my thoughts:
- play madi 6 ro and let her get into a passing rhythm. not to mention not only unleashing the best backrow attack in the country, but the best ADJUSTER to the backrow set. i know y'all saw her put that damn ball in places you didn't even know existed in last year's tourney when the set wasn't there (i.e. fast bent elbow tip to zone 2 past the setter/opp and in front of the right-back defender)
- it's time to abolish this experimental 6-2. ella flopping on levels that i fear are far worse than last year... the Orr serving sub special must be assigned to her im afraid... lowkey i miss her serving and i think the team needs her energy for that one rotation
- akana serving sub for jenna's backrow so that akana can send those moonballs of a second contact to madi who 1) likes them and 2) will actually try to hit them unlike oomf...
- previous point brings me to the next one: akana love you but please GET OUT OF THE DAMN WAY if carlson can get to that ball. i don't care that you're the closest to the pass. if it's high enough, let carlson work her bump set magic so that madi can use that spin on said bump set to her advantage. IMO those are so much easier to hit correctly. this team isn't last year's team, you don't need to step in for ella 1-2x a rally anymore to get our hitters a decent set... same goes with emma lowkey, sorry girl but your OOS setting hasn't been quite the same since Logan... 😔
- mari, keep adjusting to the sets better. you're on the right track girl
- ames, i still think you're suffering from shin splints but i like your consistency and energy. a good MB1/MB2 balance for sure. bunton you're a bit skiddish but also understandable. but i don't want to see skiddish from anyone at this point in the season
- i want to see this mid-season carlson setting connection with reagan. i think that's one thing ella has over carlson, but also the ella-reagan connection was very ugly when i was watching earlier in the match... i think reagan should be kept on a short leash, bring in devin when she's not killing bc she definitely won't be contributing elsewhere (i.e. blocking/aces)
- unfortunately, jenna needs different sets than madi/reagan/devin. if she's feeling herself, she pounds that ball cross or line ONLY WHEN the set is both INSIDE and FAST because she has a problem of an early approach. i saw this many times IN-PERSON at last year's championship match. i was honestly astonished at how fast she was trying to approach when the setting strat obviously wasn't to go that fast.... you can see her falling backwards because of it/getting stuffed/two-handed tipping bc of this. i don't understand why she's still doing it bc obviously they learn and practice the system they run *shrugs*
- the passing needs to be better. period