Louisville NCAA First Round

[Radar]

Go Flyers!

[jack72]

Is it on TV or web?

[CE80]

Originally Posted by jack72 Is it on TV or web?

It's on BTN to Go. There is a link on daytonflyers.com

[jack72]

Originally Posted by CE80 It's on BTN to Go. There is a link on daytonflyers.com

Thanks. I think it is an extra pay channel on the internet.

[ud69]

Well. Our NCAA tournament ended quickly.

[BeckysTXA]

We were up 17-11 in the first set and gave it away. We were up 18-11 in the second set and gave it away. Can’t do that in the NCAAs. They had all th3 momentum in the 3rd. We were a step slow on the block and they made our backrow pay. They also passedbetter than we did.

Future s very bright. Good for all these players to get this experience. Looking forward to being a Top 16 seed and hosting next year. We had basically the same W-L record as last year, but we had a much tougher schedule. We need to continue to Schedule tough and get after it this spring and in the off-season.

[Chris R]

I think ultimately the team that competed in the NCAAs vs Louisville was the team that competed in the regular season. This is who we were -- a team that struggled with holding onto leads against top competition and a team that had trouble stopping other teams from getting on these extended runs. That was our identity this year. We saw it early in the year, middle, and obviously late.

That said knowing this is sort of who we were, we got the performance we sort of expected so Im not all that disappointed. Yeah we could have won the first two sets and things would have been different. But we didnt. We didnt for a reason. Louisville gives out schollies too and plays in the ACC. They are really good. They have athletes. They clawed back for a reason. We got beat by a better team tonight. If you get swept, you did. That's the long and short of it. Normally you dont beat teams that are better than you. That's called an upset. 80% of the people on Volleytalk picked Louisville to win for a reason.

So not disappointed. I think we more or less maxed out on talent and upside this year. Losing Moore was huge at the beginning of the year -- she was destined to be A10 Rookie of the Year (thankful Papish took over and won it) and at her size just changes the game at the net. You need big girls like this in the NCAAs to re-direct other teams and intimidate. Even as a frosh she would have helped out a lot as just another player in the rotation and another hot hand to ride. Then we missed Peterson all year who may be the best natural talent in the entire A10. We had a lot going against us. We were played 2-3 frosh on the court a LOT.

Bruns really stepped up this year as "the horse" -- a role she wasnt asked to play until now. Westbeld really blossomed. We got some good stuff from the frosh. We will miss Brown, Wolf too. But we have pieces coming back and hopefully healthy ones. Knocking off VCU in the A10 Final at VCU in a fifth set to punch our NCAA ticket was a HUGE season salvage for us that makes this season feel pretty good otherwise. VCU had our number and were a tough matchup the last cpl years. To get that mojo back was big and I think w can build on it for next year.

We had some obvious weaknesses this year but 20+ wins again, beating OSU, Tenn, and making the NCAAs aint bad for a team that was rocked by personnel losses and forced frosh into starting roles. Yep we could had Washington and Kansas scalps but honestly they were probably better teams. Overall I think we finished where our talent allowed. You do that and not a ton to feel sorry about. Just need to keep upgrading talent and staying healthy. Best days are ahead of us.

By the way it was a rock star day earlier in the week. Coach Horsmon locked someone up!

[Figgie123]

Thank you to Kendyll Brown, Lauren Bruns and Margo Wolf for the time in a Dayton Flyers uniform.

Kendyll finishes her career at #9 in block assists with 326, with this year being #17 best for a season with 118.

Lauren finishes her career #13 in attempts with 3,042, #11 in kills with 1,227 and #27 in block assists with 197. This season puts her at #14 in a season for attempts with 1,161 and #8 in kills with 502.

Margo finishes her career at #3 for most digs in history with 1,820. Her sophomore, junior and senior seasons are #3, #9 and #15, respectively, in digs per season with 560, 512 and 452.

Congratulations Ladies!

Stats provided by Figstats

[UDSpud]

I am having trouble with Chris R's 11-30 post (where he says "Best days are ahead of us" and the 12-01 post of Figgie 123 which details the 3 great (or at least very good) seniors who graduate.

For the 2019 season, it does not appear that any of the three senior's will be replaced by others better (or as good?) as them. I do think, 2020 could be excellent.

[Figgie123]

Originally Posted by UDSpud I am having trouble with Chris R's 11-30 post (where he says "Best days are ahead of us" and the 12-01 post of Figgie 123 which details the 3 great (or at least very good) seniors who graduate. For the 2019 season, it does not appear that any of the three senior's will be replaced by others better (or as good?) as them. I do think, 2020 could be excellent.

Let's look at how things will most likely play out. I'm going to ignore incoming players since I don't know how they will fit in.

Let's start with what seems like the easiest one to choose. Margo Wolf is replaced with Maura Collins. Maura Collins was the main DS and had 265 digs to Wolf's 452. In Wolf's freshman year, Margo had 296 digs behind Krafk's 534 digs. That's with Alaina Turner going 6 rotations and having 261 digs herself. Krafka graduated, and Wolf took the libero position. Similar situation here.

Next in line is Kendyll Brown. Her freshman year, she was behind Amber Erhahon and Angel Agu. She only played in 8 matches, but was #2 MB behind Amber for her sophomore career. Then was #1 MB her last 2 years. This year we had Amelia Moore who showed promise, but got injured, and we saw some of Molly Asmus as well. We also had Dubay playing the last part of the year. With this incoming transfer at 6'3", we might have a slew of MB's next year.

Then we have Lauren Bruns. In 2015, Alaina Turner was #1 LS with Sloan and Loiars as #2. Bruns became #2 when Turner and Loiars graduated, and she's been there since. Bruns went from 165 attempts to 791 attempts from 1st to 2nd year. This year, Bruns was #1 and Papesh was #2, so Papesh will most likely slide into LS #1 very easily and they may put Asmus, Van Lanen or Pla as #2.

It looks to me like the staff has put together a nice reload of weapons for next year.