Your way too detailed summary of the scrimmage from today.
Not dressed: OHs Emmi Sellman and Ella Wrobel. Neither had an obvious brace, cast, or crutches. Both sat on the bench the entire first set, but alternated between sitting and standing the rest of the match, so it could be anything from precaution due to a slight injury to a suspension, so we won't know their availability for the first game until Friday afternoon.
Set 1 starting line up (JFO's starting lineup today based on history)
S: Mia Tuman
Opp: Emily Londot
OH: Grace Egan
OH: Lauren Murphy with DS: Sydney Taylor replacing her for the back row after Murphy served
MB: Rylee Rader (server) and Eloise Brandewie
L: Olivia Hasbrook
Serving Sub: Kaitlyn Hoffman once for Grace Egan
This lineup looked the best of all the combinations used today and I expect it to be the primary lineup for the year, except for a healthy Sellman or Wrobel to replace Murphy.
Set 1: OSU 25-16
Set 2: OSU 25-18 with Taylor and Hasbrook switching L and DS. Zaria Ragler replace Eloise at MB
Set 3: NKU 25-21. Kamiah Gibson in at setter, Hasbrook and Taylor switch back to set 1 alignment. Kaia Castle and Eloise at MB. Reese Wuebker (generously listed at 5'9") played OH for Murphy and really struggled. OSU was about +7 in this set with Egan in the front row and lost the set by 4 because Gibson was trying to force the middle because Reese was struggling to hit down. NKU also smartly targeted a lot of hits to the noticeably shorter block on the leftside. This isn't a Luper situation where Wuebker plays bigger than her height and shouldn't factor into any game for OSU.
Set 4: OSU 25-15. Gibson stays at setter. Hasbrook and Taylor switch again. Murphy back at OH. Ragler and Eloise at MB.
My thoughts/observations:
-I liked Hasbrook at libero. She is very quick and athletic. She reminds me of freshman year Kylie Murr, because she looked better during the rally than serve receive. She struggled at the beginning of the match with a couple of serve receive errors, but settled in and only had 1 other noticeable issue during a NKU run in the 3rd set. I hope she is the starting libero because she should improve with playing time and I already thought she looked better than Taylor was today or has been the past 3 years. Hasbrook also has a nice set and a couple of times jumped from the back row to take a second contact with her hands, which is something we haven't regularly seen from an OSU libero since Valeria Leon.
-Londot back at Opp was good to see because I think she looks more comfortable hitting from that side of the floor than she looked on the left last year. She did hit on the left when she was front left in serve receive, with Egan hitting on the right. Londot was in the serve receive pattern when Murphy was in the game, but I don't know if that would continue if Wrobel or Sellman replace Murphy like I expect to happen.
-Mia Tuman needs to stay healthy for this team to compete in the B1G. She set a better ball today than last year and will benefit from the relaxed double contact, because it doesn't always look pretty coming out of her hand, but they were mostly in good locations. A little bit of struggle on the backset for Londot, but Emily has been hitting junk for 4 years already and I think sometimes hits better on non-perfect sets. Gibson really struggled in her 2 sets. There were at least 4 sets that could not be hit by the middle or outside because they were below the tape. She also just has slower feet and doesn't get to the ball as well as Tuman.
-Grace Egan looked sharp and confident coming off only playing 4 matches last year before her injury. She looked just as explosive today as she did before the injury last year. I like how aggressively she swings at a variety of balls and has a quick arm. She passed very well today and is a good defender in the back row. She missed on a couple of backrow attacks, but I think the sets need a bit more height for her. I think she will be the best player on the team this year.
I came out of today more bullish on the team this year, because it was in control over an inferior team in a way that they didn't do last year. I'm really curious to see the status of Sellman and Wrobel and who will start as the other OH for Friday.
