Big Ten 2024 - Oh My!

[Kingsley]

Pending:

[go4thekill]

Aug 7, 2024 12:46:14 GMT -5 Kingsley said:

Pending:

Kingsley, Thanks!  These are great!  It is clear a lot of time and thought went into them.  I look forward to the others.

[Kingsley]

 
Michigan Wolverines


2023 Record: 7-22

Conference Record: 5-15 (12th)

NCAA Tournament Placement: N/A

Final AVCA Ranking: NR


Head Coach: Erin Virtue (2nd year at Michigan)

Record at Michigan: 7-22

Returning Starters	Departures * - 2023 Starter () - Transfer Destination	New Additions () - Transfer Origin
Jacque Boney - SR - 6'4 MB Morgan Burke - SO - 6'0 S Maddi Cuchran - SR - 5'5 DS/L Serena Nyambio - JR - 6'2 MB Amalia Simmons - R-SO - 5'11 OH Valentina Vaulet - SO - 6'1 OH/RS	Hannah Grant - 5'8 DS/L Brooke Humphrey* - 5'10 DS/L Scottee Johnson* - 6'0 S Saj McBurrows* - 6'1 RS Kendall Murray* - 6'2 OH	Ella Demetrician - FR - 6'2 OH Camille Edwards - FR - 5'11 S Cymarah Gordon - FR - 6'0 RS Jenna Hanes - FR - 6'3 MB Trixie McMillin - FR - 5'5 DS/L Kendyl Reaugh - SR+ - 6'3 OH (Alabama) Ellie White - FR - 5'11 OH/S

2023 Results:

2023 ushered in a new era at Michigan with first-year head coach Erin Virtue taking over. The Illinois alum took the reins after Mark Rosen was let go after 24 years at the helm.

Virtue's commitments as an assistant coach for the USA Women's National Team meant that associate head coach Benavia Jenkins would be the acting leader during some of the 2023 campaign. Michigan sputtered out of the gates with an uncompetitive sweep loss to Boston College. Western Michigan took over the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor to rub salt in the wound.

Week 2 losses to Colorado State and Arkansas relegated Michigan to a 1-4 start. Expected growing pains showed up quickly.

The Wolverines briefly restabilized with a home sweep over North Carolina. However, this turned out to be Big Blue's only non-conference win over a Power 5 opponent. Michigan lost to Duke and dropped a pair of five-set matches in a home-and-home series with Bowling Green.

The start of conference play wasn't much better. Michigan State invaded Ann Arbor and swept the Wolverines, giving Sparty its first win against Michigan since 2017. Big Blue was promptly swept three more times against Maryland, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Michigan's first set victories in conference play also yielded its first match win. The Wolverines pulled a mild upset and toppled a Northwestern team that was fresh off a win at Purdue. A consolation prize was offered through a visit from the undefeated Cornhuskers, and that match didn't go as well.

Big Blue found itself treading at the bottom of the Big Ten toward the end of October. The Northwestern win was tainted by six consecutive wins afterward, yielding a 1-10 conference mark. Michigan's next breakthrough finally arrived when it hosted bitter rival Ohio State. This time, the Wolverines were the ones breaking a long series drought. Michigan triumphed over the Buckeyes for the first time since 2019 and doubled its conference win total.

What a way to start a small win streak. The Wolverines dispatched Iowa to keep the Hawkeyes winless in B1G play. Vengeance against Maryland was the next small victory. That's three wins in a row.

Not much fun was had after that, aside from a four-set win at Rutgers. That gives us five wins, pulling Michigan out of last place and into 12th. Still, it was the program's lowest single-season winning percentage since 1990.


2023 Lineup:

You can exercise a lot of freedom in deciding which Michigan players to denote as 2023 starters. In other words, many different players started at different times in different places. This tends to happen with teams slogging through a not-so-fun season.

Let's start with the fixtures before getting too deep in the weeds. Senior outside hitter Kendall Murray retained her status as the team's offensive leader. She locked down the L2 position and led the Wolverines in kills while almost topping the dig tally. That seems like a wild feat for a pin hitter, but we'll get there.

The middle blocker was stable. Junior Jacque Boney had been a starter since her freshman year and took the M1 spot. Her 0.314 hitting percentage was the best among the frontcourt regulars. Serena Nyambio took care of the M2 spot and led the blocking category by a considerable margin. Backup middle blocker Mira Chopra was a regular contributor, but that usually came behind the service line as a temporary substitute.

