is this class?

Name, Height, Position, Hometown (High School/Club Team)
Allie Freiwald, 6-1, S, Littleton, Colo. (Mullen H.S../Colorado Performance Volleyball Club)
Heather Reynolds, 6-0, OH, Wharton, Texas (Wharton H.S./Willowbrook Volleyball Club)
Allie Sawatzky, 6-1, S, St. Andrews, Manitoba, Canada (Lord Selkirk/Bison Volleyball Club)

0 of 3 are top 100 according to Prep Volleyball Rankings.

Also you have to wonder about bringing in two setters in the same class again. Seems like it would have been better to take a lesser player as a JUCO transfer so you bring in someone with more than high school experience and then in the future you don't have to worry about having two setters for the same four years and starting all over again every four year cycle.

Also strange that we are replacing three scholarship OH's with only one. I know we already have Ringel and Black but if they are going to keep playing an OH on the right side that gives us no back ups.

We lose 6. Do they still plan to bring others in?

Sorry but Coribelli should have been replaced a long time ago.

Her mini-playoff run is the worst thing that could've happened to us this year. It just buys her more time and creates the illusion that she can accomplish what she has failed to accomplish in the last decade.

No other sport is having the trouble recruiting that volleyball is experiencing.

Football, Basketball (M&W), Soccer, Baseball, Softball, Track and Field (M&W), Swimming (M&W), Golf (M&W), Equestrian, etc. are all recruiting at either an elite level or at the very least top 25 in the country. Volleyball is the one exception. "Building Champions" applies to all sports.

Its time for a change.

Honestly I hope no others are brought in and scholarships saved if any remain...

First as drumbeat said none are in the top 100 on Prep...in fact none are in the Top 250 although Canadian born players are not on the list usually as for US players only.

The kid from Cy Creek is not listed...which she had committed a while back.

I hope one day the patchwork system of recruiting will change and you wont have to rely on freshman to step in immediately rather hopeful then can beat out players in lineup rather than being immediately thrust in the mix.

I am glad to see height at the setting position regardless if using a 5-1 or 6-2 system. Far cry from our Top 10 classes of years back and even Top 4 class with this years seniors.

In other words, to the OP, it's not very good when you just take the quality of the players. It then becomes worse when you take into account the size and the long-term positional planning.

Ya know what bothers me even more than her inability to recruit? It's the fact that they've had SO many players simply leave the team, but stay in school here. I seem to remember several players over the last few years, who were significant contributors and spot starters or more, simply drop the team, yet stay in school here.

So my question about our recruiting is: does anyone know where the disconnect is coming from? Are we not able to get the kids onto campus for a visit, or once they get here, are we not able to seal the deal and get commitments?

I think some of it comes about as a result of injuries. It's a tough situation when a girl begins to realize that she is going to live with the results of surgeries and the constant rehabbing. I know of one scholarship player who is in that situation and she chose to drop the team. Also, like any situation, there's always a chance that someone feels slighted for playing time and they can let that affect them too much.


Edit: Wow, my hungover ass completely misread that post. For some reason, I thought it about players leaving the team


As for recruiting, I have no idea. I mean the volleyball facilities now that they are in Reed are very nice. I've played in their practice gym a number of times and it's definitely pretty cool (I still preferred G. Rollie though - way more tradition) I don't really know the exact protocol of the recruiting visit, but I guess NG just isn't enough of a focus? Heh, just playing.

Btw, I think bringing in two setters is a necessity right now. I know it's not exactly ideal, but you can't field a team with one setter, but I guess your point is more that we should have someone brought in earlier. Still tough to have 3 setters at one time, but it's something you have to do for a year in order to stagger things out again. As for the JuCo idea, A&M just doesn't bring in all that many transfers for athletics as a result of our admissions requirements. A lot of junior college credits don't transfer as well, at least from my understanding, so I can see that being a bit of a deterrent for potential players.

We've just had to deal with the loss of a number of players through these past four years so I think the Corbellis have done okay with what they've had. Not great, but okay.

If Chelsea Ringel can get her confidence back, her and Kelsey Black could be a solid outside tandem for us. If I remember correctly, they were both High School All Americans and I know Ringel was just a beast. She has the talent but it might just take her a bit to get developed. I'm sure it's always a bit weird for someone who has been dominant their entire life to come in and then never really get playing time behind Mary and Sarah.

