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Post by oldmanvb on Jul 6, 2021 15:25:45 GMT -5
Every year I ask a CU person to monitor practices and report back. I’ve been disappointed so far. Maybe this is the year.
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Post by alt on Jul 8, 2021 1:10:50 GMT -5
I really hope Brooke Mosher is able to step in and start at setter. It would be hard to keep her off the floor. Her sets are fast and she takes risks and is athletic. She's overall an aggressive player and she can hit lefty when setting. She honestly could get Illinois to another level
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Post by jma22 on Jul 8, 2021 9:06:40 GMT -5
So, how do we think the team will do this season? Seems like last season we were able to hang with a lot of the top teams but just couldn’t quite finish those close sets. With Cooney returning I would think we should be at least a little better. And I’m not sure what Holzman’s injury status is but I would love to see her give us a boost.
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Post by alt on Jul 8, 2021 12:26:25 GMT -5
So, how do we think the team will do this season? Seems like last season we were able to hang with a lot of the top teams but just couldn’t quite finish those close sets. With Cooney returning I would think we should be at least a little better. And I’m not sure what Holzman’s injury status is but I would love to see her give us a boost. I think if we use Mosher as a setter or even at 6-2 we can be successful. Watching Mosher's club games I can tell she is very talented and I would argue just as talented as Poulter coming in as a Freshman. Mosher can attack well will also setting a fast pace offense. I think Kuper should only improve. The dark horses are Maddie and Ellie. Not sure where they fit or if they are even healthy. I think Terry will hopefully go off and be more confident. |
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Post by Friday on Jul 8, 2021 14:23:39 GMT -5
So, how do we think the team will do this season? Seems like last season we were able to hang with a lot of the top teams but just couldn’t quite finish those close sets. With Cooney returning I would think we should be at least a little better. And I’m not sure what Holzman’s injury status is but I would love to see her give us a boost. I think if we use Mosher as a setter or even at 6-2 we can be successful. Watching Mosher's club games I can tell she is very talented and I would argue just as talented as Poulter coming in as a Freshman. Mosher can attack well will also setting a fast pace offense. I think Kuper should only improve. The dark horses are Maddie and Ellie. Not sure where they fit or if they are even healthy. I think Terry will hopefully go off and be more confident. Mosher isn't beating out Brown this year. I hope we don't go with a 6-2 this season either. Mosher needs to come in and learn the system and get comfortable with speed of college game. Is Brooke even on campus yet? |
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Post by alt on Jul 8, 2021 15:10:06 GMT -5
I think if we use Mosher as a setter or even at 6-2 we can be successful. Watching Mosher's club games I can tell she is very talented and I would argue just as talented as Poulter coming in as a Freshman. Mosher can attack well will also setting a fast pace offense. I think Kuper should only improve. The dark horses are Maddie and Ellie. Not sure where they fit or if they are even healthy. I think Terry will hopefully go off and be more confident. Mosher isn't beating out Brown this year. I hope we don't go with a 6-2 this season either. Mosher needs to come in and learn the system and get comfortable with speed of college game. Is Brooke even on campus yet? Why do you think Mosher wouldnt be able to beat Brown? 6-2 alows Mosher to hit also which she is terminal at |
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Post by exit237a on Jul 8, 2021 15:35:00 GMT -5
So, how do we think the team will do this season? Seems like last season we were able to hang with a lot of the top teams but just couldn’t quite finish those close sets. With Cooney returning I would think we should be at least a little better. And I’m not sure what Holzman’s injury status is but I would love to see her give us a boost. Referring to the Big Ten Fall 2021 thread, there were only two "major impact" seniors from the top half of teams in the Big Ten that didn't exercise the option to return to their teams for a fifth year (Molly Haggerty and Regan Pittman). A clumsy way of saying that so many of the impact seniors from the teams that finished ahead of Illinois are returning to their teams. The top Big Ten teams are still going to be stacked this year and no doubt they'll be bringing in strong '21 classes- *see Nebraska. As for the Illini, I think we'll improve over where we were in the spring. The lineup that beat #8 Purdue is all returning and we've got a lot of new options available with the '21 recruiting class, Nunge transferring in, and Whittington and Gregus hopefully healthy. Bruna, Raina, and Cooney will hopefully have made some strides in their backrow play and if any of Barnes, Sakoda, and Gregus can contribute at DS that should be another area of improvement. Kuper and Brown have shown themselves to be more than capable at libero and setter and seemed to get better as the season went on. They've got some new talent coming in which might serve as further motivation to compete and hang onto their starting spots. Hopefully we can bring them the Huff Hall home court advantage boost, too. I bet the sophomores and redshirt frosh are especially psyched to get to finally play in front of fans. |
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Post by oldmanvb on Jul 8, 2021 22:04:54 GMT -5
Coming in as a freshman setter is tough. In Poulter's freshman year Viliunas was a 2 year starter going into her senior year. Poulter started the first few matches. Viliunas took over as starter during the pre-season and, if I recall correctly, the two traded starts until the Northwestern game. In the middle of the Northwestern match the Illini struggled and Poulter was subbed in for Viliunas in the middle of a set. Very unusual to sub a setter right in the middle of a set. Poulter rallied the team after that set and Illinois pulled out a 5 set victory, a bigger deal than one might think as Illinois had gone 3 or 4 years without winning in Evanston. Poulter took over after Northwestern and Viliunas saw only spot duty for the rest of the year. My point is even Jordyn Poulter did not take over immediately as a freshman setter. (It was rumored that part of the problem was the belief one of the senior starters was not happy that Viliunas was sitting on the bench at the beginning of the year.)