That's where the lineup consistencies end. Let's get into the hard stuff.

Three different players donned the libero jersey for Michigan in 2023. That's a lot. Returning senior Hannah Grant was one of the top passers and defenders in the league heading into the year, but unfortunate circumstances kept her out of the lineup for most of the campaign. Grant appeared in 12 matches: the first two, and the last ten. The Michigan backcourt was clearly better with Grant in the contrasting jersey, but she played the fewest matches of any Wolverine.

The "co-leaders" at libero during Grant's absence were senior Brooke Humphrey and Maddi Cuchran. Both played every match in 2023 but traded places in the starting rotation. Humphrey's primary tenure as libero was from mid-September to late October. Cochran wore the contrasting jersey during non-conference play after Grant took her leave. Michigan almost always used a DS for its opposite, so that responsibility usually went to whoever wasn't the full-time libero. Another face in the lineup was Carly Greskovics, who saw some action during conference play as the DS for the L1.

Argentinian freshman Valentina Vaulet was the leading figure in that L1 spot. The first-year player joined Murray, Humphrey, and Cuchran as the four Wolverines to appear in every 2023 match. Vaulet had some brief stints in the back row, but not many. She played on the right pin in September, too. Regardless of her DS situation or positional designation, Vaulet was wielded as a serving weapon with her jump spinner producing the Big Ten's fourth-best ace-per-set average.

Michigan's opposite position was all over the place with three players producing similarly unsatisfactory results. Freshman Lydia Johnson saw some starting reps during the pre-conference slate, but her appearances dwindled dramatically during Big Ten play. Columbia graduate transfer Saj McBurrows took the lead at this spot but only mustered a 0.111 hitting percentage on the year. McBurrows was sidelined for Michigan's last four matches, so the team's final act was to deploy redshirt freshman Amalia Simmons on the right. Simmons had battled Vaulet for the L1 position earlier in the year, and we saw pin combinations with Simmons on the left and Vaulet on the right. By November, the two had switched places.

That leaves us with the setter spot. Senior Scottee Johnson was the incumbent, but her spot was never safe. True freshman Morgan Burke saw her first extended action in the Week 1 finale against Western Michigan after the Wolverines had already suffered through suboptimal results. Johnson then took the setter job back for the rest of non-conference play, but this stint didn't last, either. By the season's midway point, the job was mostly Burke's.

---


2024 Projected Lineup:

We will cautiously expect a little more stability this time.

Michigan is likely looking to Burke as the setter of the future. Her only competition this year comes from two freshman signees: Camille Edwards and Ellie White. White spent much of her prep career playing outside hitter. But hey, so did Burke.

Boney and Nyambio return at middle blocker. The next step is to get a bit more efficiency and volume out of the position. Chopra could retain her serving role. Freshman signee Jenna Hanes is a cornerstone of Michigan's 2024 class, so her time is coming.

Vaulet will play...somewhere. Her serve is a weapon either way. Was Vaulet's stint on the left side out of necessity, or does Michigan want to get her as much attacking volume as possible? Things happening around Vaulet in the lineup may determine her preeminent role.

That leads us to the left side. Murray has departed, leaving a major void at the position. This is our first mention of Allison Jacobs, the UCLA transfer who was expected to contribute in 2023 but missed the entire season after an injury. If she's back to full speed, she could bring the six-rotation impact that Michigan desperately needs. We'll see.

Graduate transfer Kendyl Reaugh could fill that niche, too. The Alabama transfer was a four-year starter with the Crimson Tide and tallied just over three kills per set in 2023. Expect Reaugh to compete for a starting role with Michigan in desperate need of pin production. The Wolverines could experiment with a few permutations, as Simmons also adds depth to the roster.

Cuchran becomes the favorite to lead the defense with Grant and Humphrey moving on. Michigan's diminished backcourt depth makes it even more imperative that the outside hitters assert themselves in a six-rotation capacity. Greskovics will see more playing time. True freshman Trixie McMillin is the only other DS on the roster.


2024 Schedule:

Michigan tip-toes into 2024 with a home match against Delaware and a doubleheader against Kent State. Please win those.

Eastern Michigan is on the schedule. It's the weakest of all the D1 Michigan schools.

A trip to Starkville, or StarkVegas, is on deck and features meetings with Mississippi State and Notre Dame. Finally, some good food. Keep an eye on this one.

