undVBfan

It was what I thought it would be. Everyone played, teams were mixed up, so the coaches got lots of looks at everyone, but not a lot of take-aways for the rest us. At least not for me. I did see some nice things. There were a few legit backrow attacks, which could help take the stress off of the outsides on a less than perfect pass. They set the outsides on 2 on freeballs a few times, maybe influenced by the beach option offense? I don't see any of the freshman making too much of an impact right now. Saw flashes of doing some nice things, but it's ALOT to go from high school to college and be able to compete right away. Maybe I'm wrong, which would be a good thing; (healthy) competition at all positions tends to improve performance. Saturday will be a better indication of potential. I believe it is still just an exhibition, but I suspect both teams will be playing their starters, at least for the first couple of sets.

Time to start thinking/talking about the upcoming season Green/White scrimmage Saturday (8/17) @ 12 PM. Expect players to be switched around from team to team. Last year a few guys from the men's club team played. It'll be good to see them play again, but I wouldn't plan on taking anything from the match in terms of how they will do this year. Exhibition against Mankato State 8/24 @ 12 PM. I suspect this will be the first real look at the new team, at least the first set or two. It too might be something where everyone plays at some point.

I pretty sure Olson is gone, grad school at Colorado State (I think). De Jong is in the transfer portal. Not a complete surprise, given the limited amount of playing time to date. Haven't heard anything about Gayle. Regardless of anything else, I hope she's healthy. She would definitely be a plus, if available. Harper, the middle transfer from U Mary, should help. The competition in the Summit won't be substantially better than what she saw from the best teams from the Northern Sun. She should bring some much needed experience to the middle while the middle recruits get up to speed with the college game, literally and figuratively.

Yes, Merseli, thanks.

First, scrimmage against NDSU on Saturday. It looked like a scrimmage against BSU. Everyone played, which is what I expected. Obviously they need to get better everywhere, as does everyone else. :-) I think the coaches were more interesting in seeing everyone in competition than winning the "match." Thoughts from last year, looking forward include: Need for outsides who can terminate out-of-systems balls. We can't always count on a tempo set against a single block, sometimes we just need to be more physical than they are. A legit backrow threat, something to take the pressure off the outsides when the pass isn't perfect. It's been years since I recall having someone hit out of the pipe as a first option. Maybe the junior college transfers from Eastern Europe (or wherever) that played for Prior? The middles are where I see the most work to be done. We lost 2 experienced, 5+ year middles. That is going to be a challenge to replace for this next year. Being an effective middle blocker is SO much more than the number of blocks they get. They need to be physical enough to be a legit threat when set, and to be able to slow down the other team at the net.

Scrimmage tonight at 7 PM against Bemidji State. If it is like last year they will likely play at least 4, and probably 5 sets, regardless of scores. I suspect everyone coming back will play, and they might be "creative" with the subbing.

No cherry coating, no one is happy about the season, it's just the reality of the situation. Until some big donor starts writing some 5 or 6 figure NIL checks, it's going to take time. Patience you must have, my young padawan.

Oh, so many things to discuss... Regarding the non-conference schedule. The Summit is a AQ conference. The only thing that matters regarding post-season is winning the conference. So, the non-conference doesn't matter, record wise. Tough competition is good for growth, weak competition is good for the record. Teams that NEED to get better with post-season in mind schedule for growth, teams that need to salvage a record schedule for the record. I think this season was more towards growth, but it's not like Nebraska or Wisconsin were on the schedule. I'm frustrated by the season, but in fairness, I think I was hoping for too much, too soon. The coaching change was needed, and was SUCH as breathe of fresh air compared to the previous staff. That alone create unfair expectations. They showed promise early, but I think we are expecting too much way to too early. I clearly see things moving in the right direction. Instant results would be nice, but it's not going to happen. I have faith in the coaching staff and what they are trying to do, and I've been watching UND volleyball for WAY longer than most. Regarding this season, lots of underclass players are on the floor. That is not an excuse, but I have to believe we wouldn't be better if the seniors were on the court. The coaches put on the floor who they feel will do the best. If the freshmen or sophomores aren't getting it done right now, I believe the "older" players would be doing worse. I have no inside knowledge of why some players aren't playing, but I do have faith that there are reason for who ends up on the court. We also don't know about the "other" reason players don't play, such as unannounced injuries or personnel reasons. The current coaching staff needs room. Not an endless runway, but a runway. They need time to put their young recruits into the system. I would be worried about anyone that would completely turn the program around in a year or two, I would question the recruiting tactics. It takes time. We live in a microwave society and I think this is is an oven problem. It would be nice if they were winning more today, but I give them two, or more like three years minimum. If things are better next year, which I expect, it'll keep moving in the right direction. And it'll grow from there. It takes years of unrecognized growth for the "came from nowhere" moment. Just my $0.02, and you get what you pay for.

