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Post by InfoBot on Jan 7, 2023 2:24:41 GMT -5
*Current Roster Best Viewed On Computer Or In Landscape Mode On Phone*
- 2023 Northwestern Wildcats - Seniors Juniors #22 Julia Sangiacomo 6'5" OH/OPP #6 Ellee Stinson 5'2" DS/L #3 Natalie Chizzo* 6'3" OH #11 Ariel Amaya 6'0" OH#5 Alexa Rousseau* 6'3" S
#7 Leilani Dodson* 6'1" MB
#16 Ellie Husemann 6'3" MB #4 Maddy Chinn 6'3" OH/OPP
Sophomores Freshman
#1 Sienna Noordermeer 5'11" S #23 Gigi Navarrete 5'6" DS/L#8 Averie Hernandez 6'2" OH #2 Drew Wright 5'11" OH
#17 Kennedy Hill 6'1" MB
#18 Kathryn Randorf 6'1" OH
#10 Lauren Carter 5'10" S
#21 Rylen Reid 5'11" OH
HC Shane Davis 8th Season
AC Maggie Eppright 2nd Season
AC Pedro Mendes 1st Season
Exhausted Elligibility#16 Ella Grbac 6'3" OH/OPP #23 Megan Miller 5'6" DS/L Entered Portal#2 Abryanna Cannon 6'2" OH --> South Alabama #9 Grace Reininga 5'8" DS/L --> Johns Hopkins#12 Temi Thomas-Ailara 6'2" OH --> Wisconsin#14 Charlotte Cronister 5'7" DS/L --> UNCW#19 Hanna Lesiak 6'2" OH --> Long Beach State#21 Desiree Becker 6'2" MB --> UCLA Elligibility Remaining & Unknown Portal Status#4 Tatyana Hardwick 6'3" MB
#22 Olivia Haskins 6'4" MB
2024s
Ava Pratt 6'1" OH (Adversity VBC-IL)
Cleo Hardin 6'3" OH (Vision-CA)
*Have Covid Year Available If Desired* |
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Post by InfoBot on Jan 7, 2023 2:44:33 GMT -5
I told myself I'd never start a team thread, especially for a team I'm only mildly interested in, but with the scuttle I caused in the tranfer portal tea, and the unhealthy amount of research I did into this program tonight, I figured I'd put it to use and see what people knew.
This team was looking to have a very promising 2023. If Becker and Thomas-Ailara took their Covid years, plugging in Navarrete for Miller (or as the DS if you wanted to move Stinson to libero) and Hernandez for Lesiak would mean a lineup that was at least as good as 2022, with Randorf now having a year of starting experience under her belt. Northwestern would also have one of, if not the best, back up setter in the B1G (who that is depending on if Rousseau or Noordermeer got handed the keys).
Now the program has some question marks. Without a tranfer or a graduate returning, there are only 11 girls slated to be on the roster this fall, which is less than the number of scholarships the team has to offer and I've read in another thread that at least 1, if not 2, returners are walk-ons. I don't know how easy it is to transfer in (although Miller {'20-NE} and Dodson {'21-BYU} have been able to the last couple of years. The academic requirements have to limit who's even available to the staff.
Another question mark is staff. Lugo-Rodriguez departed for UCLA which leaves Davis to hire his 4th new assistant coach since 2018 ('19 Kelsay/'20 Lugo-Rodriguez/'22 Eppright/'23 TBD). Just for good measure, Davis has also hired two DOVOs, two Tech Coordinators, and two Volunteer ACs in that time as well.
I don't think anything inheritantly bad is happening in Evanston, just a staff and team trying to find stable ground. Some unfortunate times certainly befell the setting crew this year and there's going to be a lot of work for the Wildcats to do in the coming months if they're going to try to make a tournament run in 2023.
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Post by InfoBot on Jan 7, 2023 2:59:27 GMT -5
Through a werid happenstance, followed by some sleuthing, I see that all the 2022s are being followed by various programs. There has been no confirmation about whether or not they are in the portal, but somebody in the Transfer Tea thread had heard Randorf was considering leaving.
As for who the Cats might be targeting in the portal, the team IG page is following Maddy Chinn (Purdue-Sr+ RS), Lydia Grote (Cal-Sr* RS), Lauren Ohlinger (Boise State-Sr+ OH), Julia Sangiacomo (Santa Clara-Sr+ OH), and Alexandra Zakutney (Green Bay-Sr+ RS). Eppright is also following Jess Robinson (Michigan-Sr+ MB).