Ann Arbor hosts Sacramento State, Akron, and Oakland. The last week of the non-conference slate calls for basketball against North Carolina and Duke.

It's actually not basketball:

Home + Away	Home	Away

2024 Outlook:

Last season was billed as a rebuilding year for Michigan, but that doesn't diminish the frustration that characterized 2023. That was tough.

A season filled with historic lows could reasonably be a prelude to a bounceback. Michigan still needs time to build up the talent base it had for much of Rosen's tenure, but that's just part of a rebuild.

Finding the right combinations on the pins will dictate much of Michigan's progression in 2024. A lot of that rests on Jacobs rediscovering her form after a year off. Where do Vaulet and Reaugh fill in?

Hopefully, the starting pin hitters can help in the serve-receive pattern. Passing will probably be a weak point for the Wolverines this year, which could put it in danger of falling to any of its conference foes. If Michigan dials it in, that could lead to a couple of unexpected wins. In a way, it's like last year: you never know what you're getting. Just raise the standard a bit.

Preseason polls placed Michigan 15th in the conference hierarchy. It's a reasonable assessment, but you'd hope the Wolverines can flash a higher ceiling than that--even if it's just for a few matches.

[Kingsley]

Looming:

[NYCHusker]

Aug 8, 2024 11:54:50 GMT -5 Kingsley said:

 
Michigan Wolverines


2023 Record: 7-22

Conference Record: 5-15 (12th)

NCAA Tournament Placement: N/A

Final AVCA Ranking: NR


Head Coach: Erin Virtue (2nd year at Michigan)

Record at Michigan: 7-22

Returning Starters	Departures * - 2023 Starter () - Transfer Destination	New Additions () - Transfer Origin
Jacque Boney - SR - 6'4 MB Morgan Burke - SO - 6'0 S Maddi Cuchran - SR - 5'5 DS/L Serena Nyambio - JR - 6'2 MB Amalia Simmons - R-SO - 5'11 OH Valentina Vaulet - SO - 6'1 OH/RS	Hannah Grant - 5'8 DS/L Brooke Humphrey* - 5'10 DS/L Scottee Johnson* - 6'0 S Saj McBurrows* - 6'1 RS Kendall Murray* - 6'2 OH	Ella Demetrician - FR - 6'2 OH Camille Edwards - FR - 5'11 S Cymarah Gordon - FR - 6'0 RS Jenna Hanes - FR - 6'3 MB Trixie McMillin - FR - 5'5 DS/L Kendyl Reaugh - SR+ - 6'3 OH (Alabama) Ellie White - FR - 5'11 OH/S

2023 Results:

2023 ushered in a new era at Michigan with first-year head coach Erin Virtue taking over. The Illinois alum took the reins after Mark Rosen was let go after 24 years at the helm.

Virtue's commitments as an assistant coach for the USA Women's National Team meant that associate head coach Benavia Jenkins would be the acting leader during some of the 2023 campaign. Michigan sputtered out of the gates with an uncompetitive sweep loss to Boston College. Western Michigan took over the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor to rub salt in the wound.

Week 2 losses to Colorado State and Arkansas relegated Michigan to a 1-4 start. Expected growing pains showed up quickly.

The Wolverines briefly restabilized with a home sweep over North Carolina. However, this turned out to be Big Blue's only non-conference win over a Power 5 opponent. Michigan lost to Duke and dropped a pair of five-set matches in a home-and-home series with Bowling Green.

The start of conference play wasn't much better. Michigan State invaded Ann Arbor and swept the Wolverines, giving Sparty its first win against Michigan since 2017. Big Blue was promptly swept three more times against Maryland, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Michigan's first set victories in conference play also yielded its first match win. The Wolverines pulled a mild upset and toppled a Northwestern team that was fresh off a win at Purdue. A consolation prize was offered through a visit from the undefeated Cornhuskers, and that match didn't go as well.

Big Blue found itself treading at the bottom of the Big Ten toward the end of October. The Northwestern win was tainted by six consecutive wins afterward, yielding a 1-10 conference mark. Michigan's next breakthrough finally arrived when it hosted bitter rival Ohio State. This time, the Wolverines were the ones breaking a long series drought. Michigan triumphed over the Buckeyes for the first time since 2019 and doubled its conference win total.

