Kansas 2022

[buttery]

Aug 29, 2022 17:49:27 GMT -5 slxpress said:

Aug 29, 2022 17:32:37 GMT -5 buttery said:

Hi! I’m a long-time lurker on VolleyTalk, but never ever made an account until now. I’ve been a Jayhawk fan my whole life since I grew up in the area, but really started following KU Volleyball after their appearance in 2015. Before that I had never watched volleyball at all. Last year was really exciting to see them in the Sweet Sixteen.

I live in Boston now, but had the opportunity to see the scrimmage against Drake when I was visiting home. So I’ll write some of my thoughts and just some thoughts as they start their season:

In set one, the Jayhawks got themselves in quite a big hole early (something like 8 points maybe?), but was nice to see them rally back. Set 3 went to extras, and Kansas ran out of subs so Szabo went to the back row and actually came-up with a nice pancake to take the Jayhawks to match point. I was impressed by Drake’s floor defense, which doesn’t surprise me that much because Hallie Hillegas is a assistant coach there. It sucks that Crawford transferred, she plays with such a competitive edge,p but Dooley fits in well with this team and is probably about as physical at the net - she utilized open hand throw attacks a lot it seems and they run her quicker out of the middle compared to Langs. Can confirm Van Driel seems to be injured, so little depth at MB (Whetstone played sets 2 and 3, and this is a compliment to Dooley and Langs, but there is a heavy drop-off). Elnady started set one, but it seems when they use Schultz to DS they hide her in serve receive. In set two, the Jayhawks got out to a pretty quick start and went to a 6-2 with Dalton and Davis. They also subbed Elnady for Schmidt too, which I brings me to my next big observation: Schmidt looked REALLY good in serve receive. I think she probably got served 10 times in the night and there was only one bad pass (though it was a pretty mean float serve that died in front of her), but she got it up and Dalton made a nice one arm stab to the pin that led to a Bien took off the block. The rest of Schmidt’s passes I’d say Turner didn’t have to move. It’ll be interesting to see how Bechard decides on the other outside hitter spot throughout the season - I feel like over the years he just rides whoever is hot with positions that aren’t necessarily solidified (MB battle in 2017 comes to mind). I think that Schmidt is the most terminal, hits the best out of the back row, (and obviously the most physical) between her, Bien, and Elnady; so if she can pass it’d be big for KU. I think she’s the most fluid in system as well. Surprised not to see her more often this last weekend. It’s also critical if they want to run a 6-2, which I imagine they may at some point. I think Dalton is a strong player from what I saw - Turner is a great setter, but her rise has seemed to throw a wrench on a lot of setter recruiting success (I really liked McGhie actually, and I Dalton is probably too talented to just be the secondary setter for 3 years of her career). It’s nice that they have seasoned opposites in Szabo and Davis that provide different looks (one lefty and one righty) as well. Really nice to see Szabo has been much more terminal than last year in the first 3 games.

As bluepenguin rightfully mentions a lot, Bien is the most solid passer usually for KU, but in my opinion teams are trying to serve her when she’s a live hitter and have moderate success at it. So fun to watch her - I think her OOS hitting is generally terrific.

Also surprised to be seeing this much of McCarthy - I guess I naively thought she was probably going to be play a limited role at KU because of her family ties to KU, but she was the first serving sub for KU in set one against Drake and made a couple of good digs. I find the back row serving sub strategy for KU interesting - seems since after 2017 with Miller at primary DS for Burse, and Barry as the primary serving specialist, it seems they rotate DSs and serving specialists often. I’m starting to think it’s intentional to provide different looks to opponents, maybe keeping their better serving DS in the cards later into a match (it seems last year Angelo would DS first and then usually they finished matches with Schultz). McCarthy and Kirsch definitely seem to be pretty good though. When looking at KUs “littles”, I’m still underwhelmed by Farris’s serve receive, but I think she provides a lot of seasoned leadership for this team in terms of communication. It’ll be interesting to see how Kirsch especially develops - I could see her being KU Libero sometime in the future (not sure when, maybe as soon as this year).

