Hope has played beach the majority of her college career but she is a quick and athletic player that is now also a mature player. She will be an impact player in the middle along with Pola who I believe was the most improved player during spring ball. Before moving to beach Hope was touted as a player with possible national team ability with more development and physical maturity.
Concerning Kinga at setter. It's my understanding that she played great during the USC and Pepperdine spring matches but was not so impressive in the matches after those two.
With some improvement and the development of some team chemistry a line up of Murphy (OH), Hamaker (OH), Pola (M), Hope (M), Maxwell (RS) and having Kinga and Maxwell set a 5-2 system would be a pretty darn good. Through in some very solid back row play by Jelinek, Mahaffey, and Laurel this team can win a lot of matches. 
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Don't want to be a downer but Murphy recently had shoulder surgery. It's unknown how well she has recovered from her injury. I would like to see Maxwell move to OH and from what I've seen of Kinga me thinks she can handle the setter position perhaps with assistance from Madi Collins when needed. Previous Message
Not sure where Hope will fit, seems she's been mostly a beach aspiring player with little impact in her indoor career, and hopefully she shines
Murphy is the big gun that I thinkn will help the most.
King is a huge loss though, as she could carry a team, with her and Agi gone, a lot of players are going to have to show development this year.
before King left I thought we'd be in a battle with Poly & Utah Valley, now going to ahve a lot to prove. Poly brings back a lot of experience and the kills from that sweet 16 team - they are the team to beat.
going to really test this staff's ability to train at teh setter and pin position to be able to run some tempo. they did a nice job with the MBs last year with who they had.. Previous Message
I like what Natalie is putting together. She will have a strong starting lineup this upcoming season even without King, if she stayed this team could have been special. With that said, if Maxwell is healthy enough and willing to switch positions again, this time to the right side, I do not believe there will be too much drop off since she is also a good attacker, blocker and better back row player. Of course this would cause a setter lineup change, at least for some of the rotations.
Coach Natalie has brought in some nice transfers with the signing of Thomas, Hope and Murphy. These three along with one other early transfer and two freshman (also coming in early) should provide depth for this season. I expect both Murphy and Hope to star this upcoming season.
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It's very long...if you want to skip to where she talks about LBSU stuff, go to the 19:00 mark.
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on 5/24/2026, 1:20 pm, in reply to "