Sr* = Senior plus Covid Year Available, Sr+ = Using Covid Year To Play In 2023
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Post by GoGophs on Jan 7, 2023 8:15:21 GMT -5
Thanks for making the thread. NW had such a good chance of making the tourney this year until it all went downhill… Very interesting info you provided too. Shocked that Davis is on his 4th AC in only 4ish years. Curious to see what will happen with so much shifting since they seemed to be on an upward trajectory and had a couple of pretty solid recruiting classes coming in.
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Post by jayj79 on Jan 7, 2023 9:17:18 GMT -5
I hope Sienna Noordermeer has been able to recover from the scary injury suffered during the Nebraska match
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2023 9:26:12 GMT -5
Thanks for making this thread InfoBot!
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Post by uofaGRAD on Jan 7, 2023 10:37:56 GMT -5
Through a werid happenstance, followed by some sleuthing, I see that all the 2022s are being followed by various programs. There has been no confirmation about whether or not they are in the portal, but somebody in the Transfer Tea thread had heard Randorf was considering leaving. As for who the Cats might be targeting in the portal, the team IG page is following Maddy Chinn (Purdue-Sr+ RS), Lydia Grote (Cal-Sr* RS), Lauren Ohlinger (Boise State-Sr+ OH) Julia Sangiacomo (Santa Clara-Sr+ OH), and Alexandra Zakutney (Green Bay-Sr+ RS). Eppright is also following Jess Robinson (Michigan-Sr+ MB). Sr* = Senior plus Covid Year Available, Sr+ = Using Covid Year To Play In 2023 oh my gosh I would love if Lydia went to NW |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2023 10:50:30 GMT -5
Such a very busy time for NW. Portal pursuit is so volatile and unpredictable. They need some big hits. The season is full of drama and then they top it off with an even more dramatic holiday/off season. Tough job.
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Post by InfoBot on Jan 7, 2023 12:08:06 GMT -5
Thanks for making the thread. NW had such a good chance of making the tourney this year until it all went downhill… Very interesting info you provided too. Shocked that Davis is on his 4th AC in only 4ish years. Curious to see what will happen with so much shifting since they seemed to be on an upward trajectory and had a couple of pretty solid recruiting classes coming in. I said this in another thread, but I don't think the AC turnover is a product of anything in particular. Virtue left to go be the the WNT, Kelsay left for personal relationship reasons (per VT), and Lugo-Rodriguez went "home to Southern California" (per the UCLA release). |
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Post by InfoBot on Jan 7, 2023 12:10:18 GMT -5
Through a werid happenstance, followed by some sleuthing, I see that all the 2022s are being followed by various programs. There has been no confirmation about whether or not they are in the portal, but somebody in the Transfer Tea thread had heard Randorf was considering leaving. As for who the Cats might be targeting in the portal, the team IG page is following Maddy Chinn (Purdue-Sr+ RS), Lydia Grote (Cal-Sr* RS), Lauren Ohlinger (Boise State-Sr+ OH) Julia Sangiacomo (Santa Clara-Sr+ OH), and Alexandra Zakutney (Green Bay-Sr+ RS). Eppright is also following Jess Robinson (Michigan-Sr+ MB). Sr* = Senior plus Covid Year Available, Sr+ = Using Covid Year To Play In 2023 oh my gosh I would love if Lydia went to NW I'd sure think if they can get transfers from Nebraska and BYU in academically, they could get in done for somebody from Cal. Looks like she is also being followed by Clemson, Creighton, and Utah. |
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Post by InfoBot on Jan 7, 2023 12:15:19 GMT -5
Such a very busy time for NW. Portal pursuit is so volatile and unpredictable. They need some big hits. The season is full of drama and then they top it off with an even more dramatic holiday/off season. Tough job. I wouldn't call it a "dramatic offseason" at this juncture. All confirmed portal entries were grad transfers. It just was a lot of numbers because it looks like the 2018s (2 who were using Covid years and 3 who redshirted), 2019s, and one 2020 all left at the same time. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2023 13:23:57 GMT -5
Such a very busy time for NW. Portal pursuit is so volatile and unpredictable. They need some big hits. The season is full of drama and then they top it off with an even more dramatic holiday/off season. Tough job. I wouldn't call it a "dramatic offseason" at this juncture. All confirmed portal entries were grad transfers. It just was a lot of numbers because it looks like the 2018s (2 who were using Covid years and 3 who redshirted), 2019s, and one 2020 all left at the same time. In no way did I mean it as a knock on NW. Just an observation. Many schools are dealing with challenging portal off seasons. The job has changed and more variables to navigate. |
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Post by ballvolley on Jan 7, 2023 20:33:14 GMT -5