Final thoughts - definitely excited to see how this team progresses and don’t think there will be any drop-off from Crawford as long as Langs and Dooley stay healthy. The Rigdon/Havilli/Payne era was a little bit of an anomaly, but the KU identity has always been really scrappy floor defense and fantastic blocking, so the players they have fit that mold well. It’s too bad they won’t be tested that much in the non-con season, though if I had to be worried about a game, I’d actually be concerned about Kansas City on the road - seems they always play pretty strong against KU.

I enjoyed this. Lots of detail, and a lot of personal observations. 

As someone who writes a lot of ridiculously long posts, I will tell you that paragraphs are your friend. You have some, which is absolutely helpful, but when it's this long, more help to make it more readable. I'm not saying I'm always great about it, either, but I know from a reading perspective huge paragraphs of text make it more difficult. It didn't stop me from reading the post, and I'll look forward to your next one as well, so please don't take this as a personal attack. It's not a blaring car horn from behind you at the stop light. It's someone giving it a little tap to let you know the light turned green.

Do you have any thoughts on what you'd like to see how out of this team at this early juncture? Conference finish? Tournament seeding? Tournament finish? I know it's all a guess, and if you don't have one, that would be perfectly fine.

You feel like this year's team's strengths are floor defense and blocking as well? What are you expecting in terms of service pressure from the line? You mention switching the DSes. Is there a backrow grouping that is your favorite?

I hope you end up loving participating on this site. bluepenquin is a rock star. It'd be nice to see another knowledgeable KU fan.

Thanks for the advice - being from Boston I don't mind blaring car horns at all, and admittedly I word vomitted a little bit!

I do feel like the team's strengths are floor defense and strong blocking. While Turner/Bien will carry a lot of the load, I think it's important to remember that the only pieces that played meaningful minutes in the 2019 season were Langs (great blocker) and Farris (floor defense). Dooley's experience at Florida hopefully helps. I'm thinking it'll be tough on opponents outside hitters to get the ball down vs. Szabo & Langs/Dooley specifically.

I think Kansas is usually a decent serving team and I think this year will be no different. Elnady has a cannon of a jump serve and Schmidt has a somewhat nasty hybrid serve that may prove helpful. Suter was actually a pretty good serving specialist last year that may be missed though in a pinch.


In terms of backrow grouping, I like Schultz for now as DS for the opposite. Obviously, when we're talking pure defensive line-up, KU's better in the backrow with Bien. For context, KU has Langs play MH1 and at least from what I've seen, I think Bien is playing OH1 now (was OH2 last year), so she's usually next to Turner and Farris. Ideally, you've got Bien/Farris/Schultz back there for serve receive.

To answer your final question, I think it's reasonable for this team to have a goal of hosting this year, though I feel like it's more likely that they may just miss out depending on Big 12 play. I think going undefeated in non-con is actually a reasonable ask now with Utah and LMU out of the way. UCF is going to be tough - but hoping they can pull out the win. Looking into the Big 12, you'd hope KU can hold serve at home with the exception of Texas (it seems it's a tossup every year, but if they win it'll be huge), so yes that means beating Baylor at home; then lose to Texas, Baylor, Iowa State, Texas Tech on the road. If you pick-up any of those wins on the road, that'd be a bonus. Not that TCU, Oklahoma, West Virginia are slouches, but I think about where they are now and I think KU should have the expectation of sweeping them this season.

I think I could see this team getting to a regional final with some luck, but I can't see them beating a regional host in the Sweet 16. I think if they host they'll be a 13-14-15-16 seed, so I actually think for their tourney future it'd be better to pull an upset again in a sub-regional and then play a lower seed in the midfield in the third round.

Just my thoughts, of course!

[bluepenquin]

Aug 29, 2022 19:38:47 GMT -5 buttery said:

Aug 29, 2022 17:49:27 GMT -5 slxpress said:

I enjoyed this. Lots of detail, and a lot of personal observations. 