What a way to start a small win streak. The Wolverines dispatched Iowa to keep the Hawkeyes winless in B1G play. Vengeance against Maryland was the next small victory. That's three wins in a row.

Not much fun was had after that, aside from a four-set win at Rutgers. That gives us five wins, pulling Michigan out of last place and into 12th. Still, it was the program's lowest single-season winning percentage since 1990.


2023 Lineup:

You can exercise a lot of freedom in deciding which Michigan players to denote as 2023 starters. In other words, many different players started at different times in different places. This tends to happen with teams slogging through a not-so-fun season.

Let's start with the fixtures before getting too deep in the weeds. Senior outside hitter Kendall Murray retained her status as the team's offensive leader. She locked down the L2 position and led the Wolverines in kills while almost topping the dig tally. That seems like a wild feat for a pin hitter, but we'll get there.

The middle blocker was stable. Junior Jacque Boney had been a starter since her freshman year and took the M1 spot. Her 0.314 hitting percentage was the best among the frontcourt regulars. Serena Nyambio took care of the M2 spot and led the blocking category by a considerable margin. Backup middle blocker Mira Chopra was a regular contributor, but that usually came behind the service line as a temporary substitute.

That's where the lineup consistencies end. Let's get into the hard stuff.

Three different players donned the libero jersey for Michigan in 2023. That's a lot. Returning senior Hannah Grant was one of the top passers and defenders in the league heading into the year, but unfortunate circumstances kept her out of the lineup for most of the campaign. Grant appeared in 12 matches: the first two, and the last ten. The Michigan backcourt was clearly better with Grant in the contrasting jersey, but she played the fewest matches of any Wolverine.

The "co-leaders" at libero during Grant's absence were senior Brooke Humphrey and Maddi Cuchran. Both played every match in 2023 but traded places in the starting rotation. Humphrey's primary tenure as libero was from mid-September to late October. Cochran wore the contrasting jersey during non-conference play after Grant took her leave. Michigan almost always used a DS for its opposite, so that responsibility usually went to whoever wasn't the full-time libero. Another face in the lineup was Carly Greskovics, who saw some action during conference play as the DS for the L1.

Argentinian freshman Valentina Vaulet was the leading figure in that L1 spot. The first-year player joined Murray, Humphrey, and Cuchran as the four Wolverines to appear in every 2023 match. Vaulet had some brief stints in the back row, but not many. She played on the right pin in September, too. Regardless of her DS situation or positional designation, Vaulet was wielded as a serving weapon with her jump spinner producing the Big Ten's fourth-best ace-per-set average.

Michigan's opposite position was all over the place with three players producing similarly unsatisfactory results. Freshman Lydia Johnson saw some starting reps during the pre-conference slate, but her appearances dwindled dramatically during Big Ten play. Columbia graduate transfer Saj McBurrows took the lead at this spot but only mustered a 0.111 hitting percentage on the year. McBurrows was sidelined for Michigan's last four matches, so the team's final act was to deploy redshirt freshman Amalia Simmons on the right. Simmons had battled Vaulet for the L1 position earlier in the year, and we saw pin combinations with Simmons on the left and Vaulet on the right. By November, the two had switched places.

That leaves us with the setter spot. Senior Scottee Johnson was the incumbent, but her spot was never safe. True freshman Morgan Burke saw her first extended action in the Week 1 finale against Western Michigan after the Wolverines had already suffered through suboptimal results. Johnson then took the setter job back for the rest of non-conference play, but this stint didn't last, either. By the season's midway point, the job was mostly Burke's.

---


2024 Projected Lineup:

We will cautiously expect a little more stability this time.

Michigan is likely looking to Burke as the setter of the future. Her only competition this year comes from two freshman signees: Camille Edwards and Ellie White. White spent much of her prep career playing outside hitter. But hey, so did Burke.

Boney and Nyambio return at middle blocker. The next step is to get a bit more efficiency and volume out of the position. Chopra could retain her serving role. Freshman signee Jenna Hanes is a cornerstone of Michigan's 2024 class, so her time is coming.

Vaulet will play...somewhere. Her serve is a weapon either way. Was Vaulet's stint on the left side out of necessity, or does Michigan want to get her as much attacking volume as possible? Things happening around Vaulet in the lineup may determine her preeminent role.

That leads us to the left side. Murray has departed, leaving a major void at the position. This is our first mention of Allison Jacobs, the UCLA transfer who was expected to contribute in 2023 but missed the entire season after an injury. If she's back to full speed, she could bring the six-rotation impact that Michigan desperately needs. We'll see.

