Late Summer update: I've put together an update on each team's late portal and roster moves, taken a look at their non-con and conference schedules, and also their coaching staff moves with 4th coaches (if announced). I have not repeated everything that was in the original post, and because that post is already ungainly long, I just decided to do updates here. It might be helpful for the truly curious to
review the OP in this thread for the full effect of the overall update.
AlabamaRoster moves: Maddie McCormick is no longer on the roster. Slusser transferred out west, leaving no setting experience on the roster at all. The Tide did add two additional freshman recruits since the original update: 5’8” S Gabi Leblanc, DL Lily Tompkins. Slusser's departure means that one of two freshmen, Kieffer or LeBlanc (or both), will have to step in immediately.
Schedule: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Coach Reed's squad will play a Charmin-soft non-conference schedule that features no P5 opponents. The SEC slate is not especially forgiving with home-and-home pairings with MS State, Ark, LSU, TAMU, Florida, and Auburn, though it could have been worse.
4th coach – As of July 27, none listed yet.
Arkansas Roster moves: During the Spring, the Hogs added MB Laura Ehieze from GA State as additional transfer MB (to go with Petties), giving them a little more (needed) depth there.
Schedule: Apparently Arkansas had a brief bit of disorientation and thought it was in the B1G for a minute, as four of their first 6 matches feature opponents from that conference: Wisconsin (x2), Michigan, and Michigan State. The non-con also features Western KY (road) and Colorado State (home). For what I think is approximately the 20th consecutive year, the Hogs have home-and-homes with
both Florida and Kentucky, along with Auburn, Bama, Ole Miss, and SC.
4th coach – The Hogs elevated Jordan Neal from the Volunteer Assistant role.
Auburn Roster Moves: Auburn has added 6’3’ MB Jasmine Okeoma to its freshman class, giving them 5 MBs on roster. Much more than the TWO they had last year.
Schedule: Another very (very) soft non-con for the Crouching Tigers this year features only one P5 opponent (FSU), SMU, and a bunch of cupcakes. Is Brent trying to be the Kim Mulkey of volleyball non-con scheduling? The SEC schedule seems fair-to-favorable, with home-and-homes with Arkansas, Florida, UGA, South Carolina, Mizzou, and Bama.
4th Coach – The Tigers hired Jack Burton, formerly at FGCU, as their 3rd paid assistant.
Florida Roster moves: Since the first update, MB Bre Kelley transferred to Pitt. They have also added DS Gaby Cornier to Fr class.
Schedule: The Gators are Gatoring with another VERY tough non-conference slate that features Penn State (N), Stanford (A), Minnesota (H), FSU (A), and Wisconsin (H), along with Clemson. Their home-and-homes are set up with Arkansas, Auburn, TAMU, Kentucky, SC, and Bama.
4th coach – The Gators elevated CK Knop from the Volunteer Assistant position.
Georgia Roster moves: The Dawgs added 6’3” MB Ceci Gooch to their freshman class, and from the portal they added 6’1” OPP Krista Blakely from EMU and 6’1” OH/OPP Erica Staunton from Northeastern.
Schedule: UGA's schedule has some highlights and is, I think a step up from last year's. They will face Florida State, TCU, GA Tech, and San Diego before SEC play gets underway ... and their usual slate of smaller schools. They better be ready, though, because their SEC schedule starts off with Florida (A), Kentucky (H), and Auburn (A), which is a pretty salty way to begin conference play. They feature home-and-homes with Auburn, MS State, Kentucky, SC, LSU, and Mizzou.
4th coach – UGA does not currently (as of July 27) have a 3rd assistant named.
Kentucky Roster moves: Apart from adding Megan Wilson, which was noted in the original post, relatively quiet portal season in Lexington. As of today, the incoming freshmen have not been added to the online roster, so it’s not clear if there are any changes or additions to that group - but I know our contingent of KY fans will let me know if there have been.