As someone who writes a lot of ridiculously long posts, I will tell you that paragraphs are your friend. You have some, which is absolutely helpful, but when it's this long, more help to make it more readable. I'm not saying I'm always great about it, either, but I know from a reading perspective huge paragraphs of text make it more difficult. It didn't stop me from reading the post, and I'll look forward to your next one as well, so please don't take this as a personal attack. It's not a blaring car horn from behind you at the stop light. It's someone giving it a little tap to let you know the light turned green.

Do you have any thoughts on what you'd like to see how out of this team at this early juncture? Conference finish? Tournament seeding? Tournament finish? I know it's all a guess, and if you don't have one, that would be perfectly fine.

You feel like this year's team's strengths are floor defense and blocking as well? What are you expecting in terms of service pressure from the line? You mention switching the DSes. Is there a backrow grouping that is your favorite?

I hope you end up loving participating on this site. bluepenquin is a rock star. It'd be nice to see another knowledgeable KU fan.

Thanks for the advice - being from Boston I don't mind blaring car horns at all, and admittedly I word vomitted a little bit!

I do feel like the team's strengths are floor defense and strong blocking. While Turner/Bien will carry a lot of the load, I think it's important to remember that the only pieces that played meaningful minutes in the 2019 season were Langs (great blocker) and Farris (floor defense). Dooley's experience at Florida hopefully helps. I'm thinking it'll be tough on opponents outside hitters to get the ball down vs. Szabo & Langs/Dooley specifically.

I think Kansas is usually a decent serving team and I think this year will be no different. Elnady has a cannon of a jump serve and Schmidt has a somewhat nasty hybrid serve that may prove helpful. Suter was actually a pretty good serving specialist last year that may be missed though in a pinch.


In terms of backrow grouping, I like Schultz for now as DS for the opposite. Obviously, when we're talking pure defensive line-up, KU's better in the backrow with Bien. For context, KU has Langs play MH1 and at least from what I've seen, I think Bien is playing OH1 now (was OH2 last year), so she's usually next to Turner and Farris. Ideally, you've got Bien/Farris/Schultz back there for serve receive.

To answer your final question, I think it's reasonable for this team to have a goal of hosting this year, though I feel like it's more likely that they may just miss out depending on Big 12 play. I think going undefeated in non-con is actually a reasonable ask now with Utah and LMU out of the way. UCF is going to be tough - but hoping they can pull out the win. Looking into the Big 12, you'd hope KU can hold serve at home with the exception of Texas (it seems it's a tossup every year, but if they win it'll be huge), so yes that means beating Baylor at home; then lose to Texas, Baylor, Iowa State, Texas Tech on the road. If you pick-up any of those wins on the road, that'd be a bonus. Not that TCU, Oklahoma, West Virginia are slouches, but I think about where they are now and I think KU should have the expectation of sweeping them this season.

I think I could see this team getting to a regional final with some luck, but I can't see them beating a regional host in the Sweet 16. I think if they host they'll be a 13-14-15-16 seed, so I actually think for their tourney future it'd be better to pull an upset again in a sub-regional and then play a lower seed in the midfield in the third round.

Just my thoughts, of course!

Great to see another KU volleyball fan posting.

[bluepenquin]

KU got a late 2023 commit yesterday in MB Aisha Aiono. This gives them 3 commits for '23. Ellie Schneider, a 6-5 MB out of Louisiana and DS/L Raegan Burns. This is still fewer commits than what they already have for 2024. And then 2025 is when they will lose almost half their current roster to graduation.

This gets us to the concerning part for next season (MB). Langs and Dooley are gone. Van Driel will have the 5th year Covid eligibility, but I have no word on whether she will be back. Kim Whetstone and Kaiti Parks along with the two incoming Freshman and possibly/hopefully Van Driel is what they will have. The college experience at the position will be extremely light.

Kim Whetstone was such an excellent club player. Wait, Whetstone, and Bien were the stars of one of the best club teams in the country (they added Crawford in her senior season). Whetstone is a bit undersized, but very athletic and quick to the ball. She was also highly recruited. Van Driel was also a high recruit.

