- You lost a starting middle from last year's team, who are some of the potential individuals that can take over that position?
I think we have a lot of people that can help us. That is the one of strengths of this group is the idea that it's a meritocracy. If you're in the gym you have a chance to earn the right to play. Replacing the middle position, which was Molly (Lohman) who did a great job for us for four years, is going to be a challenge but Regan Pittman had a great spring so she is going to keep doing what she has been doing. We have Taylor Morgan who had a really good spring in the mix there along with Paulina, Kayla and Becca, so there are a lot of people who could rise to the top and get the job done. The thing I like most about is that there are a lot of good players that will be battling for it.
...
- We have six newcomers entering camp next week, can you talk a little bit about each of them and what they can contribute to the team?
This is a good class and I can go through them numerically. Claire Sheehan (No. 4) is a transfer from Iowa, who carried a big load for them as a starting outside hitter. She was also a really good player in Minnesota for Northern Lights so we are excited to see what she can do for us. That O2 spot was a bit of a revolving door for us so I don't know if it will be more of the same this year, but Claire will be competing in that spot and will help us a ton. She can play, she competes, and we are really excited to have her as a part of this group. (No. 7) CC McGraw, as a DS/Libero, I think is a phenomenal talent at that position. She will have some good competition from Barnes, Litzau and Beckley, but I think CC is a very special talent and we are excited to see how her career goes for us. (No. 17) Bayley McMenimen is such a good volleyball player and a really good setter, but most importantly she competes like crazy. She will add a ton of value for our program. We are excited to have her here. (No. 18) Paulina Swider is a really strong middle blocker out of Poland who, for us, we think is a great strength for her, can play both spots. She can go in front, she can play off one foot, but she can play both and we think that is great. That makes it much more competitive across the board for both those spots, which should keep everyone honest. She is a really good blocker, has an excellent serve and possesses an all-round great volleyball game. (No. 20) Adanna Rollins is a really smooth outside hitter. She will be battling with Claire, Jaz, Lex and all of those outside hitters are going to be in it to battle for those two spots, but Adanna can flat out play. She has a really high volleyball IQ and is a solid outside with a ton of range. I think she plays a lot older than she is. Lastly, No. 23 Rebecca Rendahl is another good middle. She is fast, has great lateral quickness, she has good pop on the ball and she can play the whole game. It gets exciting for me because this squad, maybe even more so than any other squad we've had, has a lot of depth and a lot of talent. If everyone can understand that we are all striving to achieve something as a collective and can somehow combine their personal agenda with the team's agenda, I think this group has the potential to have great success.