Thanks for making the thread. NW had such a good chance of making the tourney this year until it all went downhill… Very interesting info you provided too. Shocked that Davis is on his 4th AC in only 4ish years. Curious to see what will happen with so much shifting since they seemed to be on an upward trajectory and had a couple of pretty solid recruiting classes coming in. I said this in another thread, but I don't think the AC turnover is a product of anything in particular. Virtue left to go be the the WNT, Kelsay left for personal relationship reasons (per VT), and Lugo-Rodriguez went "home to Southern California" (per the UCLA release). Also, NW is and should be a stepping stone program for young ACs who want some valuable B1G experience. Virtue was managing two jobs until she ultimately chose the USWNT full time. Kelsey essentially left college coaching for love (for a bit, at least), and now the 2nd AC is going to UCLA. That said, I don’t think they’ve had great recruiting chops — TTA, Rousseau, the ‘22 class and a few other top 100 gets have been good, but then he has far too many scholarship players who quite literally never play (Chizzo, Haskins, etc.). IMO he had to have known this mega roster would move on to graduation of the option to get a 5th year somewhere new. To have a roster this thin is just poor, poor planning. Davis, IMO, is the problem here. Perhaps NW will have success with the portal in round 2. I don’t believe the university accepts mid-year transfers of any kind, so we hopefully will see some talent coming in later in the spring. NW is obviously very hard to get into, but they have had a master’s in sports management for about 15 years, which could be a great way to lure in some athletes. The Cats desperately need at least one other terminating pin (Randorf, assuming she is staying, can play OH or Opp, and Hernandez should be an upgrade on the left from Lesiak), and they absolutely need depth at MB (only 2!!!). Their setting is rock solid. I actually preferred Sienna running the show — she ran such a smooth offense, and had she not gotten injured it would have been interesting if Rousseau actually stepped back in or not. Maybe Rousseau trains at opposite — she is a 6’3 lefty, after all. They are also very solid in LIB/DS department with Gigi coming in and Stinson having tons of experience, but other than some spare OHs who could play defense, their backrow roster is also too thin. As for the late signee from Mira Costa, 5’11 is small for the B1G, but has anyone seen if she’s a baller? That’s a tough replacement for a 10’11 touching TTA 😬 If I were a coach I would love to recruit athletes to NW. Their facilities (now) and campus are top notch, and academics and location are superb. How/why Davis hasn’t had success sooner is beyond me. Yes, this last season was developing as “the one” before the really bad luck injuries to both setters, but before this year there has been no excitement. IMO they need new leadership, especially if (keyword: IF) more players exit and no gems from the portal head to Evanston. |
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Post by InfoBot on Jan 7, 2023 22:50:20 GMT -5
I said this in another thread, but I don't think the AC turnover is a product of anything in particular. Virtue left to go be the the WNT, Kelsay left for personal relationship reasons (per VT), and Lugo-Rodriguez went "home to Southern California" (per the UCLA release). Their setting is rock solid. I actually preferred Sienna running the show — she ran such a smooth offense, and had she not gotten injured it would have been interesting if Rousseau actually stepped back in or not. Maybe Rousseau trains at opposite — she is a 6’3 lefty, after all. I also preferred Noordermeer, think she's a better defender and generally scrappier and smoother, but I don't see any scenario where Rouseau is a B1G RS. Yes she's 6'3" and a lefty but I don't think she jumps well enough or has a fast enough/heavy enough arm to be effective. I know my sample size for that observations is just her going on two and getting set ocassionally out of system, but just my two cents. |
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Post by ballvolley on Jan 8, 2023 1:05:32 GMT -5
Their setting is rock solid. I actually preferred Sienna running the show — she ran such a smooth offense, and had she not gotten injured it would have been interesting if Rousseau actually stepped back in or not. Maybe Rousseau trains at opposite — she is a 6’3 lefty, after all. I also preferred Noordermeer, think she's a better defender and generally scrappier and smoother, but I don't see any scenario where Rouseau is a B1G RS. Yes she's 6'3" and a lefty but I don't think she jumps well enough or has a fast enough/heavy enough arm to be effective. I know my sample size for that observations is just her going on two and getting set ocassionally out of system, but just my two cents. Not af all saying she should switch to Opposite, but unless Davis picks up at least 2 (but ideally 3-4) legit attackers she may have to. Rousseau has some special skills, but she’s surprisingly a poor blocker. |
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