[bluepenquin]

KU beat Temple in their 1st match of the weekend (-15, -19, -17). The match later today will be on ESPN+, which will make it better to follow what happened. Based on the statcast for the Temple game:

Elnady played the 1st and 3rd sets, Schmidt the 2nd. Elnady with a strong match 7 kills, 1 ER .333. Schmidt was 3 Kills, 2 ER, .167.
Bien had 15 digs, but hit zero on just 4 kills on 15 attempts. The good news - KU is been able to win w/o getting much out of Bien on offense.

Szabo with another very good match - 7 kills on 11 attempts - .545. Szabo didn't play the 3rd set. Szabo's 1st set was very strong with 5 kills on 6 attempts.
London Davis played the 3rd set for Szabo and was similar to Szabo's 1st set - 5 Kills - .714 (no errors). The way Szabo is playing, it is hard to get Davis on the floor.

Middles another strong match: Dooley 5 kills on 6 attempts (.833), Langs 4 kills on 9 attempts (.333), and Whetstone with 2 kills on 2 attempts. The middles combined for .588 as they continue to preform well.

Impossible to know how the serve receive did from just statcast, but there is *some* evidence that there were issues.

[slxpress]

Sept 2, 2022 14:08:29 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

KU beat Temple in their 1st match of the weekend (-15, -19, -17). The match later today will be on ESPN+, which will make it better to follow what happened. Based on the statcast for the Temple game:

Elnady played the 1st and 3rd sets, Schmidt the 2nd. Elnady with a strong match 7 kills, 1 ER .333. Schmidt was 3 Kills, 2 ER, .167.
Bien had 15 digs, but hit zero on just 4 kills on 15 attempts. The good news - KU is been able to win w/o getting much out of Bien on offense.

Szabo with another very good match - 7 kills on 11 attempts - .545. Szabo didn't play the 3rd set. Szabo's 1st set was very strong with 5 kills on 6 attempts.
London Davis played the 3rd set for Szabo and was similar to Szabo's 1st set - 5 Kills - .714 (no errors). The way Szabo is playing, it is hard to get Davis on the floor.

Middles another strong match: Dooley 5 kills on 6 attempts (.833), Langs 4 kills on 9 attempts (.333), and Whetstone with 2 kills on 2 attempts. The middles combined for .588 as they continue to preform well.

Impossible to know how the serve receive did from just statcast, but there is *some* evidence that there were issues.

Szabo has been a monster so far. Has she surprised you?

[bluepenquin]

Sept 2, 2022 14:37:32 GMT -5 slxpress said:

Sept 2, 2022 14:08:29 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

KU beat Temple in their 1st match of the weekend (-15, -19, -17). The match later today will be on ESPN+, which will make it better to follow what happened. Based on the statcast for the Temple game:

Elnady played the 1st and 3rd sets, Schmidt the 2nd. Elnady with a strong match 7 kills, 1 ER .333. Schmidt was 3 Kills, 2 ER, .167.
Bien had 15 digs, but hit zero on just 4 kills on 15 attempts. The good news - KU is been able to win w/o getting much out of Bien on offense.

Szabo with another very good match - 7 kills on 11 attempts - .545. Szabo didn't play the 3rd set. Szabo's 1st set was very strong with 5 kills on 6 attempts.
London Davis played the 3rd set for Szabo and was similar to Szabo's 1st set - 5 Kills - .714 (no errors). The way Szabo is playing, it is hard to get Davis on the floor.

Middles another strong match: Dooley 5 kills on 6 attempts (.833), Langs 4 kills on 9 attempts (.333), and Whetstone with 2 kills on 2 attempts. The middles combined for .588 as they continue to preform well.

Impossible to know how the serve receive did from just statcast, but there is *some* evidence that there were issues.

Szabo has been a monster so far. Has she surprised you?

Yes - I was 100% behind going with London Davis for the next 3 years (and I still think she is going to be very good, it will just be for 2 years).  

It has to be a combination of better setting and better approach by Szabo.  She seems to still be doing a lot of finesse attacks over the block, hitting spots rather than ripping it with the ball in front of her - but she is doing more of the latter (than ever before) which seems to be making the former more effective?

[bluepenquin]

Kansas beats Army (-21 , -23, -20). Not a good game for KU.

Elnady was the star with 16 kills (no errors) - .471

Szabo really struggled the start of the 3rd set and Davis came in with 3 kills on 4 attempts.

