undVBfan

I heard that was a plan for early September. Now maybe that has gone away? Or maybe they are trying to salvage it? One of the teams I thought would be there doesn't list UND on their schedule, another still shows UND on theirs. I suspect someone had a late change of plans and the athletic department is scrambling to figure something out. Again, it's what I heard...

And he's recruiting from the area. 😀 Paeton Strand from MPCG is a commit for 27, although that may be a challenge at middle.

Two more in the roster that I seemed to miss - Elena Stefanov (6'3" OPP) and Ela Vlaisavlevic (6'0" setter). Both are listed as freshman. Maybe they've been on the roster for a while and I just missed them. 🤷‍♂️ Looks like 8 new recruits for the new coach and 3 or 4 from the Tupac era. And I just saw that Paetyn Strang from MPCG has given a verbal for Fall 27.

And one more libero to the roster, Bilge Balla from Turkey. It will be interesting to see what the roster looks like come August. No non-conference schedule as of now, just the Summit schedule. I would think that would be listed soon.

And one more. Lilliana Montes. 6'4" middle with 2 years of eligibility left. Played at Maryland Easter Shore. For those of you keeping score, that gives us 9 returners, 3 that were recruited by Tupac (McIntosh, Dufner, Patton), 1 transfer from the Tupac era (Jacobson), and at least 5 freshmen/transfers from the Nguyen era, all 6 months of it (Montes, Zaric, Zelonka, Jevic, Marong). It's going to be an interesting fall.

One more addition. Andrea Zaric, an outside with one year of eligibility. She played against coach in the Northeast Conference, so he really knows who he's getting. And maybe one more reason why we didn't want some people. 🙂

I know. But she tipped a lot, so there is definitely an element of truth in the statement.

A bit harsh, but she did roll WAY more than I liked. I love the notion that fortune favors the brave, I think there is something to it. I hope it's a great move for both her and UND.

Mattie Dalton is gone, supposedly going to Drake. She's not listed on UND's 26 roster. She was second on the team in kills, which surprises me. She is a little undersized for this level, and didn't seem to have the arm to make up for it. Plus there are three OH/OPP's coming in, all 6' or taller, so that might have contributed to the decision.

So you are disappointed that coach isn't doing more to circumvent the recruiting rules? And yes, I understand the realities of recruiting. Your friends daughter received an invite to camp, which is not nothing. It's possible that is all the interest coach has in this player mat this time. Or maybe he'll wait until he can officially her to initiate more contact. In a year, if she is someone he's really interested in, she'll know. Either way, given this one data point, it seems like you're looking hard to find a problem that isn't there.

How do you know he isn't recruiting from the region? There are only so many players from the region who can play D1, and those who can play next year are already signed - of which we got 2 from ND (Tupac recruits), 3 if you count Tessa Washington from NDSCS/Wisconsin. Tessa looks to have signed April 2025, played at NDSCS last season, and is now listed on the 2026 roster. Right now he's finding players that everyone has missed, which basically means looking overseas. Any serious recruiting of locals right now would be for kids playing 16s/maybe 17s and couldn't be here for at least a year, likely two. And that's if we can get them, our record of the past few years doesn't make it easier. I haven't met the new coach, but I can all but guarantee he'll take all of the studs from the region he can get, once he can get them 🙂, but talent still trumps region.

It's possible UND didn't have a presence, but it's also likely they were there. If I ran into any of the staff in Target I'd put it 50-50 I'd recognize the head coach and less than 1% I'd recognize the new assistants. Coaches there would be looking at 17's and 18's for the diamonds in the rough that others missed as well as the younger divisions for early recruiting, so if they were there they would be all over the place and easy to miss. There is also lots of volleyball to be watched with USAV, AAU and JVA organizations and they can't be everywhere. I'd like to see a local/regional flavor to the lineup and I suspect any coach would as well. Regardless, I wouldn't put too much on a dad not seeing someone from UND at the tournament. I haven't met him yet, but I'm pretty sure Coach Nguyen didn't get where he is without looking everywhere for talent.

Another signing, Sally Marong from Germany. Looks to be a 5'10 outside. Should have 4 years of eligibility. The international recruits seemed to work for him at FD, let's hope for more of the same here.

Kimanni Rugley -> Winthrop

Well, we're going to see Nguyen's recruiting skills put to the test right away. From the portal: Vanessa Washington -> Akron Sadie White -> Saint Mary's Ava Galvan -> Saint Mary's Kimanni Rugley -> TBD Kelly Kelsick -> Florida A&M I hadn't heard about White and Galvan. Interesting that they are going to the same school. Galvan might be the biggest loss of the bunch. We now have 1 setter with limited experience and 1 middle with limited experience. Coach has some work to do.