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Post by potato518 on Jun 10, 2023 17:07:44 GMT -5
Michelle is apart of the Ohio State Women’s staff
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Post by oldmanvb on Jun 10, 2023 21:42:19 GMT -5
Michelle is apart of the Ohio State Women’s staff She is there as a volunteer coach. I don’t know why she and her husband moved to Columbus, but I would hope we could find a way to find her a paycheck. She would help and she deserves it.
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Post by kevinmalone on Jun 11, 2023 8:38:09 GMT -5
She served as a volunteer assistant coach for UCI’s men’s team. IIRC, they won a national championship while she was there. She should be recruiting gold for Illinois. UCI Men have not won a NCAA Championship since 2013 so I don’t think that is possible
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Post by PostPrime on Jun 11, 2023 8:53:00 GMT -5
Does this 2023 team win more matches or lose more than last year?
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Post by Pasquale on Jun 11, 2023 9:32:53 GMT -5
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Post by northwoods on Jun 11, 2023 9:49:02 GMT -5
Any word on a 3rd assistant for the Illini? Have they even posted for the position? Are there plans to add a 3rd assistant? Michelle Bartsch, please come home! She would be a great hire if she has any Head coaching aspirations. The Illinois seat should start getting pretty warm unless there is some recruiting traction soon.
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Post by exit237a on Jun 11, 2023 13:11:55 GMT -5
Does this 2023 team win more matches or lose more than last year? Not mutually exclusive. They play 32 matches this year and go 16-16.
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Post by exit237a on Jun 11, 2023 15:00:51 GMT -5
Does this 2023 team win more matches or lose more than last year? Not mutually exclusive. They play 32 matches this year and go 16-16. Sorry for the unserious response, PostPrime. I know most folks love to make predictions ahead of the upcoming season but I'm not a huge fan of it. But here's what we do know so far about how the 2023 roster will be different from 2022's: 1. New starting setter. D Brown ran a 5-1 for the vast majority of the past four seasons. Brooke Mosher played almost all of last season as not a setter. Started out as DS, moved into OH when Jess Nunge was injured, then played opposite for basically the rest of the season. I don't know enough about setting mechanics and running an offense to compare Mosher and Brown based on the limited reps we've gotten to see, but Brooke is definitely more aggressive at attacking on second contact. She's willing to take legit left-handed rips. 2. Littles. I think we're all expecting that the first contact (serve receive and back row defense) is going to be better than last year. Freshman DS Lily Barry enrolled early and looked good this spring in that role. Graduate transfer DS, Vanessa Pan, is joining the team after serving as Columbia's libero. Caroline Barnes has her first season as libero under her belt and Raina Terry will be in her third season playing six rotations. Mosher's reps in the back row in 2022 should also help her floor defense going forward. 3. Bigs. MB: There are some big shoes that will need to be filled by some inexperienced players. Graduating senior MB Rylee Hinton quietly led the Big Ten in hitting last year, going .462. Rylee and Kyla Swanson have graduated and Maddie Whittington medically retired. Kennedy Collins will be returning this fall for her covid season and will anchor one MB position but that second MB role will need to be filled by someone inexperienced. R-sophomore Sarah Bingham only had one start at MB last year and she'll be competing with R-freshman Cari Bohm and incoming freshman Gabby Dean for that starting spot. It will be fun to monitor that competition in preseason as all three of them have shown good potential. Pins: Raina's obviously a lock to play six rotation OH for a third season. Our second starting OH in 2021 and 2022, Jess Nunge has graduated. In my opinion, Jess was overshadowed by Raina's dominance but was a steady, reliable OH in her own right who was also a strong server. She will be missed. That second OH slot is currently down to two players who haven't played a college match yet, R-freshman Sophie Stephenson and incoming freshman Taylor de Boer. No doubt they'll be pushing each other in the practice gym for that second spot. The final spring match featured de Boer in that second OH starting role and if I had to guess entirely on the two spring games I saw, she'd get the starting nod over Sophie. Kayla Burbage will be back for her second season in the Orange and Blue and she's likely to start again at opposite. Tamas never shies away from playing pins for six rotations but I'd think that this season he might benefit from using his two DS for better ball control. Burbage played six rotations at times last season and this spring but was never in the passing formation and isn't an experienced back row defender. They like to set her on a D ball but I don't know if that will be prioritized over the better floor D. 4. Wild card. Those of us unconnected don't know if Tamas is seeking another pin hitter from the portal. If they don't get another player, you're going into the season with three outside hitters. I guess what I'm driving at is that even though we're like two months away from the season, there are still so many unknowns about how this team is going to operate as a unit. Lotta new players in key roles. We know what KC and Raina can do (they can do a lot) and we're expecting some growth from Burbage and Barnes in their second season as starters in their position. I'm excited about this team's potential and can't wait for it all to start and to watch this team grow. Would love to hear other takes from the Illini faithful as we approach the season.