Graduate transfer Kendyl Reaugh could fill that niche, too. The Alabama transfer was a four-year starter with the Crimson Tide and tallied just over three kills per set in 2023. Expect Reaugh to compete for a starting role with Michigan in desperate need of pin production. The Wolverines could experiment with a few permutations, as Simmons also adds depth to the roster.

Cuchran becomes the favorite to lead the defense with Grant and Humphrey moving on. Michigan's diminished backcourt depth makes it even more imperative that the outside hitters assert themselves in a six-rotation capacity. Greskovics will see more playing time. True freshman Trixie McMillin is the only other DS on the roster.


2024 Schedule:

Michigan tip-toes into 2024 with a home match against Delaware and a doubleheader against Kent State. Please win those.

Eastern Michigan is on the schedule. It's the weakest of all the D1 Michigan schools.

A trip to Starkville, or StarkVegas, is on deck and features meetings with Mississippi State and Notre Dame. Finally, some good food. Keep an eye on this one.

Ann Arbor hosts Sacramento State, Akron, and Oakland. The last week of the non-conference slate calls for basketball against North Carolina and Duke.

It's actually not basketball:

Home + Away	Home	Away

2024 Outlook:

Last season was billed as a rebuilding year for Michigan, but that doesn't diminish the frustration that characterized 2023. That was tough.

A season filled with historic lows could reasonably be a prelude to a bounceback. Michigan still needs time to build up the talent base it had for much of Rosen's tenure, but that's just part of a rebuild.

Finding the right combinations on the pins will dictate much of Michigan's progression in 2024. A lot of that rests on Jacobs rediscovering her form after a year off. Where do Vaulet and Reaugh fill in?

Hopefully, the starting pin hitters can help in the serve-receive pattern. Passing will probably be a weak point for the Wolverines this year, which could put it in danger of falling to any of its conference foes. If Michigan dials it in, that could lead to a couple of unexpected wins. In a way, it's like last year: you never know what you're getting. Just raise the standard a bit.

Preseason polls placed Michigan 15th in the conference hierarchy. It's a reasonable assessment, but you'd hope the Wolverines can flash a higher ceiling than that--even if it's just for a few matches.

Michigan was one of the ones I was most curious about, considering the huge dip last year and returning an Olympic coach. Thanks for the amazing work, as always! 

[1guy]

I think seven newcomers plus Jacobs returning for Michigan after being unavailable all last year adds to the intrigue. Jacobs looked really good in the spring, so that's a hopeful sign. I really think any of the newcomers could find time on the court, so I'm super interested to see how it plays out. Hopefully the non-conference affords the opportunity to build confidence and continuity before the gauntlet of the B1G schedule. Thanks Kingsley for the great content, that's a lot of hard work!

[photos1]

Michigan will be the most improved team in the conference. In the mix with Indiana-Illinois-UCLA-Minnesota … Clearly Washington is the most overrated team. There were 4 coaches at B1G media days that appeared over their heads, Gabriel was one of them. 🏐

[NYCHusker]

Aug 8, 2024 15:12:35 GMT -5 photos1 said:

Michigan will be the most improved team in the conference. In the mix with Indiana-Illinois-UCLA-Minnesota … Clearly Washington is the most overrated team. There were 4 coaches at B1G media days that appeared over their heads, Gabriel was one of them. 🏐

Yes, based on photos1's vibes from a press conference that Coach Gabriel participated in for the first time, Washington is CLEARLY overrated on the court 

[photos1]

Aug 8, 2024 18:12:34 GMT -5 NYCHusker said:

Aug 8, 2024 15:12:35 GMT -5 photos1 said:

Michigan will be the most improved team in the conference. In the mix with Indiana-Illinois-UCLA-Minnesota … Clearly Washington is the most overrated team. There were 4 coaches at B1G media days that appeared over their heads, Gabriel was one of them. 🏐

Yes, based on photos1's vibes from a press conference that Coach Gabriel participated in for the first time, Washington is CLEARLY overrated on the court 

Well that and their drop in play from 22 to 23.  We’ll see how it goes… they were low grade awful the last half of last year-but you know that.  🏐

[hornshouse23]

Aug 8, 2024 18:37:15 GMT -5 photos1 said:

Aug 8, 2024 18:12:34 GMT -5 NYCHusker said:

Yes, based on photos1's vibes from a press conference that Coach Gabriel participated in for the first time, Washington is CLEARLY overrated on the court 

Well that and their drop in play from 22 to 23.  We’ll see how it goes… they were low grade awful the last half of last year-but you know that.  🏐

Wouldn't their rating reflect that, though? You could say they were overrated in ‘23 but you can’t say they’re all caps clearly over rated now until they hit the court… but go on living in a hyperbole hut.

