Again, these are in no particular order.
1. It is hard to make anything of the dominating performances against Boston College and again Syracuse. Against Syracuse, it was nice to see more of Blaire Bayless and Julianna Dalton. I think Bayless has a very bright future for the lady panthers. She just gets better and better every time I see her.
2, In my opinion, the strength of this team is it's defense. It starts with the block but also includes great back row defense. This is what will determine how far the VB team goes this year.
3. I also watched today, Louisville vs NC State and I gotta admit, I never saw that coming. Louisville looked ..... beatable and NC State looked very formidable. I looked at their schedule, and there was no way to clearly see this coming. If NC State continues to play at an elite level, I welcome that. The ACC needs that.
4. I continue to be impressed with just how good Babcock and Stafford are. I am not quite ready to go so far and say they are better than Lund.....yet. Right now they are both pure power. They still need to learn more nuanced things about being outside hitters. But gosh, they have only played 15 ncaa volleyball games and they are already so good!
5. Emma Monks continues to the linchpin of this defense. She is a different kind of middle blocker than Serena Gray was so I don't know you can compare them. I am not ready to say Emma is better, but she is just a different kind of middle blocker.
6. I now agree that Pitt will probably play a 5-1 against their better competition. Can't really see taking your best player off of the court and they are clearly comfortable with back row hitting from Babcock, Stafford and even Vasquez Gomez.
7. After Friday night, I think we all will have a better idea how good our panthers are.
1. It is hard to make anything of the dominating performances against Boston College and again Syracuse. Against Syracuse, it was nice to see more of Blaire Bayless and Julianna Dalton. I think Bayless has a very bright future for the lady panthers. She just gets better and better every time I see her.
2, In my opinion, the strength of this team is it's defense. It starts with the block but also includes great back row defense. This is what will determine how far the VB team goes this year.
3. I also watched today, Louisville vs NC State and I gotta admit, I never saw that coming. Louisville looked ..... beatable and NC State looked very formidable. I looked at their schedule, and there was no way to clearly see this coming. If NC State continues to play at an elite level, I welcome that. The ACC needs that.
4. I continue to be impressed with just how good Babcock and Stafford are. I am not quite ready to go so far and say they are better than Lund.....yet. Right now they are both pure power. They still need to learn more nuanced things about being outside hitters. But gosh, they have only played 15 ncaa volleyball games and they are already so good!
5. Emma Monks continues to the linchpin of this defense. She is a different kind of middle blocker than Serena Gray was so I don't know you can compare them. I am not ready to say Emma is better, but she is just a different kind of middle blocker.
6. I now agree that Pitt will probably play a 5-1 against their better competition. Can't really see taking your best player off of the court and they are clearly comfortable with back row hitting from Babcock, Stafford and even Vasquez Gomez.
7. After Friday night, I think we all will have a better idea how good our panthers are.