Volleyball

[PurpleCatFan]

Is Merideth Street no longer on the team

[Panther'73]

Is Merideth Street no longer on the team

She is no longer on the team. Continued injuries have sidelined her and she made the decision to move on.

[vbfan19]

I just noticed that Megan Witte transferred from UNI to Drake
while Kacie Rewerts transferred from Drake to UNI

Other transfer activity (that happened earlier) was Layanna Green transferring to UC Santa Barbara
and Alivia Bronner transferring to Middle Tennessee State

[in_the_stands]

Interesting about Witte; she was in the playing rotation a couple of years ago but didn't see the court much last year. Bummer about Green, but that's the new environment for schools on our level. Might be that we were fortunate to hold on to Holterhaus and Alden for their entire careers.

I'm hoping for a smooth transition to a new setter, last time we did that it was rocky for a while. Good to have Fallert, Tjernagel and Powers back!

[vbfan19]

Interesting about Witte; she was in the playing rotation a couple of years ago but didn't see the court much last year.

If I recall, she was never part of the MAIN rotation, but did see some increased playing time in the spring 2021 (when covid pushed the 2020 season back) and fall 2021 seasons, due to the roster shakeups because of covid and injuries.
I really enjoyed the energy and fun she always provided, leading the celebrations and the dancing on the bench. But I can't hold it against her to follow opportunities elsewhere as a grad transfer.

[NormStewart]

I loved the in-squad scrimmage yesterday; got to see all the new players and the ones who didn't play much last year.

Setter: If I were the coach, based just on yesterday, I'd hand the setting position to Reese Booth, the freshman. Several times she and Sydney Golden, the junior, swapped from one team to the other between games. I think that Reese's team won most of the games. She made some brilliant save-sets at the net, she played with confidence and joy. Sydney didn't play badly though.

Middle hitter: Four players mostly played MH: Kara Oxenknect (jr), Maryn Bixby (fr), Kacie Rewarts, the grad transfer from Drake, and Kaitlyn Sellner (redshirt fr). Bixby stood out from the rest, IMO. She's really long and blocked a lot of shots. She's an effective server. I had assumed Rewarts was brought in to be the other starter but I found her just so-so. If I had to say someone was second-best, I'd say Sellner.

Outside hitter: We've got three great ones: Kira Fallert of course, but also Lilly Dykstra and Cassidy Hartman, both Sophs. I'd say those two are tied, though maybe Hartman is better hitting out of the back row. Tough choice here.

Opposite: Olivia Tjernagel of course. But Isabelle Elliott (Fr) 6-1, impressed me a lot. I like Olivia as an opposite, but we may need to move her into the middle and start Dykstra or Hartman as an opposite, though that's quite a change.

Backcourt: We return two strong seniors in Erin and Grace, but I swear Jadyn Peterson is impressive. I saw just one bad pass all night. She made a stunning save, 20 feet behind the back line, getting there with amazing speed. Jadyn also played all the way around and, though she's just 5-8, held her own as a hitter with some good topspin hits. As a blocker she gets up as high as the others.

What did the rest of you think? (And more importantly, what did Bobbie think :-))

[in_the_stands]

Thanks for the preview! Enough new faces to provide some uncertainty. I'm going to have to force myself to stop thinking what might have been if Alden had chosen to use her Covid year, and Green had stuck around.

I suppose a lot depends on how the rest of the conference will be looking. I see Drake graduated their two leading scorers, Bush and Oberpriller, so it could turn out the two of us will be fighting for the conference championship again.

Great news that the latest Petersen, Jaydn, is looking good. I recall a game where Baylee had to fill in at OH for a game due to injuries and she held her own despite being undersized.

[BCPanther]

Preseason Valley Favorites.

Death. Taxes. Bobbi.

[panthergirl123]

Impressed with number of people who attended exhibition. Lots of South Dakota fans. Talked to some. They were nice. Changed my opinion of South Dakota fans as I had to sit behind some obnoxious South Dakota fans once at a football game who cheered when one of our players got injured. These fans were great. Also, lots of UNI students at match today too.

[vbfan19]

UNI VB had a fairly easy sweep over FIU this morning, featuring 6 aces by Kira Fallert.
Then this evening, they played the host team #22 Dayton, and held their own, taking the first and third sets to go up 2-1. But the Flyers were able to pull off the 5th set win 15-11.

Panthers will close out their weekend with their 3rd match in about 26 hours, taking on Ohio State tomorrow starting at 10 a.m.

I had forgotten that the daughter of Creighton's coach KBB, Reese Booth came to UNI, and are playing as a true freshman (sharing time at setter with Sydney Golden, in a 6-2 offense)

[BCPanther]

Really nice effort tonight. Just short.

Feels like another Bobbi team that's going to absolutely roll the league again.

[sivert]

Listened on the road. I liked hearing Jay’s thoughts, but missed the flow of CKS’s play by play.

[NormStewart]

Watched the Dayton game on ESPN+. Really impressed by Kacie Rewarts, she was a blocking fiend, getting well over the net. Erin was magnificent on digs, and basically put away the first game by serving out the last four points; they just couldn't handle it and the last point was an ace. Cassidy Hartman was amazing, hitting out of the front and back row with power. She and Kira Fallert were great but gee I'd like to see more stuff going to the middles. It's fun to see us run a 6-2 with Sidney and Reese, maybe the last time we ran it was Taylor Alden's freshman year, another situation where Bobbi was trying to figure out which setter to go with.

The ESPN announcers were SO SAD when we were trouncing Dayton in the third set :-). I think we just ran out of gas in the 4th and 5th set. This was the second match of the day for us, and just the first for Dayton, and didn't the announcers say it was 90 degrees in that gym? Ugh.

[vbfan19]

The ESPN announcers were SO SAD when we were trouncing Dayton in the third set :-). I think we just ran out of gas in the 4th and 5th set. This was the second match of the day for us, and just the first for Dayton, and didn't the announcers say it was 90 degrees in that gym? Ugh.

announcers for matches on ESPN+ are typically arranged by the home school, rather than being actual "ESPN announcers". For volleyball, it is often a former player from the team as color commentator. I didn't watch this particular match on ESPN+ so I don't know the specifics for this one, but in general there does tend to be some homer bias on ESPN+ broadcasts.

And I hate when division I programs play in gyms without air conditioning. (though I suppose I shouldn't gripe too much, since UNI used to play in the West Gym)

[vbfan19]

UNI vb went 3-0 in North Dakota this weekend. Fairly easy wins over SIUE and UND, then a bit of a challenge against WVU, starting off 27-29 and 26-24 before the Panthers were able to run away with the final 2 sets.
Competition really cranks up next weekend, when UNI heads to Louisville for the first iteration of their new rotating tournament, facing #11 Creighton (coached by the mother of Panther freshman setter Reese Booth), #4 Louisville (where Bobbi's daughter Payton plays), and Rice