[Kearney Kingston]

Regarding Big Ten Media Days, I was curious as to why a handful of teams brought athletes to the forum who had never played a single match for their institution. With so many deserving athletes at these schools who know their cultures, have made sacrifices for years for their respective programs, what is the benefit of coaches selecting players who may have only arrived on campus a few months ago?

[ay2013]

Aug 8, 2024 15:12:35 GMT -5 photos1 said:

Michigan will be the most improved team in the conference. In the mix with Indiana-Illinois-UCLA-Minnesota … Clearly Washington is the most overrated team. There were 4 coaches at B1G media days that appeared over their heads, Gabriel was one of them. 🏐

Washington was picked to finish 13 out of 18. The most "overrated" team in the conference next year? I think you need to pick up a dictionary because clearly you don't know what the word overrated actually means.

Also, I found Gabriel to be rather refreshing, regardless if she's made for the camera or not. She was honest and it felt genuine. Most of the other coaches literally said the exact same rehearsed garbage.

What is weird to me is you think that how someone interviews determines their abilities to coach volleyball. Gabriel has been there for the entirety of Washington's prominence in womens collegiate volleyball since the mid 2000's and has been an integral part in Washington's success both on and off the court. She has a national championship, numerous conference championships, final fours and regionals appearances to her credit. She has coached dozens of All Americans. She is a key part of the reason why you can count the number of transfers out of the Washington program over the last 20 years on pretty much one hand. Our players LIKE the team and LIKE being at Washington, they never leave. The same CANNOT be said for a number of other "elite" programs who have players transferring out regularly. She has been recognized as the national assistant coach of the year. But sure, because you think she didn't interview well it means Washington is the most overrated team and that Gabriel is in over her head.

[dbro1970]

Aug 8, 2024 18:12:34 GMT -5 NYCHusker said:

Aug 8, 2024 15:12:35 GMT -5 photos1 said:

Michigan will be the most improved team in the conference. In the mix with Indiana-Illinois-UCLA-Minnesota … Clearly Washington is the most overrated team. There were 4 coaches at B1G media days that appeared over their heads, Gabriel was one of them. 🏐

Yes, based on photos1's vibes from a press conference that Coach Gabriel participated in for the first time, Washington is CLEARLY overrated on the court 

considering how badl they underperformed last year....

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2024 23:16:19 GMT -5 Kearney Kingston said:

Regarding Big Ten Media Days, I was curious as to why a handful of teams brought athletes to the forum who had never played a single match for their institution. With so many deserving athletes at these schools who know their cultures, have made sacrifices for years for their respective programs, what is the benefit of coaches selecting players who may have only arrived on campus a few months ago?

That was curios. Not sure about that kind of choice.

[Kingsley]

 
Northwestern Wildcats


2023 Record: 15-15

Conference Record: 9-11 (T-8th)

NCAA Tournament Placement: N/A

Final AVCA Ranking: NR


Head Coach: Tim Nollan (1st year at Northwestern)

Record at Northwestern: 0-0

Returning Starters	Departures * - 2023 Starter () - Transfer Destination	New Additions () - Transfer Origin
Kennedy Hill - JR - 6'1 MB Gigi Navarrete - SO - 5'6 DS/L Alexa Rousseau - SR+ - 6'3 S Drew Wright - SO - 5'11 OH/DS	Maddy Chinn* - 6'3 OH/RS Natalie Chizzo - SR+ - 6'3 OH (UIC) Leilani Dodson* - SR+ - 6'1 MB (UCLA) Averie Hernandez* - JR - 6'2 OH (Illinois) Ellie Husemann - 6'3 MB Julia Sangiacomo* - 6'5 OH Ellee Stinson* - SR - 5'2 DS/L (Texas A&M)	Sara Griffith - SR+ - 6'1 MB (DePaul) Cleo Hardin - FR - 6'3 OH Buse Hazan - JR - 5'11 OH (South Florida) Rachel Johnson - JR - 6'0 OH (Holy Cross) Ava Pratt - FR - 6'2 OH Sophia Summers - SR+ - 6'3 MB (Washington) Lily Wagner - SO - 5'11 OH (Liberty)

2023 Results:

2022 was the year that could have been for Northwestern. The Wildcats appeared to be steamrolling toward a historic NCAA Tournament appearance, but a combination of close calls and devastating injuries led to a late-season collapse and a missed opportunity.

