Way to early for grading after only 5 matches, but Will say the team has already surpassed my expectations for this year. Great contributions from the transfers. Morgan and Savana Chacon have been great. Meyer is very poised for a setter who has only played 5 matches in her college career. She certainly fills up that stat sheet assists, kills, blocks, and digs. Nice to have a tall setter again. I think are last setter over 6'0 was Hochevar. Interestingly the only real contributor of the returning players so far as been Dylan, and she's been outstanding. Tyler and his staff are building a great atmosphere, but no real judgement can be made till the start of year four. By then we will have a clear idea of how far Tyler can take the program.

ly into the 'Tyler era', & Nebraska then LMU next week to see how the staff and team shape up. LMU has played a SOS that is top ten, and Nebraska is a top 10 team. The team is really gonna get tested another level with the next four @ Nebraska, then twice with LMU, and then @ Cal Poly to start the Big West. gonna be challenged

Overall: B+
what?! B+? well the standards are high, 4-1 is what is expected from this program, at present playing like a top 50ish type of team.

the team is reall

Setting: B+. years of C/C- setting since Hudson. Meyer has only played 5 D1 games, she gets A on blocking, A- attacking, defense, serving toughness, and setting the BIC. We'll see now how the rhythm to the MBs and Opps progress. The team needs a bit more even distribution, which we saw vs. Notre Dame, yet watching the lethal MBs that UCLA threw at Hawaii was a reminder that timing and location are key for a quick attack to supplement that quick defense LB is playing.

MB: B+. on the defense side, the blocking gets an A-. the starting MBs was expected to be the #1 strength (in my mind) and not so much disspointed as the potential for far more terminations from the MBs isn't close to there yet. namely Kennedy and Meyer just haven't shown near enough chemistry and the timing. Bacon has played well. Between the 2nd MB and Opp, the team needs to be hitting closer to 0.300 than 0.200 it is now. the offense needs to add more effective slides and consistent right side attacks

OH attack: B. another mixed bag, Chacon has been magnificent in carrying the load, O'Sullivan has started to show why she can be that 2nd terminator.
the quality of BIC attacks has been significant. Still the efficiency of the 2nd OHs needs to improve to be top 25 quality. there's a big learning curve with the athletic Glenn & Jordan, especially being able to hit down the line shots and tooling blocks. they should only get better, just have to keep grinding to convert more attacks.


Opp: C. It's almost like we're not playing an opp. Someone smarter than I would have to explain where this is going. Maybe it's the point of reference of seeing Kennedy having rhythm attacking issues after being the dominant Beach attacker during conference last year, while she's playing some MB, some Opp. her blocking is solid, but bottom line is as much as one can dismiss stats, hitting 0.100 from the Opp is not gonna do it against top 25 teams. would be interesting to understand the staff's strategy towards the Opp position and attack, and will they settle on one role for Kennedy, the timing is just ....well off to be polite

Backrow: A-
might be an A. it was expected to be improved, but the way it's showing up especially with Dylan's elevated play, and newcomers Chacon & Glenn just bringing more competition and athletism, and the coverage being spot on. Part probably is the improved blocking, and the combo with this backrow play is defense/passing that is keeping the team in every set with chances to win each set.

Serving/Receiving: B. last game service errors crept in, we don't have that athletic top-spin jump server, but it's been effective enough along with our block to score points. Kalia Lopez as a serving sub is an A, just an amazing talent to come in cold and serve ropes, move it around and a big weapon. Meyer as well has a great serve, she's been more prone to some service errors that hopefully she keeps as a minimum. The receiving has been solid, still need to cut down a few receving errors. Glenn & Chacon have been nothnig short of remarkable receiving, 0.946 vs. 0.932 last year, and can still get some improvement to get to an elite level.

Coaching: so far so good! now we'll really see how they adjust and respond to build upon this blocking and defense and develop better rhythem/timing for the attack and with all the positives, how Tyler & company juggle and train a better transition attack on the front row. lot's of weapons to utilize. next couple weeks will be interesting as they grind thru the toughest part of the schedule.