DAYTON (OH) — The UD Vball team have recently fallen a couple of points short of playing in the sweet sixteen. They have been so close both seasons and some of the credit goes to the opposition raising their level of play at just the right time. Each time in the past two years the Flyers passing and sometimes serving let them down in crucial situations. As some of you know I have repeatedly quoted Karch Kiraly (probably the best player ever) when he said that the most important skill in vball is the forearm pass. You will never hear me understate the importance of great liberos and DS players.

When you are playing against top 20 volleyball teams you cannot serve simply to get the serve in, it would almost certainly lead to your defeat. You must put pressure on the other team’s passing. When the pass is off the net it does two things: 1) It generally forces the setter to set the ball higher which gives more time to set your block and defense, 2) Unless you are playing against a top 5 setter it limits their options of where to set the ball. Your chance of winning a point go up dramatically if the first pass is mediocre. When you serve aggressively it improves you chances of winning the point and missed serves will occur when you are doing this.

There are times when it appears that the team might be just hitting the ball over without being aggressive. Some of these serves are made with a strategy in mind. You might serve to a really good hitter because this might take them out of the play offensively. Moving to pass the ball and then getting into proper position for approaching the ball can sometimes be impossible.

Graduation Losses

Yvonne Marten was the lone graduating senior from last year’s team. Yvonne was a very physical player at the net both on offense and defense. Her back row defense last year was underestimated particularly when it was her first season playing there. But, Yvonne will be missed more for her leadership. Few people endured the many surgeries and roadblocks that Yvonne overcame. As Kelly said in a previous article some players remain forefront in the thoughts of future players and Yvonne is one of those.

Returning Players

The Flyers return a lot of talent. They are led by:
　
Megan Campbell – Middle Blocker

AVCA Third Team All-America
AVCA First Team All-Northeast Region.
Atlantic 10 First Team All-Conference … Academic All-Conference.
Capital One Academic All-District First Team.
　
Rachel Krabacher – Left Outside Hitter
　
Atlantic 10 Player of the Year
AVCA All American Honorable Mention, First Team All Northeast Reqion
Atlantic 10 First Team All conference
　
Samantha Selsky – Setter

AVCA All-America Honorable Mention
AVCA First Team All-Northeast Region.
Atlantic 10 Setter of the Year
A-10 First Team All-Conference
　
Paige Vargas – Libero
　
Atlantic 10 Second Team All Conference
　
In addition to the players listed above who won all american and A10 conference awards the Flyers return Shayne Brown who started at Right Side and had some tremendous games. Isolde Hannan started the entire season as #2 Middle Blocker as a freshman. Ally Morey played DS last year and contributed with her serving and defensive play. Rachel Jones saw playing time as a DS while Brigid Campbell saw time as a left outside hitter.

Kaitlyn Krause a talented setter and Angel Agu a middle/RS both return as redshirt freshmen.
　
Newcomers

The Flyers added four freshmen who all appear to be capable of helping the team this year. I was impressed with all of them at the Red/Blue Scrimmage. They are already good vball players, not just good athletes trying to learn how to play. They should all contribute to winning matches at UD.

Jenna Jendryk is a 6′ multi talented player from Wheaton, Illinois. During her high school career she played left side, right side and setter. She is a savvy player that will get better and better once she settles on a position.

Janna Krafka is a talented libero from nearby Centerville High School. I was very impressed with watching her play in the Red/Blue Scrimmage. Kelly said that she passed at a 2.7 rate in the scrimmage. She can become a player that opposing coaches game plan against.

Jill Loiars is a 6’4″ MB/RS from Winter Springs, Florida. She gives the Flyers a physical presence at the night on the Right Side. She crushed a couple of balls during the Red/Blue scrimmage.

Alaina Turner is a 5’10” outside hitter from Canton, Michigan. Alaina is not a physically imposing player but don’t let her size or big smile fool you. She has great hops and hits the ball with much more power than I would have expected.

Player Improvement

I was really impressed at the Red/Blue Scrimmage with the improvement made by returning players. The sophomores looked much improved and more comfortable. Rachel Jones looked much more comfortable and confident in the back row. Angel Agu and Brigid Campbell looked much more comfortable and confident at the net than last season a as did Brigid Campbell. Isolde Hannan has shown tremendous improvement according to Coach Sheffield which will be more obvious when she is playing with Sam Selsky.

Rachel Krabacher is passing the ball even better than last season, using the Red/Blue scrimmage as my only baseline.

Red/Blue Scrimmage Impressions

The first thing that stood out when watching the Red/Blue scrimmage is that this is a deep team. All players appear to have good general volleyball skills.

The defense and blocking was very good after having ten days of practice. I didn’t ask Kelly for stats on other players but I know that Janna passed at a 2.7 rate while Rachel was at 2.6. Paige Vargas, Ally Morey, Alaina Turner, Brigid Campbell and Jenna Jendryk also showed good passing ability.

I wish I had tape to review but a couple of great plays come to mind. Janna made a great pancake save on a dink about seven feet from the net. The other one was a shoot set to the middle hitter by Kaitlyn on a ball that was about waist high.

There were times when the sets weren’t what a hitter expected but that is to be expected after ten days of practice and playing with a different setter than normal.

Projected Starters

There are a few positions locked in stone. Rachel Krabacher, Megan Campbell, Samantha Selsky and Paige Vargas will probably start in the first match of the season. I haven’t confirmed this with Kelly but they are All A10 performers.

Janna will push Rachel and Ally for the primary DS position. It is hard to ignore Janna’s 2.7 passing rating in the Red/Blue Scrimmage.

There is definitely a battle for the left side spot vacated by Yvonne Marten. It would appear right now that Alaina might have a lead but you also have Brigid Campbell and Jenna Jendryk who can play this position.

At the RS you have Shayne Brown as the returning starter but there is a battle at this position also. Jenna Jendryk has played RS in high school and Jill Loiars has height and length that can make a difference when blocking. Kelly said that this is a tough battle.

What Will Happen This Season?

The Flyers were unanimously chosen as the team expected to finish first in the Atlantic 10. When you return the player of the year, setter of the year, another first team all conference player and a second team all conference player this sounds like a smart selection.

The teams challenging the Flyers this year are expected to be Xavier and St Louis followed by GW, Duquesne, VCU and Butler. I expect the matches against Xavier and St Louis to be close again this year. When Xavier and St Louis pass the ball well they are tough to stop.

But, the players have made it clear that they want to reach the elite eight this year. That is achievable but it depends upon the draw and executing at a high level when crunch times comes in the ncaa tournament.

If you can host the first weekend of the NCAA tournament it makes the path to a sweet sixteen appearance easier. Ideally you would like to be ranked in the top 16 to increase your chances of hosting the first round. Non Conferences matches against Illinois, Pepperdine, Ohio U, Ohio State, Western Kentucky, Tennessee Tech, Minnesota, Tulsa, Kansas State, Cincinnati are all important for giving the team a chance to host first round matches.

This is a very challenging schedule starting with the Flyer Classic this weekend. It is possible that the Flyers might not go undefeated for the entire A10 conference season but I expect the Flyers to be playing in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. This could be UD’s first trip to the sweet sixteen and hopefully beyond that.