She's essentially wiped herself from Facebook and Twitter. She was referenced as "former Longhorn volleyball player" in the article in the Statesman when discussing Ebony....I wondered if she's coming back? I know that many of the women's sports are super secretive about player's status...... Thoughts?
Rumors from other boards have claimed that Chiaka is foregoing her senior year. While having a returning 1st Team All-American back in the line-up would be a good thing, I think the MB position will be in a much better place than it was in the beginning of this season. Morgan Johnson has improved tremendously over the course of the season. Having a full season on the court, I can see her as a starter for 2017. Yaazie may be playing out of her natural position, but she has shown the ability to play at a high level with only playing the position for 8 weeks. Her quick and heavy arm swing is a great weapon to have in the middle. I'd like to see what she can do if she decides to stick with it during the off-season. It will be interesting to see how Brionne Butler develops in the off-season. She jumps higher than Chiaka and also has quick arm swing. She is enrolling early in the Spring so she will have the benefit of acclimating to the speed of the college game. She may be the one that pushes Yaazie back to the RS. Mirta, Orie, and Blair will be on the outside looking-in for a starting position. Orie would have benefitted from a red-shirt year IMO. And with so many MB's on the squad, I am wondering if they might train her as a OH to back-up Micaya and Lexi. That was the position she played in high school. In the limited court time she had on the court this year, I thought Blair moved more fluidly pin-to-pin and was offensively better than both Orie and Mirta. I think an off-season of training will improve her arm strength and jumping, but it's her blocking that's holding her back from seeing the court more. Just like in years' past, I think Jerritt will start next season off in a 6-2 to get more people playing time, but mostly to give the new setters (Ashley and Riley) time to adjust to the college game. Once conference season starts, he will go back tot he 5-1 and put the best players on the court.
Something I'm curious about having watched this team play most of the season. Why don't we use the short set to the middle blocker more? I realized we've got excellent outside hitters with heavy arms, but the short set to Morgan and/or Yaazie seems like a kill waiting to happen anytime
Middle attack is always something Jerritt wants to do, but when your outsides hit so well, it falls by the wayside. Having 4 years of Molly McCage and 3 years of Chiaka didn't change that because we had Khat and Haley. Instead, Molly turned into a slide hitter...just as Morgan has become.