That missed opportunity was the backdrop for a 2023 Northwestern team with several new faces. The year started with back-to-back losses to Hawai'i and Oregon in Honolulu. Northwestern notched its first win in the Week 1 finale against San Diego.

Week 2 revealed the duality of Northwestern yet again. The Wildcats took care of Illinois State but suffered an unsightly road loss to Milwaukee out of the Horizon League. Not great.

Three sweeps over Northern Colorado, Northeastern, and Fairfield pulled Northwestern above 0.500. However, the Horizon League bested the Wildcats again as Illinois-Chicago triumphed over its crosstown rival. Again, not great.

The first weekend of conference play featured less-than-ideal matchups for Northwestern. Wisconsin and Penn State quickly tallied straight-set wins in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Michigan State got a road win, too.

Northwestern finally earned a conference win in one of the strangest ways possible. Purdue trounced its purple-clad visitors for two consecutive sets before the Wildcats put together a wild reverse sweep. Northwestern's first B1G win was also a ranked win.

The next time Northwestern saw the floor, it handed Michigan its first conference win, too. We were witnessing a familiar narrative for the Northwestern program: a team constantly in flux between being fairly solid to really, really bad.

The Wildcats put together a decent stretch with wins over Michigan State and Maryland, accompanied by a five-set road loss to Minnesota. However, the losses soon began to pile up as the Wildcats dropped five of the next seven. At least Northwestern got to ruin Indiana's season.

Northwestern salvaged its season with four wins in its last five contests. Sure, this wasn't against the conference's upper echelon: wins over Rutgers, Illinois, and a season sweep over Iowa. This put Northwestern in a tie for eighth with Michigan State. The NCAA Tournament was never within reach as it had been in 2022.

Head Coach Shane Davis and Northwestern "mutually parted ways" on Dec. 1 after Davis's eighth season with the program. His final record at Northwestern was 103-128 with a 0.300 winning percentage in conference play.

The Wildcats unveiled their new leader in February. Tim Nollan signed with Northwestern after eight seasons at the helm for Grand Canyon University. He compiled a 120-92 overall record with the Lopes and guided GCU to the 2023 Western Athletic Conference title.


2023 Lineup:

To Northwestern's credit, the Wildcats had a core lineup it wanted to deploy through most of 2023. That didn't always happen for one reason or another, but the effort was there.

Senior setter Alexa Rousseau was back. The six-foot-three distributor had a long-term injury that put a wrench in Northwestern's 2022 plans, but she was still the team's unquestioned incumbent in 2023. Rousseau ran Northwestern's quick, often hot-and-cold offense and was frequently an attacking threat on the second contact. She finished with triple-digit kills for the second time in her career.

Junior defensive specialist Ellee Stinson slid into the libero jersey after the graduation of veteran Megan Miller. Stinson saw backcourt action as soon as she arrived at Northwestern in 2021. Her insertion into the libero role was widely expected, and Stinson finished second among Big Ten players in digs per set behind Purdue's Maddie Schermerhorn.

The starting middle blockers were both returning commodities. Leilani Dodson retained the M1 spot after transferring in for the 2021 season. Her slide attack was by far the most effective on the Northwestern roster, and she paced all Wildcat attackers with 0.340 clip in 2023. Dodson even finished second in the team's final kill tally and usually stayed on to serve. She did a lot.

Kennedy Hill locked down the M2 spot for almost the entire 2023 season. She played in only 11 sets as a freshman but was the top choice over Minnesota graduate transfer Ellie Husemann. Hill hit 0.314 on the year and nearly matched Dodson's block total, but she did not receive nearly as much offensive volume. It's the life of an M2.

On to the newbies. For most of the season, Northwestern's opposite was Purdue graduate transfer Maddy Chinn. The fifth-year player made the Indiana-to-Illinois swap and posted a career-high 198 kills on the year. That can mostly be attributed to seeing more floor time and being out of the revolving door that characterized her Boilermaker career. Chinn only hit 0.185 in her final collegiate season.