[This message has been edited by JoeOlson (edited 12/17/2009 10:33a).]

[This message has been edited by JoeOlson (edited 12/17/2009 10:36a).]

Doesn't sound like a class that will turn this program around.

SS, nope it's certainly not. Hard to blame facilities, because they didn't get recruiting done in the tradition of G Rollie, and aren't getting it done in the high-profile of Reed.

So either the Corbelli's aren't impressing the players/their coaches, or there's something about the personalities of the other girls on the team that isn't meshing well with the recruits. Or we simply aren't even good enough to get the kids on campus anymore.

I hope that the coaches aren't taking a break after the season and are out working their a**es off right now, because the program's at a high that they won't be at again for a few years, and they need to capitalize with the recruiting.

I dont think we should enter facilities into this year's class. These kids had already made decisions to come here regardless of what the current facility situation was. That said if Reed is the permanent site for VB then it needs to be recruited for the future as a positive. That said the having to reach for assets (players) when need it actually their without nuturing their development for a year within a system is already hurt the program and will continue to do so if changes are not made. If we give out any scholarships we may have now we are not getting anyone that will help our program in the short or long run, as the player will likely not be good enough to start which is the type of kid we need now so go through a down year and build for future.

That said t.u. has gotten 3 of Top 10 players in the 2011 recruiting class already and likely will have 2011 #1 class overall. 2010 should go to Penn State, maybe USC on the basis of their getting Falyn and Shaw

Sounds like we are hosed for a while with (lack of) talent. Sad to see.

To be fair our volleyball facilities were in pretty bad shape at G. Rollie. It was a really good place to have volleyball matches due to the intimacy of the environment and being sized so well for the typical crowds we had at matches, but the training/weight lifting/lockerroom facilities were all sub par compared to other top tier volleyball facilities.

From what I have heard from some of the players, the new facilities at Reed are much nicer in terms of access to training facilities and quality of locker rooms, but the only problem is playing in the cavernous Reed Arena. Hopefully the upgrade to facilities will help out some in recruiting, but I think for the most part the coaches just aren't out working the recruiting trail hard enough.

As others have said the loss of players has hurt us somewhat and has been kind of shocking when you look at how many players have come in and played less than four years and just continued on (not to transfer to another school, just to stop playing volleyball altogether). When Megan Kainz stopped playing that really hurt us because we had to go out and get a new setter and that was when our setting problems really developed. We brought in Courtnee Rhodes I think with the understanding that she would only play for a year and Kelner wasn't ready to play at this level. Then we got Schevnikhoven as a transfer (so it is possible to bring in transfers, even if not from JUCO route) but that put her and Kelner in the same class. We should probably have redshirted Kelner for a year since she really didn't play much at all her first two years, and then we'd still have her around for next year now that she seems quite comfortable playing at this level. We have lost quite a few other players over the years but none were that high caliber besides Lindsey Yon who left for New Mexico State once Ammerman and Batis took over the outside positions. Wells, Quayle, Castillo, Burton all probably wouldn't have seen much time anyway so I don't think you can say that makes a huge difference.

It is interesting to me that Jenny Banse made herself into an all-american in two years of starting while Batis had four years and never quite got to that level. Mary Batis was certainly a great player for our program but it makes you wonder why Banse wasn't starting early on over Batis, especially when Corbelli says that Banse was statistically the best passer on the team.

The worst part is that t.u. has been and will continue to be really good for a while.

Talent is not our problem- it's lack of coaching. Look at Iowa State. They beat us handily with less talent.

We're pulling in better recruits, but getting outcoached down the stretch when our sub- par defense falls apart.

^^^From what I've read on this board, the implication by those that know better than me is that for the past few years, the coaching was not maximizing the talent, but that it's finally catching up to us in our recruiting, and going forward our talent is not going to be very good.

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When Megan Kainz stopped playing that really hurt us because we had to go out and get a new setter and that was when our setting problems really developed.

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Corbelli's perpetual setting problems have plagued us since Jenna Moscovic's depature.

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Wells, Quayle, Castillo, Burton all probably wouldn't have seen much time anyway so I don't think you can say that makes a huge difference.

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Castillo should have been a major contributor on defense, and was a huge improvement at the Libero position. Failure to understand and develop that position has been the single greatest failure of our coaching staff.