What a pleasant surprise it would be if Mosher is good enough to beat out a 2 year starter who, as someone pointed out, got better as the year wore on. I also doubt we will see another 6-2 experiment after last year when it was obvious that the 6-2 simply did not work very well.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2021 23:28:27 GMT -5
So, how do we think the team will do this season? Seems like last season we were able to hang with a lot of the top teams but just couldn’t quite finish those close sets. With Cooney returning I would think we should be at least a little better. And I’m not sure what Holzman’s injury status is but I would love to see her give us a boost. Referring to the Big Ten Fall 2021 thread, there were only two "major impact" seniors from the top half of teams in the Big Ten that didn't exercise the option to return to their teams for a fifth year (Molly Haggerty and Regan Pittman). A clumsy way of saying that so many of the impact seniors from the teams that finished ahead of Illinois are returning to their teams. The top Big Ten teams are still going to be stacked this year and no doubt they'll be bringing in strong '21 classes- *see Nebraska. As for the Illini, I think we'll improve over where we were in the spring. The lineup that beat #8 Purdue is all returning and we've got a lot of new options available with the '21 recruiting class, Nunge transferring in, and Whittington and Gregus hopefully healthy. Bruna, Raina, and Cooney will hopefully have made some strides in their backrow play and if any of Barnes, Sakoda, and Gregus can contribute at DS that should be another area of improvement. Kuper and Brown have shown themselves to be more than capable at libero and setter and seemed to get better as the season went on. They've got some new talent coming in which might serve as further motivation to compete and hang onto their starting spots. Hopefully we can bring them the Huff Hall home court advantage boost, too. I bet the sophomores and redshirt frosh are especially psyched to get to finally play in front of fans. I feel like Kuper especially seemed to be figuring out and improving at her new role (ds -> libero) last year as the season went on and that was in a short season. I really hope to see her game grow even more with a full season this year. Pesky defense can win some games in the Big 10 for sure. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2021 0:46:12 GMT -5
I think Mosher will be able to adapt to the speed of B1G vb pretty well. When she does, Tamas will have to go with the best offense. If we have a middle that can transition and and run behind the setter we should stick with the 5-1. It's going to come down to having that dynamic middle and which one of them can connect with the best attackers. I feel our ball control will be fine with Kuper and what's left of the passing corps and the way they have improved since Tamas arrived.
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Post by eazy on Jul 9, 2021 11:12:18 GMT -5
Hopefully, Fighting Illini fall season picks up where spring season ended. I'm betting 5-1. Will Florida State OH transfer be a starter? Status of injured players? Which freshman will contribute in the pre-conference. If this is the fall pre-conference schedule, less than 7-3 adds pressure to finish in BIG upper half with overall record >=.500 (NCAA candidate minimum). Illini conference schedule includes: Purdue X2, Wisconsin X2, Nebraska X2, PSU, Ohio State (at Huff), Minnesota (at Huff). Milwaukee W USCB??? W? Washington L Colorado W Omaha W SMU W Creighton L Missouri W Illinois State W North Texas W You just invited lots of bad vibes by calling all those wins before even seeing a first scrimmage.. Bad look. |
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Post by eazy on Jul 9, 2021 12:00:03 GMT -5
You just invited lots of bad vibes by calling all those wins before even seeing a first scrimmage.. Bad look. Nah. Illini are experienced in every position. I reviewed opponent rosters, returning starters (where updated). That is hilarious. I'd bet that at least one outcome will surprise you. That's why they play the games. |
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vballfreak808
Hawaiian Ohana 
2020 All-VolleyTalk 1st Team, All-VolleyTalk 2nd Team (2023, 2022, 2017, 2016), All-VolleyTalk HM (2021, 2019, 2018), 2017 Fantasy League 1st Runner-up, 2016 Fantasy League Champion
#GoBows
Posts: 13,759
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Post by vballfreak808 on Jul 10, 2021 15:14:11 GMT -5
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Post by exit237a on Jul 10, 2021 15:28:43 GMT -5
Sweet! Probably a recruit, right? |
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Jul 10, 2021 15:51:36 GMT -5
As the Pointer Sisters sing "I'm so excited!"
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