Schedule: The Wildcats will face another loaded non-con with matches against Colorado State, Pitt (x2), Houston, (probably) Purdue, Louisville, and Nebraska. Dang, Cats! Their SEC schedule features some good tests with home-and-homes vs Florida, Arkansas, UGA, Tennessee, LSU, and Mizzou. To my eye, that's the toughest set of home-and-homes in the conference this year. Probably by a lot. They once again finish the regular season with a match vs the Gators, this time in Lexapro.
4th coach – The Wildcats hired someone named Madison Lilley as their 4th assistant. Anyone here ever heard of her?
LSU Roster moves: It appears that the Tigers have lost last year's starting L Ella Larkin to beach exclusively, but they brought in L Erin Carmichael from Jacksonville State to shore up defense. Coach Johnson's squad also added Emily Mitter from Campbell for some setting insurance.
Schedule: The Tigers's schedule features some marquee opponents, as they will face of with UCLA (x2) and Creighton, as well as facing several other respectable programs including UNI, Texas Tech, SMU. The SEC slate seems fair, featuring home-and-homes with UGA, Bama, Kentucky, Tennessee, MS State, and SC.
4th coach: The Tigers have added former Texas setter Ashley Shook as their 3rd assistant.
MS State Roster moves: MS State has added UGA grad transfer S Alexa Fortin and Jacksonville St MB Zoe Gonzalez. Two previous transfers are mentioned in the original post, so the Darty Partiers are going to have four transfers overall.
Schedule: The Bulldogs lost a lot last year, both to graduation and to a portal exodus, so it's probably not too surprising that this year's schedule is notably softer, bearing a closer resemblance to the super-weak non-cons that Darty put together when she first arrived. The Dogs will face UCF, Wake Forest, Lipscomb, and a parade of cupcakes. I think they also got a very favorable conference schedule, as they escape having home-and-homes with either of the two conference front-runners, UF or KY. Instead, they will face off twice with TAMU, Bama, LSU, OM, Tennessee, and UGA.
4th coach: The Bulldogs have elevated Alleah Stamatis, former Director of Ops, to the 3rd assistant role.
Mizzou Roster moves: Probably, and understandably, the CoMo Tigers have been the busiest team since the last update. Of the possible returners mentioned in the original post, Addison Lyon has left CoMo for SLU; Estella Zatechka has left for Arizona St.; and Jasmine Dulan has moved on to Drake (the school, not the vocal artist). Skylar Buckley is no longer listed on the roster, either. Mizzou has announced a 4 person freshman class: 5’7” S Tatum Longnecker, 6’1” OH/OPP Chapel Dobbs, DS Kaylen Rush, and 6’1” S Sierra Dudley. Coach Sullivan has also added several pieces from the transfer portal in addition to the one announced in the earlier post. These include 6’1” MB/OPP Colleen Finney (Clemson), 6’3” MB/OPP Kimani Johnson (ETSU), 5’10” OH Dilara Gedikoglu (Arizona), 6’ S Sarah White (Ohio St), 6’3” RS Naomi Franco (Syracuse), and 6’2” S Luisa Melloni (Miami Dade JUCO). That's 4 new setters, for those keeping score.
Schedule: The non-conference schedule for Coach Sullivan's first year features only one P5 opponent, though the one is impressive: Louisville. They are also bringing South Dakota in to the same tournament. The rest is pretty cupcake-ish. Their SEC schedule features home/home opponents Tennessee, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Auburn, UGA, and TAMU. Welcome to the SEC, Coach Sullivan!
4th coach: Given the newness of the staff, I am honestly not clear who is the 'new' 3rd assistant. The staff features Cullen Irons, Wendel Camargo, and Arielle Wilson. Jhenna Gabriel was recently added as “Technical Coordinator.”
Ole Miss Roster moves: Ole Miss has added 5’10” Soph OH Nia Washington (Iowa), who put down 16 kills in a win over Michigan last season, but did hit for a negative percentage on the season. In the previous update, it was noted that some players were deciding whether to return for COVID years, and the good news for the Rebs and Coach Henry is that OH Anna Bair and DS Maggie Miller are both returning.