The serve receive just wasn't any good - could not get the middles involved.

McGehe took over for Schultz in the 1st set and had 9 digs - she looked good. Kirsch is playing the back row for Elnady. McCarthy pretty much is always the server for the the middle. Schultz and now McGehe comes in for the RS.

Elnady for the weekend: 4.6 k/s .423.

[buttery]

Sept 2, 2022 18:41:51 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Kansas beats Army (-21 , -23, -20). Not a good game for KU.

Elnady was the star with 16 kills (no errors) - .471

Szabo really struggled the start of the 3rd set and Davis came in with 3 kills on 4 attempts.

The serve receive just wasn't any good - could not get the middles involved.

McGehe took over for Schultz in the 1st set and had 9 digs - she looked good. Kirsch is playing the back row for Elnady. McCarthy pretty much is always the server for the the middle. Schultz and now McGehe comes in for the RS.

Elnady for the weekend: 4.6 k/s .423.

Yeah the announcer from Army along with the generally poor passing made this game hard to watch - definitely an ugly win. I have less confidence in this group’s serve receive after this.

Agreed, McGeHe played well I thought. She has 4 more years of eligibility left which is nice. I noticed a couple times that when McCarthy served, they had Bien playing left back again.

Wish that the UConn game was also on ESPN+.

[bluepenquin]

Sept 2, 2022 22:09:47 GMT -5 buttery said:

Sept 2, 2022 18:41:51 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Kansas beats Army (-21 , -23, -20). Not a good game for KU.

Elnady was the star with 16 kills (no errors) - .471

Szabo really struggled the start of the 3rd set and Davis came in with 3 kills on 4 attempts.

The serve receive just wasn't any good - could not get the middles involved.

McGehe took over for Schultz in the 1st set and had 9 digs - she looked good. Kirsch is playing the back row for Elnady. McCarthy pretty much is always the server for the the middle. Schultz and now McGehe comes in for the RS.

Elnady for the weekend: 4.6 k/s .423.

Yeah the announcer from Army along with the generally poor passing made this game hard to watch - definitely an ugly win. I have less confidence in this group’s serve receive after this.

Agreed, McGeHe played well I thought. She has 4 more years of eligibility left which is nice. I noticed a couple times that when McCarthy served, they had Bien playing left back again.

Wish that the UConn game was also on ESPN+.

I absolutely missed seeing Bien on the left back (I cannot easily tell Bien and Kirsch apart on the back row at times).  I saw just one back row attack from Bien in the match and it was in system, but ball went into the net.  

I still think Kirsch is going to be the best of the bunch in the back row.  Farris had a solid match on defense, I thought the team did pretty good on getting some digs.

[bluepenquin]

Something to keep an eye on - Bien took 59.2% of the serves against Army. She took 41.5% against Utah. Sitting at 36.6% for the year. Teams are clearly going after her on the serve. For the most part, she has been fine receiving, but it may be impacting the rest of her game.

[buttery]

Sept 3, 2022 9:35:30 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Something to keep an eye on - Bien took 59.2% of the serves against Army. She took 41.5% against Utah. Sitting at 36.6% for the year. Teams are clearly going after her on the serve. For the most part, she has been fine receiving, but it may be impacting the rest of her game.

Thanks for this - good observation. Do you think KU wants her to receive that many serves? Probably maximizes their chances of being in system.

It’s hard not to compare every KU team to the 2015/2016/2017 teams. I forgot how much of a luxury it was to have two players (Rigdon and Payne) who can be so so terminal OOS. Bien’s doing so much right now, taking the majority of receptions, taking almost all of OOS swings when she is on the front-row (because while Szabo appears to have gotten better in system, she’s pretty much ineffective OOS and Elnady isn’t playing back-row mostly now to be an outlet for a back-row attack as Mosser was last year), and having to take up so much court defensively. I guess it’s been good to see that they are still doing so well with her hitting pretty poorly.

