2023 Volleyball thread

[mat1992 2,237]

One for the Thumb
 

 

[TigersTigers 69]

It’s almost that time again for the Tigers of the volleyball variety, who were unanimously picked to win the CAA for a 5th consecutive season. If you are a casual supporter of the team without much volleyball knowledge, I’ll give you a four-word rundown: you should be excited. The Tigers return basically all of their best players from a team that went 29-2 last year, including the two best attackers in the conference, Outside Hitter Victoria Barrett and Opposite Nina Cajic. All of the key players that they did lose have clear replacements: Fay Bakidimou’s graduation will be mitigated by the arrival of Julia Lenik, a highly-touted prospect from Poland, while losing Lydia Wiers in the middle clears the way for Erin Brothers to step in, who had to sit on the bench all of last season despite being good enough to start for any other team in the conference. Sarah Jordan, who made the all-rookie team last season, returns to start at setter again this year, while Middle Hitter Aayinde Smith, Opposite Irbe Lazda, and Libero Rachel Hess all have 2 years of experience in the starting lineup. Of the other new faces, the most interesting one is not a new face at all, but rather an eyebrow-raising transfer: Opposite Zyare Abdul-Rahim, who spent the last 4 seasons battling against Towson for Hofstra, has chosen to utilize her Covid year to transfer home to Baltimore, to play for the team that originally passed on her, and her old team’s biggest rival. It’s just another in a long line of events sure to make Towson and Hofstra hate each other even more than they already did. 
 

As for the Tigers’ competition, Delaware was picked to finish second in the CAA, and they do look the part. They too are returning almost their entire starting lineup, including 2022 POTY Lani Mason. Last year’s runners-up will be tough and experienced, but still don’t look to be a significant challenge to the ultra-talented Tigers. Hofstra was picked 3rd, and will also be at least as strong as they were last year. Overall, the CAA will likely take a step forward from 2022, as many key players are returning, and the addition of a solid program in Campbell also strengthens the league. Even so, the Tigers appear head-and-shoulders above the rest. 

[Blounge 521]

3 hours ago, TigersTigers said:

It’s almost that time again for the Tigers of the volleyball variety, who were unanimously picked to win the CAA for a 5th consecutive season. If you are a casual supporter of the team without much volleyball knowledge, I’ll give you a four-word rundown: you should be excited. The Tigers return basically all of their best players from a team that went 29-2 last year, including the two best attackers in the conference, Outside Hitter Victoria Barrett and Opposite Nina Cajic. All of the key players that they did lose have clear replacements: Fay Bakidimou’s graduation will be mitigated by the arrival of Julia Lenik, a highly-touted prospect from Poland, while losing Lydia Wiers in the middle clears the way for Erin Brothers to step in, who had to sit on the bench all of last season despite being good enough to start for any other team in the conference. Sarah Jordan, who made the all-rookie team last season, returns to start at setter again this year, while Middle Hitter Aayinde Smith, Opposite Irbe Lazda, and Libero Rachel Hess all have 2 years of experience in the starting lineup. Of the other new faces, the most interesting one is not a new face at all, but rather an eyebrow-raising transfer: Opposite Zyare Abdul-Rahim, who spent the last 4 seasons battling against Towson for Hofstra, has chosen to utilize her Covid year to transfer home to Baltimore, to play for the team that originally passed on her, and her old team’s biggest rival. It’s just another in a long line of events sure to make Towson and Hofstra hate each other even more than they already did. 
 

As for the Tigers’ competition, Delaware was picked to finish second in the CAA, and they do look the part. They too are returning almost their entire starting lineup, including 2022 POTY Lani Mason. Last year’s runners-up will be tough and experienced, but still don’t look to be a significant challenge to the ultra-talented Tigers. Hofstra was picked 3rd, and will also be at least as strong as they were last year. Overall, the CAA will likely take a step forward from 2022, as many key players are returning, and the addition of a solid program in Campbell also strengthens the league. Even so, the Tigers appear head-and-shoulders above the rest. 

I hope DraftKings lets me bet on the towson girls to win it all. You seem to know a lot about the team. Are you the coach?

[TigersTigers 69]

On 8/18/2023 at 4:31 PM, Blounge said:

I hope DraftKings lets me bet on the towson girls to win it all. You seem to know a lot about the team. Are you the coach?

I got asked the same question last season 😂. I was a manager for the team when I was at Towson, and I have coached some D3, but I no longer have any connection to the program. Just a Towson fan who loves volleyball!

[mat1992 2,237]

Sweeps South Carolina 
https://x.com/towson_vb/status/1695221455573647695?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

[TigersTigers 69]

A lovely glimpse of what this team could be this season. It was oddly satisfying to have the pro-Gamecocks announcers (understandably, considering they’re employed by the SEC Network) simply astounded that a P5 team could get dismantled by a strong mid-major. Towson rolled out with some surprising lineup decisions, namely moving Nina Cajic from the right side, where she has played her entire career, to the left. This cleared the way to bring in Zyare Abdul-Rahim as the second opposite to compliment Irbe Lazda, who was excellent today. Abdul-Rahim had a mediocre start and was replaced by Sara Wasiakowska for set 2. The other big lineup surprise was at libero, where 2-year starter Rachel Hess was replaced by the talented Sophomore Sydney Stewart. Both players played fairly well today, and will likely battle for the starting spot for all of non-conference.

The Tigers jumped all over South Carolina from the get-go, and made clutch runs at the end of sets 1 and 2 to kill the home team’s confidence. By the middle of set 3, what had started as a packed house was half-empty, and there was no doubt that the Tigers were superior, at least on the day. These two teams will play again tomorrow at 2pm ET, and we should expect the Gamecocks to make several strategic changes to try and get revenge. 

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

South Carolina looks like an average team (looking at old records). Not like Pitt last year 

[mat1992 2,237]

SC rebounds in four 

https://x.com/gamecockvolley/status/1695530059766054918?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

[TigersTigers 69]

The big win is followed up with a poor performance on Day 2. The serve receive and setting were all over the place, and the Tigers struggled to find a rhythm today as Coach Don played a game of Musical Lineups. He experimented with different opposites, played both Stewart and Hess as libero, and even switched to a 5-1 with Sarah Jordan as the lone setter for 1 set. South Carolina played better today, but Towson is the better team and will be frustrated that they didn’t win both matches. Oh well, that’s how nonconference is. Next up, the Tigers will travel to Morgan State on Thursday to pick up their annual free win.

[Chris Datres 424]

The 3 games they lost on Saturday could have very easily been wins.  They sorta hit a wall when they'd get to 17-18 points and had a 5-6 point lead.  A few more service errors than on Friday and a couple of missed opportunities, especially when up big in Game 3 doomed them.  But it's still nice to walk into an SEC school and serve notice (pun intended) that we're a force.  I don't know how anyone gets in front of some of these kill attempts to dig them.  These girls just crush the ball.