vballfan

USFCollin, I was going to post comments regarding the individual players on this year's team, but I didn't think that anyone would care to listen (seeing as how there seem to be so few volleyball fans on this forum or at USF in general). I agree with many of the points that you bring up, but not all. With regards to Mueller, yes I know that the official reason she gave for leaving USF was so that she could be closer to her family at UIC. Even if this is true, I don't think she was qualified as a coach to help USF's volleyball program achieve bigger and better things. Thanks to Collier and the foundation that Hankins laid, Mueller did meet with success while she was here at USF, even earning two C-USA Coach of the Year awards, but I never really bought too much into this. If she really was as good a coach as her accolades suggest, she should certainly be having much more success than her record at UIC currently indicates. I would gladly take Lessinger over her any day. With regards to Marcela, Marcela is good but not great (at least not yet). She is technically sound in all facets of the game and can pound the ball as hard as anyone, but she is not as athletically gifted as USF's former Brazilian sensations Michelle Collier and Paula Araujo (yes, Marcela’s vertical is definitely a bit lacking). I agree that as opposing teams grew more aware of her presence this season, they were able to adjust their defense and concentrate on her for the most part. Against many of the better blocking teams, she was effectively neutralized, and her unforced error rate is high in general. I do think that Lessinger will be able to facilitate her development over the next three years, but Marcela just doesn’t strike me as the type of outside hitter who will be able lead the team to an NCAA tournament berth in future years (ie. a Big East Player of the Year or All-America candidate). Maybe you are seeing more in her than I do. Adding Marcela to the team was certainly a step in the right direction, but USF needs an even more dynamic attacker on the left side to help carry the load in my opinion (Marcela would be great as the OH2). If my math is correct, there should still be one open scholarship for next year, and it is the outside hitting position where this team will have the least depth. At this stage, I think it will be hard for Lessinger to recruit a player of this caliber domestically, but with all the connections the volleyball program has with Brazil, I’m hoping for another player of the Collier or Araujo breed (Brazil is famous for producing some of the best all-around outside hitters in the world). Yes, blocking is without a doubt a major problem for this team, and until this is remedied, USF will always lag behind the top teams in the Big East. Yes, the main reason why we are so weak in this area is that we are undersized at every front row position on the court. Johari Williams is playing at the highest level that I have ever seen her play during her 4-year career at USF. Unfortunately, at 5-9, she is critically undersized for a collegiate middle blocker, even though her athleticism does partially make up for this. She is attacking the ball better than I have ever seen her, but her blocking is still not strong enough. It’s too bad she hadn’t been converted to middle blocker earlier in her volleyball career- I think the position suits her well. Nakia Williams has definitely come a long way from last year- she looks much more physically fit and is playing with more confidence. Every now and then, she shows glimpses of her athleticism and strength, but overall she is still quite raw and unpolished as a volleyball player. Nevertheless, she has potential for future development. I felt that Lessinger’s desperate attempts to add size up front through freshmen Arbogast and Havlickova were largely unsuccessful. I’m sure she knows that recruiting players just for the sake of size is useless, as height is not always synonymous with athleticism or talent in volleyball. Hopefully, Lessinger and her staff will continue to work with these two players and prove me wrong in the future. I’ve heard very positive things about 6-2 recruit Sommer Ivory- I hope she can step in and contribute immediately in the middle next year. I’m also hoping that 5-10 recruit Erin Kracl, an explosive leaper and a pretty good blocker for her size, might find a place on the left or right side next year as well. With regards to the future, I was pleased with Brittany Castelamare when she was forced to step in for an injured Noguiera during a string of mid-season matches. It was pretty clear that she was still adjusting to the fast-paced offense of the college game, but if she can improve her connection with the middles on the quick set and the slide attack as well as her backrow defense, I think her future at USF is bright. Because her 5-6 frame sadly makes her a huge blocking liability in the front row, I don’t think it would be a good choice for her to set in a traditional 5-1 offense in the future, but I would love to see her set as part of a 6-2 system with another capable setter (possibly the Puerto Rican setter coming in next year who is also a bit too short to play in the front row). I really hope Lessinger is seriously considering switching to a 6-2 system next year because not only would the team benefit from having an additional hitter in the front row (to open up the attack for Gurgel and others) but doing so would also help to ameliorate the blocking situation as well (I know Lessinger experimented with the 6-2 a little this year). Like you say, Fabris has been slightly inconsistent this year. I think it’s taken some time for her to adjust to her new position on the right side of the court. She possesses a complete, all-around game, and really stepped it up in a few matches this year when the outside hitters were struggling. I still don’t think she is close to reaching her full potential yet (I hope her injuries won’t preclude this from happening). I’d like Lessinger to find ways to get Fabris even more involved in the offense next year. If Fabris works on her consistency, I think she can become a really good player. I also hope she brings back the power jump serve that she used early last season. I’m also glad that Lessinger has finally committed to employing a full-time libero on the court. Augustavo has fit nicely into this role and has done a good job throughout the season. With further training, she should continue to develop in this position over the next two years. P.S. I didn’t realize that it was you commenting on the Press Pass broadcast of the Villanova game. I appreciate this service, and I’d love for there to be more frequent Press Pass broadcasts of USF volleyball games in the future.

