I am not buying this freshman lineup. How do you not start Ali Lake? Seems to meet it is disrespectful to Ali. I don't think she played at all against Villanova. I hope she is not hurt. I would like to see Erica Walker play, and some more of the sophomores. How do you expect to develop leadership from sophomores when they watching a bunch of talented, but not ready for prime time freshman get overwhelmed. It is difficult if not impossible to win without Mallory or Katie, but this is ugly and non-competitive.

Any body know what kind of injury Katie has, and when we can expect her back? Be nice if someone would let the fans know. Same with Mallory, is this a missed weekend or something more serious? They seem to release this information for football injuries, why not volleyball?

Why did we move Brooke Coleman to a new position as a senior? She seemed quite competent at her old position.

Did they move Jamie Kosiorek to the back row this year? I thought she played front row most of last year.

All these freshman getting experience should be great for next year, but it can't be great for team chemistry. I would think the sophomores might be a little pissed off.

Just the thoughts of a uneducated disappointed volleyball fan.

Most of this post was written during halftime of the Villanova match. The third set Dean used his sophomores a lot more and the team looked half way respectful despite losing.

Ali Lake was on the bench and not dressed for the last match. Mal and katie will not play until next weekend at the soonest. Vohn was on the bench in a walking boot. it looks as if pre-season has taken a toll on the group.

Ohio lost 5 key players, all starters, including All MAC players who started and played together for 4 years. Add to that 3 starters missing from action due to injury or illness for all or part 0f the tourney. And add to that starting the season against 3 good teams, one top 25 and one top 50, So you’re playing with half of your starters out with backup players that typically don’t practice with the first team. We have 5 frosh and 2 redshirts whose last game was in high school. Put all that together and well, you have all the makings of messy start to the season. Except for a couple of decent sets against WKU it was ugly. The expected digs from Ashy were not there because she graduated. The consistent setting from Abby- the MAC POY- not there. Passing was just bad. The front line blocking from grads Karin and ‘Sky and the injured Katie – not available. And arguably, our best player, Mal, is currently out. The only thing that actually looked better was serving, IMO.

So you lose all these players plus 3 starters temporarily out, add untested players and backups who have not even worked together regularly in practice. So it was destined to be ugly and it was. This will take time to resolve and I’m confident that will happen with the starters returning and the solid but inexperienced talent we have from our newbies. By the time we play home again at conference time, this will be a different team and a competitive one in the MAC I predict. It’s a matter of time- practice, effort, game conditions, and learning to play with each other.

Go OHIO

Simone Miller looked like she brought her A game last night, though she did not see much playing time.

Really opens your eyes to how spoiled we were with Abby and Meredith alone. I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen that many service aces over the weekend against us in the last 3 years combined. It was tough for us to watch, I can only imagine how tough that had to be for Salis to sit in the stands and witness.

Any word on why Ali Lake didn't play against Nova? Any idea when Katie Nelson will be back?

Ali had ice on her shins and knee so maybe just resting. No point in losing another player especially in those blow outs.
It seems Dean is going with "his" girls first real class of his. If they are outplaying the sophs's and jr's in practice they should play. If it's about developing now and getting blown out and learning in the process then yes there probably are some pissed of players. With young players thee are peaks (Western KY) and lows the rest of the tournament.
Sports are cruel. Hopefully they get better but if you keep getting slapped around and the improvement is not there then you got a problem.

Getting healthy will definitely help. I'm still a little concerned about the passing, as mentioned above. Hopefully things settle in. I'm by no means a volleyball expert, it just seemed to me that a lot of sets were "off." A little high, a little low, or slightly out of position enough to limit the effectiveness of the hitters.

Setting starts with passing. Wasn't there but if the passing was a bit off it's much more difficult to accurately set the ball.

Great analysis of the game, team,and approach by Coach Webb in this presser:

https://youtu.be/MtlFUL0a7vA

Just lost to Marshall for the first time in almost forever:
21-25, 26-24, 26-24, 18-25, and 12-15. Lizzie Stephens not in the lineup.

Lizzie won't make a difference until they solve the first pass and serve reciieve issues. Great to see comeback and games much closer.

An observation, not an analysis. Just noted she was not in the lineup.

Last time we lost to Marshall was 2002

I FORBID THIS UGLY THREAD TO CONTINUE.

GO OHIO VOLLEYBALL!!!!!!!!!!!

What's the close followers estimate of the rebuilding project? We lost a whole lot of good players, and it shows.