Heck of a weekend, beat our first ranked team this year in straight sets. First Visit to Morgantown for any of our teams when they play at WVU on Wednesday!!! No TV, looks like I will be watching the stat tracker! Next Two weeks will really test us: Stanford Florida Minnesota twice Illinois Cinnci UCF then Big XII play. Let's go Ladies!!!!!
Nicole Dalton is an outstanding Freshman. She may end up as Big XII and national freshman of the year. McCage, the nation's #1 recruit lloks solid and will be a major contributor. Sha'Dare McNeal, the only senior, can play anywhere on the floor. Eckerman looks better than last year. Allison is solid and Sarah Palmer was outstanding at libero. The team has National Championship potential.
Khat played well against LSU, didn't play much against Cal Poly and was not much of a factor in the San Diego matchup. In my opinion, I only watched the LSU game closely, she looked good but not like her old self. She is wearing a Knee Brace, not sure if it is a physical thing or a mental thing. I think she will be alright and be back to her old self as the season goes along.
Just before her injury Khat was dominating matches. She did not play at anything like that level this weekend, but with all the toys Jerritt has to play with this year, and the improved back row play, he doesn't (yet) need her to take over matches. It will be interesting to see whether she'll be able to play at that level again by the end of the season. It might take until next year. Perhaps the most encouraging thing about the opening weekend is depicted by this "Game Flow" graph from Game Tracker: That's Game 3 against #19 San Diego! It is the first hint of a "killer instinct" I can remember seeing from our volleyball team in, oh, 15 years or so.
Agreed on Khat, Coach Elliot can take it slow with her. I liked the graph, guess I will have to keep an eye on the Graph tonight for the WVU game.