After my comments during the summer regarding Lessinger and the volleyball program were met with criticism from members of this forum, I’ve purposely kept quiet during the fall season. I thought now might be a good opportunity to express some of my thoughts as the season is quickly coming to a close. To satisfy anyone who may argue that my knowledge of USF’s volleyball program is inadequate to make appreciable observations, I have been to 95% of the team’s home games since the 1995 season. After watching the team play this season, I have to commend Lessinger and her staff for a much better season. The team’s level of play has improved in all facets of the game compared to last year’s team. Following the results of this season, I think Lessinger has earned the chance to stick with the program for at least another two or three years. However, I’m not sure if the apparent turnaround is as dramatic as their new record might suggest. First of all, I think it’s important that people understand that finishing 8th in the Big East in volleyball is nowhere near the same achievement as finishing 8th in the Big East in men’s or women’s basketball. In terms of volleyball, the Big East is one of the weaker conferences in the nation, currently ranked 13th according to the latest RPI conference poll. This year, the Big East is unlikely to receive more than two bids to the 64-team NCAA tournament. Although our Big East record has improved significantly from 1-13 to 7-7 this year, I believe that this is partly due to the fact that the conference is weaker as a whole this year (last year, the Big East was ranked 11th according to the RPI conference poll). I think the most objective way to assess the volleyball team’s improvement is to compare the team’s RPI ranking over recent years. Below is history of USF’s RPI ranking over the past decade that I obtained from the RichKern online collegiate volleyball database. I was surprised to see that our current RPI ranking is only 179, just 6 spots better than our final rank from last year. I attribute this minimal increase to the overall decline in the ranking of the Big East, as well as our relatively weak non-conference schedule. The only three wins we have against teams ranked above us are Seton Hall (141), North Florida (159), and Villanova (161). In contrast, we have losses to UCF (225), Sam Houston St. (220), Wright State (175), and Arkansas State (121). As our RPI ranking from 1995 to 2002 illustrates, our volleyball program has fallen quite a long way from where it used to be at one point. It’s really unfortunate that it had to plummet by such an extent. I do think that Lessinger is slowly getting this program back on track. Judging from our minimal gains in the RPI poll, it’s clearly going to be a long ride, which I guess I have come to accept. It’s going to be tough for any coach to bring a team from the bottom of the RPI poll back to the NCAA tournament. It’s just frustrating that the fall had to occur in the first place. I won't turn this thread into a tirade on the reasons behind this, but I blame this mostly on USF's unfair firing of Perri Hankins (she had even turned down several high profile head coaching positions at Big10 and Big12 schools during her tenure at USF, but her lawsuit with the school following her mysterious firing ultimately damaged her career to the extent the she was forced to take coaching jobs at FIT, VCU, and now UTampa) as well as Nancy Mueller's incompetence- take a look at her pitiful record at UIC now. Can you believe that our final RPI ranking was as high as #14 just four seasons ago????? Now that Lessinger has managed to pull us up to the middle tier of volleyball teams in the Big East, I have a feeling that the jump to the upper tier of the conference will be much harder and will require much more effort. Next year’s recruiting class looks solid, but I don’t know if we have any real impact freshmen coming in. We are lacking a go-to outside attacker of the Michelle Collier breed that can carry us to the next level, and I think Lessinger's best chance is to recruit internationally to find a solution to this. Final RPI ranking history for USF volleyball Season RPI rank Coach Comments 1995 40 Hankins NCAA tourney berth 1996 20 Hankins NCAA tourney berth 1997 34 Hankins NCAA tourney berth 1998 34 Hankins NCAA tourney berth, Michelle Collier's first year playing on team, Hankins mysteriously fired after season 1999 135 Mueller Collier out for season with ACL injury (notice the turnaround) 2000 26 Mueller NCAA tourney berth, Collier playing again (amazing what one player can do) 2001 33 Mueller 2002 14 Mueller NCAA tourney berth, Collier's final season 2003 128 Mueller No more Collier, Mueller quickly leaves after season, demoting herself to Illinois-Chicago 2004 192 Lessinger 2005 185 Lessinger 2006 179 Lessinger Current RPI ranking as of Nov. 6th 2006

If indeed Bradley is still injured, that is truly disappointing news for the team. She would have been counted on to be a major contributor to the team for the 2006 season.

The game against Michigan State was from last year's schedule. The team actually opens the season with a bang facing Florida at the O'Connell Center on August 25th. UF finished the season as the No. 3 ranked team in the country last year. As has been already suggested, a lot of the team's success this year will depend on the performance of the freshman class. If the newcomers can contribute immediately, this could be a vastly improved team. I'm sure Lessigner is certainly hoping so, considering she's probably sitting on the hot seat right now. Another under 10 win season, and I'm guessing she's out of a job. Not that it makes a huge difference, but I heard that 6-1 middle blocker Rachel Reichert is returning to the team this year. Reichert started in every match as a freshman in 2004 and led the team in blocks, but didn't play on the team last year. She should add more depth in the middle this season, which I think is the team's weakest position right now. I also heard that outside hitter Stephanie Augustavo is no longer with the team, though not a huge loss in my opinion. Even though she was a high school All-American, she was clearly overrated. Judging from her play last year, she never really showed potential for becoming a top player at the D-I level.

USFCollin, thanks for the info on Bradley.  Its good to know that she will be playing next season.  I was a bit worried when I didn't see her at the spring practice games this past weekend.  With her and the incoming Brazilian recruit entering the starting lineup next season, we should finally have the firepower from the outside that we have been lacking the past few seasons.  Also, I'm hoping Lessinger might try to run a 6-2 offense with Noguiera and freshman recruit Castelamare setting. ÂÂ

Does anyone know what happened to star freshman recruit, Stephanie Bradley?  She was the number 84th ranked senior coming in to USF, but she did not play last season (I am assuming she redshirted).  Does anyone know if she will be playing next season?  Along with the losses of Verhoff and Silveira, her departure from the team would certainly be another huge blow for the volleyball program. ÂÂ