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Post by oldmanvb on Jun 11, 2023 15:46:50 GMT -5
Thanks Exit237a! Great summary of where the Illini are as a team. The only thing I might add is the hope Kennedy’s effectiveness will improve compared to last year when she played hurt all year. I don’t think she ran a slide the last half of the season. Slides were not a part of Rylee’s game. As a result our middles were one dimensional. Rylee’s hitting percentage was spectacular considering everything was in front of the setter. With Mosher’s aggressive setting of the middles I really hope our middle is at least as strong as last year if not stronger. Brown rarely set 31s, something Mosher appears to like.
I think Tamas has learned the limitations inherent in relying on 6 rotation players for passing and defense without having an alternative. Unfortunately by the time it became obvious it was too late to do anything about it last year. I agree with Pan and Barry he has taken big strides in addressing the problem.
This is the time of year when hopes are high. I don’t know if I think or hope we will be better, but I’m looking forward to being better.
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Post by ilalum92 on Jun 12, 2023 10:18:20 GMT -5
Great summaries above. I am just a little worried about our OH situation given our propensity for injuries the last few years. Going into a season with only 3 OH's is worrisome. Our best OH sub is now our starting setter and most likely not available.
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Post by liberovb10 on Jun 12, 2023 14:13:18 GMT -5
non- conf schedule just posted….and it looks WEAK
@ NIU - Aug 26 vs. Valparaiso - Aug 29 (Home Opener) Huff Tournament: Wichita State and Illinois State - Sept 1-3 (assuming Stuff Huff will be vs. Wichita State) @ UIC - Sept 5 @ Notre Dame Tournament - vs. ND and Oklahoma - Sept 7-8 @ Bradley - Sept 12 @ Purdue Tournament - vs. UCF and USC - Sept 14-15
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Post by Kingsley on Jun 12, 2023 14:29:23 GMT -5
It's like you could hit that entire non-conference slate on one tank of gas.
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Post by exit237a on Jun 12, 2023 14:47:45 GMT -5
non- conf schedule just posted….and it looks WEAK @ NIU - Aug 26 vs. Valparaiso - Aug 29 (Home Opener) Huff Tournament: Wichita State and Illinois State - Sept 1-3 (assuming Stuff Huff will be vs. Wichita State) @ UIC - Sept 5 @ Notre Dame Tournament - vs. ND and Oklahoma - Sept 7-8 @ Bradley - Sept 12 @ Purdue Tournament - vs. UCF and USC - Sept 14-15 Were you expecting or hoping for Tamas to schedule tougher this year? This mix of preseason competition is kinda what I was hoping we'd see. I just think they're largely a young, inexperienced team and this schedule might help build some confidence and allow them to jell ahead of the conference gauntlet. I like it better than facing high RPI veteran teams while working in so many new players and positions. Do you feel differently about it?
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Post by pointillinois on Jun 12, 2023 15:03:55 GMT -5
Agreed, no reason to pack the non-conference schedule with high RPI. Just can't lose to the lower seeds like last year.
Glad to see home non-conference again, although I'll be missing the 9/2 match for all-day tailgating for Toledo football game.
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Post by liberovb10 on Jun 12, 2023 15:21:16 GMT -5
non- conf schedule just posted….and it looks WEAK @ NIU - Aug 26 vs. Valparaiso - Aug 29 (Home Opener) Huff Tournament: Wichita State and Illinois State - Sept 1-3 (assuming Stuff Huff will be vs. Wichita State) @ UIC - Sept 5 @ Notre Dame Tournament - vs. ND and Oklahoma - Sept 7-8 @ Bradley - Sept 12 @ Purdue Tournament - vs. UCF and USC - Sept 14-15 Were you expecting or hoping for Tamas to schedule tougher this year? This mix of preseason competition is kinda what I was hoping we'd see. I just think they're largely a young, inexperienced team and this schedule might help build some confidence and allow them to jell ahead of the conference gauntlet. I like it better than facing high RPI veteran teams while working in so many new players and positions. Do you feel differently about it? I do a bit. i know there’s an importance to build confidence with this team - but they also have a heavy veteran lineup in key positions- Kennedy, Raina, Brooke, Burbage, Barnes all coming back…so idk if the “young” team argument plays as much. I was hoping to see a few major schools on here to help our RPI since the Big Ten is going to be a gauntlet once again. I think we can build more confidence by beating a tougher opponent vs. a Valpo/Bradley/UIC team (no disrespect). Plus what does it do to our team’s psyche when we lose/go to 5 against Illinois State again? I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but i was just hoping to schedule a little tougher this Fall given who is back on our roster.
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