Great info figgie! Thanks for all the details.
First, it was good to hear Mackenzie was on the court. Based on the DDN writeup she has been out sick and it appeared to be up in the air when she would be back. Missed practice time may have played into her playing on the blue team at this point. Also sorry to hear Olivia didn’t suit up. One would have to assume some type of injury. Because of her absence, we don’t know if she is ahead of the two freshmen at MB or not.
The surprise was Alli Papesh at MB. It might have been because Olivia was out and we were short there. I will be shocked if she plays there long-term during her UD career, but who knows. If she is quick off her feet to hit the low-quick set and has great lateral movement/ speed to get to both outsides to set blocks, she might be the second coming of POY Amber. We would all take that.
But most likely I see Kendyll and Amelia starting at MB next weekend if Olivia is out.
Lauren will be our OH1 and then it appears Mikaylah is the best backrow OH so far and if the first match was today she would win the OH2 spot based on the combination of her 6 rotation skills (front and back row). But Alli also has great 6 rotation skills and Mackenzie’s back row skills are also very good. So I expect the OH competition to continue into the season.
Setter and Rightside OH: Based on both the DDN and figgie reports, I would say we are leaning towards playing two setters. There are a couple ways to play two setters. The first is to simply have your setters sub in for each other every 3 rotations. We could do this. Bridget being the shorter setter always playing the backrow and Brooke being the taller setter always playing the front row to set, attack and block. That means for Brooke’s rotations you only have two hitters in the front row - which is what you have when you play one setter.
Second option is to go with 2 Rightside OHs and 2 setters and have them sub in for each other. This puts both setters always in the back row with 3 hitters always in the front row. You always have to hide your setter on serve receive so she doesn’t take the first touch and gets into position in the front row to take the second touch - the set. You use one less DS in this system and one more Rightside DS. Brooke would also not be able to block in this system or attack above the net.
The last couple years, all of our OHs have played both right and left so they don’t have to overlap/switch during the serve. That’s becoming the “norm” over 10 years ago everyone was doing a lot of switching. So Lauren and Mackenzie can play both pins and I would assume Alli and Mikaylah can too. Sierra was a MB in high school. Moving to RSOH is a common transition. Hitting from the left would take a little more time to get the angles down.
Finally, Margo will be our L. It sounds like there is a battle for the DS job between Collins and Beyers. You can never have too many good backrow players and if Collins and Beyers push each other for the Colored Jersey the next 4 years we will be very good - because it all starts with a pass.
The rotation looks to be 8-9 players. 3-4 of them could be freshmen.