One thing I found interesting during the introductions is they played UNO's "intro video," for lack of a better name. At home matches (for all sports) we always play our video, but not the visiting teams. I took that as a cool thing to do for UNO during this match. I doubt they will do that for any other match, unless B1G conference rules state otherwise.

Green White scrimmage this Saturday (8/12) @ 1 PM. Exhibition against UMC 8/19 also at 1 PM. Neither day should tell us a lot about the season, but it will be good to see the new faces on the court. I think they have the potential to make things interesting this year. There are lots of moving pieces, many of them new, for the Tupacs to get into sync.

Just saw this on the website: April 2 at Minnesota State April 6 Bemidji State at UND 7 PM April 15 at Southwest State April 22 South Dakota State at UND 11 AM

Lindquist and Ward were grad students. Ward played in every match, no idea if she graduated, is out of eligibility, or just done. Lindquist didn't play a lot, so it's not surprising. Pribyl did the Senior thing at the end of the season, so we knew she was done. Saw that she is listed as a volunteer coach. I tried to include the thumbs up emoji but it won't let me. Sewell isn't listed now. I know she graduated. I think she had a COVID year left, so I'm surprised she isn't going to grad school. I think she's still in town, maybe she'll enroll over the summer. :-) Julson didn't play much, so it's not surprising. No idea if she's looking elsewhere or decided it's time to just be a student. Don't know what the story is with Carney. I don't know if there is something to her not playing at the end of the season. I didn't hear that she graduated, but I could have missed it. UND is now down two setters from last year with a freshman coming in. I would think the team would want her experience, they are one sprained ankle away from a true freshman as the only setter. I suspect there is more to the story... I don't know any of these players, or what they are doing now. I can't fault any student athlete who chooses to step back from the grind. I witnessed first hand what the grid of college volleyball can do to the body and mind (not at UND) while trying to balance school, health, and relationships. Wherever they end up, good luck.

A couple of thoughts leading up to the conference tournament. How many thought 12-17 overall and 9-9 in conference was possible before the season started? From where we were this is nothing but a HUGE turnaround. This is to be commended regardless of how they play this weekend. Thinking back to August, we are way ahead and playing with house money right now. This has been a huge step in the right direction. Lots of new faces on the floor this year, and not all were Tupac recruits. I think all of Tiffin's last recruiting class saw a fair amount of court time as freshmen. All three setters are from the Tiffin era. Interesting how a change in leadership can make a difference. We also saw this with Hardee winning with Peterson's players in his first year. We knew the first half of the schedule would be much easier than the second half, so the results of the past few weeks is not surprising. This last weekend didn't look good, but it also didn't matter regarding the standings and a bunch of the regulars didn't seem to play. I'm wondering if the college season isn't having an impact on the freshmen. The transition to D1 regarding time commitments, travel, and being a college student in their spare time (a joke) might have been exciting in August and September, but has to be a grind for those who haven't experienced it before. I'm expecting to hear about a few owies impacting players once the season is done. I don't have any inside info, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear about at least one player experiencing shoulder issues in the second half of the season, and at least one with knee issues. Everyone is now 0-0, so hopefully that can help refill the tanks and refresh the attitudes. I like NDSU for an opponent. I think we matched up well with them and we are 5-5 in sets for the year. Should be an interesting match.

These were 2 of the winnable conference matches last year, so this might be a good indication of initial improvements under new management. Still, it's baby steps. Even though I see things going in the right direction, it'll take time to get back to level of just a few years ago. These will be the first matches that really matter, so it will be interesting to see who is on the court. I agree with siouxvblove's assessment, those 5 will be on the court. McCormick looks to have secured her place in the backrow. What color jersey will depend upon where Carney plays. And after watching Norris hit in the scrimmages I wondered why she wasn't hitting last season. Don't answer that question.

I suspect it's more like he thinks he has his starters, regardless of class, and is giving some/most one more chance to change his mind.