Schedule: Ole Miss didn't put together a super challenging non-con, though they will face off against FGCU, Arizona State, Lipscomb, and SFA, who are all at least fairly decent. Taken together, though, the schedule is pretty weak sauce. The SEC schedulers have also given OM a tantalizing set of home-and-homes with Arkansas, TAMU, MSU, Mizzou, Tenn, and South Carolina. Just one of the preseason top 4 (Tenn).
4th coach: There is currently no 4th coach listed on the Ole Miss roster.
South CarolinaRoster moves: The Gamecocks have added Hanna Bisler from Miami as a transfer DS. Of the 3 seniors who had remaining eligibility and were question marks about coming back (Moorman, Eastridge, Brown), none is listed on the roster, which will make the Gamecocks pretty reliant on their young players for depth. They have added 5'9" S Sydney Floyd to their freshman class, as well.
Schedule: The Gamecocks are evidently planning only a 9-match preseason, featuring pairs of matches with Towson (home) and Cincinnati (away). They are also hosting Miami and the annual Clemson match. Compared to previous SC slates, this one is very light. They'll make up for that a bit in conference with pairs of matches against Arkansas, Ole Miss, Florida, LSU, Auburn, and UGA.
4th coach: The Gamecocks currently do not list a 4th assistant, though Brittany Farrell has replaced Shonda Wallace on the staff, and Coach Mendoza's wife is no longer listed as the DO.
TennesseeRoster moves: Despite having a pretty big roster, the Lady Vols have taken in a couple additional transfers this spring, with the big name being 6’ OH Jenaisya Moore (Ohio State). The LV’s also added 6’5” MB Raeven Chase (Eastern Michigan) and 5’8” S Lauren Woodford (Syracuse).
Schedule – On the non-conference schedule, the highlights are road matches vs San Diego, Wisconsin, and Marquette. The Lady Vols are also facing Boston College in another match versus P5 competition (in San Diego), and a decent Texas State team. In conference, the Wrasslin Rackhams will face a moderate slate of home-and-homes versus Kentucky, Mizzou, OM, LSU, TAMU, and MS State.
4th coach: The Lady Vols have elevated Kelsey Campeau, the former Volunteer Assistant.
TAMU Roster moves: The Aggies swapped S Brynn Covell (now at AZ State) for 5’10” Fr S Margot Manning (previously committed to Washington) in their signing class, and they have also added two 6’1” sophomore transfers in MB Morgan Perkins (Oklahoma) and OH Brooke Jeffrey (Sacred Heart) to their roster. It seems that 5’11” OH Mia Johnson is no longer with the team.
Schedule – Coach Morrison's first non-conference slate doesn't make a real big impression, though it does feature some quality opponents in Pepperdine, TCU, and Houston. TAMU will have home-and-homes with MS State, Florida, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mizzou, Tennessee.
4th coach – The Ags have added Jeff Fiorenza, former Abilene Christian assistant.
So what does that mean for the season outlook? I don't have too much disagreement, overall, with the SEC preseason poll, which looked like this:
1. Kentucky
2. Florida
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. Arkansas
6. LSU
7. Auburn
8. TAMU
9. Mississippi State/Ole Miss (tie)
11. South Carolina
12. Mizzou
13. Alabama
I do think that, on paper, the SEC is Kentucky's to lose. Behind them, everyone from Florida through Auburn could be vying for the next six spots. If Florida finds good passing and efficient pin offense, if Tennessee resolves the setting question and replaces Mahaffey, if UGA gets production from someone other than Evans or Fischer, if Arkansas's MB's can block and be enough offense to prevent camping on the OHs, if Demps lights a fire at LSU, if Auburn maintains its forward progress and improves their ball control ... all of those teams could threaten each other. Even TAMU, if Lednicky and Meuth can get some help and there is good setting, could be a tough out.
I don't have much hope for Bama this year, and I think Coach Sullivan has a lot of work to do at Mizzou to cobble together a squad - though I think she's a good coach. OM/MS State, and SC ... well, I'm not seeing it, but that's why they play the games.
What did I miss? Please feel free to point out errors, roster omissions, and differences of opinions.