[bluepenquin]

Sept 3, 2022 11:10:30 GMT -5 buttery said:

Sept 3, 2022 9:35:30 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Something to keep an eye on - Bien took 59.2% of the serves against Army. She took 41.5% against Utah. Sitting at 36.6% for the year. Teams are clearly going after her on the serve. For the most part, she has been fine receiving, but it may be impacting the rest of her game.

Thanks for this - good observation. Do you think KU wants her to receive that many serves? Probably maximizes their chances of being in system.

It’s hard not to compare every KU team to the 2015/2016/2017 teams. I forgot how much of a luxury it was to have two players (Rigdon and Payne) who can be so so terminal OOS. Bien’s doing so much right now, taking the majority of receptions, taking almost all of OOS swings when she is on the front-row (because while Szabo appears to have gotten better in system, she’s pretty much ineffective OOS and Elnady isn’t playing back-row mostly now to be an outlet for a back-row attack as Mosser was last year), and having to take up so much court defensively. I guess it’s been good to see that they are still doing so well with her hitting pretty poorly.

I am guessing the serve receive was very good yesterday given the scores, KU hitting .418 and a sideout % of 80%.  Those are very good signs.

Bien received 61.1% of the serves, the highest % for the year and is now sitting at 40% of the serve receives for the year.  It appears that Elnady played all 6 positions and is now hitting .391 with 3 k/s.  I don't know if this switch has anything to do with Bien receiving such a high % and KU then wanting a backrow attack option (no way of knowing w/o actually watching the match).

I believe, if teams want to target Bien on the serve - KU's serve return should be very good and the team will be better.  Bien can/should be very good to elite on serve receive - and any reduction in hitting caused by this is more than offset by being in system.  Szabo is hitting .485 on the year while leading the team in k/s.  Both middles (and particularly Dooley) are hitting at a high %.  And now it appears that Elnady is putting up big numbers.  

[buttery]

Sept 3, 2022 11:10:30 GMT -5 buttery said:

Sept 3, 2022 9:35:30 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Something to keep an eye on - Bien took 59.2% of the serves against Army. She took 41.5% against Utah. Sitting at 36.6% for the year. Teams are clearly going after her on the serve. For the most part, she has been fine receiving, but it may be impacting the rest of her game.

Thanks for this - good observation. Do you think KU wants her to receive that many serves? Probably maximizes their chances of being in system.

It’s hard not to compare every KU team to the 2015/2016/2017 teams. I forgot how much of a luxury it was to have two players (Rigdon and Payne) who can be so so terminal OOS. Bien’s doing so much right now, taking the majority of receptions, taking almost all of OOS swings when she is on the front-row (because while Szabo appears to have gotten better in system, she’s pretty much ineffective OOS and Elnady isn’t playing back-row mostly now to be an outlet for a back-row attack as Mosser was last year), and having to take up so much court defensively. I guess it’s been good to see that they are still doing so well with her hitting pretty poorly.

61% lol. I’m wondering what is going through team’s minds as they come up with that strategy? I’ll be in town for the Wichita State game, will be a nice to get a look at them in a competitive game.

Also, I’m wondering if Van Driel is redshirting? It haven’t seen a brace or anything. That would mean she would have 2 more years of eligibility after this season and would solve some of the MB depth issues KU might have in the future (though there’s the transfer portal).

[bluepenquin]

Kansas beat Kansas City in 4. Losing a set to UMKC is unacceptable. That said - they did win 58% of the total points while emptying the bench at the end of the 4th and 5th sets. The set they lost, they had a 24-19 lead.

The good: Thank goodness for Langs and her slide. It was huge in the 2nd set (and really for the entire match).

Thank goodness for L. Davis - to provide offense on the off nights from Szabo.

The floor defense looked good - Farris played a very good match.

The bad: Terrible job from the pins with terminating. They cannot win in the long run if they cannot get kills in system from their pins.

[buttery]

Sept 7, 2022 21:12:39 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Thank goodness for Langs and her slide. It was huge in the 2nd set (and really for the entire match).

Great to see from Langs. Going into this season I wondered if she could make the jump to a HM All-American/All-Big 12 middle. Looks like she had 4 solo blocks and 5 block assists - would be great if she could have routinely strong performances like that going forward.