead and Co. Silina is a better athlete than A Bower and I believe a better setter. She hasn't been trained as well by Club V as Bower has been by her mom. I am afraid that SD will learn that non vb matters will end up being more important in the BYU program. I had a number of opportunities to talk to coaches and watch these players last week and found out some interesting tidbits on some players, club coaches and college coach opinions. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jul 9, 2022 23:04:35 GMT -5
i don’t think it changes byus recruiting at all. Their major draw is their religious affiliation and that isn’t going to change. IMO. It definitely matters at the margins. And getting into Texas should help. BYU hasn't had many players from Texas in their history. Agree that moving to the BIG12 is a big positive for BYU. One issue that women's vb has at BYU is that in the recruiting dept they have relied on the religion link for far too long and just expect girls will come into their program without lots of effort on the coaches part. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jul 9, 2022 23:15:12 GMT -5
BYU has a new volunteer assistant coach. Edit: apparently, her uncle is The Rock. Yes, that one. Also, she was Pac-12 setter of the year for Arizona in 2016. This is a promising development for BYU. It is a sign that Heather may be giving a little control away to other coaches in the setting dept. I hear that she is a good talent evaluator. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jul 10, 2022 0:01:09 GMT -5
Waiting for marn's seal of approval on that... And that list of players BYU should recruit... Any day now... Ok beba, I think that there is always a temptation to recruit players off of highly ranked club teams. Many college coaches, even top ones, tend to allow clubs to screen the crop of players for them so that they can focus their time. Sometimes this process gets a little sloppy and depending on the club, the evaluation may not be all that good. Not only is correct evaluation of upside very limited, but club coaches sometimes have a hard time selecting the best players on their own club teams despite seeing the athletes 2-4 times a week. Reasons range from inability to evaluate to politics within the club or likes or dislikes of certain players by coaches. So, with that said, I don't think club V evaluated some of their players very well on the 17-1 team. Don't get me wrong, I would love to coach the athletes that V had on that top team. They were loaded in most positions but V didn't put their best team on the floor at nationals. Other than J Harvey, they didn't have any elite level pin hitters on the floor. It appears, for some reason, the coach favored short players on the pins. He over worked the team by a desire to attend/play in too many tourneys because they had never had this good of a team at V in their history. Bad mistake! The result was wearing down players and getting them hurt. Miller is a very serviceable L. Is she better or does she have higher upside than the other Club V L's on the top 2 teams in the Open div nationals? Probably not, but is she better than other BYU recruits over than last 6 years? I would say she is better than the average BYU recruit. She can probably work hard and have an impact. Simply put, Club V has a 16 L who is built totally different than most L's. She is a pure athlete and her build reflects it. If I had to select a L out of V, I would take the L off the 16 Open team and then my second pick would be one of the L's off the 17 V 2 team followed by Miller. But, the upside of the 16 girls is super high even though she appears to not have a fraction of the playing time at L as the other V L's. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jul 10, 2022 0:39:59 GMT -5
Alex Bower just committed to BYU. I think our setting will be on point with older Bower, Decker, Damuni and younger Bower in tow. Club V tied for third place in the USAV National Junior Olympics, with Coast- 4 BYU commits on that podium- Little, Lee, Miller, and Damuni. Amazing finish. The search for a 6 rotation pin at BYU will continue unless Erin can do the trick this fall. Stowell, Callahan, E Bower will all struggle to pass at even an average level. No direct comment here on Little, those of you who watched our national semi-final can judge for yourself. A Bower, I believe, hasn't gotten any better than she was last year. It appears to me that the knee issues in that family might be hampering her also. Just an observation after watching her play. I will be very curious to see what happens between A Bower and Damuni when the competition heats up. Damuni, if trained by C Bower would clearly be the better setter. V doesn't know what they are doing with setters on the top teams. If I were a good setter in Utah, I would move or play another position. V running a 6-2 with SD is just mind boggling bad coaching. That is pretty harsh, but I think it has been 20 years + that a team running a 6-2 has played for a national championship. If V didn't have a setter capable of running a 5-1 I would give them a pass. Not the case with this V team at all. The athletic ability of the 2 V MB's were under used by a large margin by the 6-2. Those MB's are big time but were throttled by the V coaching decisions. With all that being said they almost made the finals but couldn't be a team running a 5-1 who could run slides and didn't have a low quality Opp like V did. The Opp just killed V as did the slides. |
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