The Wildcats wielded their most important new addition at L2: Santa Clara graduate transfer Julia Sangiacomo. The six-foot-five outside hitter put up huge numbers throughout her career with the Broncos, and she brought the same energy in her one-off season in Evanston. Sangiacomo easily led the team in kills despite missing five matches and not playing in the front row in a sixth. She effectively defeated Purdue by herself.

Sophomore Averie Hernandez was the leading option at the other outside hitter position. Northwestern had to shuffle the deck during Sangiacomo's absences, which sometimes entailed moving Chinn to the left and putting returning sophomore Kathryn Randorf on the right.

The two notable defensive specialists behind Stinson were both freshmen. Local recruit Gigi Navarrete came in for the L1 and played in all of Northwestern's matches. Drew Wright, listed as an outside hitter, was also a wire-to-wire backcourt contributor and subbed in for the opposite.


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2024 Projected Lineup:

Take everything you know about the 2023 team and discard most of it.

We might as well start with who's still here. Rousseau decided to take her fifth year with the Wildcats and will presumably set the offense again. Northwestern would love for her to return to her 2022 pre-injury form when she was facilitating the offense well.

Navarrete is listed as the only defensive specialist on the 2024 roster. Seriously, look at it. Stinson is off to Texas A&M. We'll take the liberty of slotting Navarrete into the contrasting jersey by default, and she at least got plenty of reps as a freshman. Keep in mind that Wright carried her DS role despite carrying an outside hitter designation. She has to get more time in the backcourt. Northwestern doesn't have anyone else.

Does Hill move to the M1 spot as the returning veteran? Northwestern doesn't have much depth at the position, either. Two portal additions are in the picture, and one of them was just announced a few days ago. The leading candidate to start alongside Hill seems to be Washington graduate transfer Sophia Summers. Summers has been a far better blocker than a terminator, which could support a move to M1 for Hill. The other middle blocker is Sara Griffith, who was officially announced as a Wildcat right before fall camp. We don't have a big sample size to work from after Griffith's prior stops at DePaul and South Florida.

We're now left to sort through the nine players listed as outside hitters on Northwestern's roster. That's a lot. All three of last year's primary pins are gone. The longest-tenured Wildcat here is Randorf, who could conceivably play on either side of the setter. Junior Rylen Reid played sparingly last year but hit negative.

So, we're left to wade through a sea of freshmen and transfers. Wright could defy everyone and play in the front row, but we'll see. Keep tabs on Buse Hazan, the Turkish junior who put up a first-team all-AAC performance with South Florida last year. She put down about four kills per set last year but was up and down in the efficiency column. Another junior, Rachel Johnson, joins the Wildcats from Holy Cross. She hit 0.134 with the Patriot League squad in 2023. We also have second-year outside hitter Lily Wagner, who played sparingly with Liberty University.

The freshmen are Ava Pratt and Cleo Hardin. Get ready to see any combination of these names. Or all of them in different places at different times. It's a lot to take in.


2024 Schedule:

The Tim Nollan era starts on the road with matches against UNLV and Pacific. Any predictions are valid for this one. Northwestern could feasibly lose both or win both. Or, you know, the other possible outcomes.

The Wildcats then double dip with Long Beach State on the road. It's a battle of first-year head coaches. Northwestern will not be favored.

Welsh-Ryan's grand opening finally arrives in a Sept. 12 bout with Notre Dame. This will be tough, and Northwestern reciprocates with a trip to South Bend two days later.

Northwestern wraps up with another home-and-home series with Northern Illinois. All these double-stacked matches mean the Wildcats only play five unique opponents before conference play. That's weird.

Super weird:

Home + Away	Home	Away

2024 Outlook:

We're one year removed from Michigan posting a 7-22 record under a first-year head coach. Northwestern will likely see a similar fate in 2024.

The extent of Northwestern's roster turnover is unsurprising, but it's still jarring. All three of the pins will be new, but at least the Wildcats have a lot to choose from. I just don't know who will be where and how it all translates to Big Ten play.

Rousseau is Northwestern's best asset at the setter spot. She has the unenviable task of tying together a large group of transfers and a small group of backcourt players into something mildly competitive. That's an extraordinary burden.

Northwestern was picked to finish 16th in the conference, just ahead of Rutgers and Iowa. It's hard to see many opportunities to climb higher than that. The rebuild begins.