https://riceowls.com/news/2020/1/10/wome...labue.aspx

I don't know enough about Volleyball to really know, but she seems like a solid defensive specialist. Looks like a good pickup.

Yeah this was predicted on the volleyball boards a few days ago after she enterd the transfer portal. Nice addition.

Interesting. She will be a junior. The article implies that she will not have to sit out for a year (although it is not explicit about this).

Transfers don’t have to sit in VB. Only football (not if you’re dad’s finger got cut off though), MBB, WBB, and baseball.

(01-10-2020 12:02 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Transfers don’t have to sit in VB. Only football (not if you’re dad’s finger got cut off though), MBB, WBB, and baseball.

Got it. I learned something new.

Despite the lack of this penalty, the transfer rate in volleyball seems similar to or less than WBB.

Great job, Ginny-- just what the doctor ordered. The 3 needs for next season was a defensive specialist (replacing Tabitha Brown), a libero (replacing Cunningham) and a blocking middle blocker (replacing Morgan). The latter two we covered with our top two recruits. A like a transfer for the defensive specialist spot as that skill set usually improves with experience. Hopefully, she's an elite server, as well.

(01-10-2020 03:41 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Great job, Ginny-- just what the doctor ordered. The 3 needs for next season was a defensive specialist (replacing Tabitha Brown), a libero (replacing Cunningham) and a blocking middle blocker (replacing Morgan). The latter two we covered with our top two recruits. A like a transfer for the defensive specialist spot as that skill set usually improves with experience. Hopefully, she's an elite server, as well.

Someone posted this last week on VolleyTalk:

Quote:Rice will be receiving excellent service

.

That was about the same time LaBue entered the portal. So this person knew about it before the official announcement.

The Rice release lists 41 service aces. I'm not sufficiently familiar with volleyball stats to know, but that sounds good.

Congratulations Ginny. I hope it works out but Butler was ranked only in the 150s’.

(01-10-2020 06:09 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  The Rice release lists 41 service aces. I'm not sufficiently familiar with volleyball stats to know, but that sounds good.

She averaging only one ace per match over her career, which is not great, but not bad. I wish we had last year's stats to see if she improved as a Sophomore. It also appears she was used strictly as a defensive specialist, meaning she was rotated out when it was her turn to play upfront. Given she's only 5'7", this is understandable. Leading the team in digs as a defensive specialist is pretty impressive given that the libero is usually the team leader in digs since she's on the court full time.

As for OldOwl's comment, come on-- a team's overall quality and ranking is much more dependent on the libero, setter(s) and upfront players; not a defensive specialist.

Surrounding her with great players like at Rice may help her improve and motivate her relative to her playing time at Butler.

(01-10-2020 06:29 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Surrounding her with great players like at Rice may help her improve and motivate her relative to her playing time at Butler.

I don't think she's going to get more playing time; not if what she is is a defensive specialist. This past year we did not have a defensive specialist, per se, as Brown frequently played the full rotation, along with Nicole. As I've mentioned in the past, Stanford played 2 strictly defensive specialist-- one their server specialist who would be replaced as soon as her service rotation was up, and the other who was replaced Fritzmorris when her spot rotated to the front line. However, if she is a "plus" defender (especially on service receptions) and an elite server, she will be an upgrade, IMO, over what Brown provided this year.

She only played in 18 matches her freshman year (64 sets) vs 30 matches (115 sets) sophomore year.

2018: 20 assists, 14 aces, 234 digs, 3.66 digs/set
2019: 78 assists, 27 aces, 541 digs, 4.70 digs/set


https://butlersports.com/roster.aspx?rp_...ath=wvball

Thanks. Great points.

(01-10-2020 06:35 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(01-10-2020 06:29 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Surrounding her with great players like at Rice may help her improve and motivate her relative to her playing time at Butler.

I don't think she's going to get more playing time; not if what she is is a defensive specialist. This past year we did not have a defensive specialist, per se, as Brown frequently played the full rotation, along with Nicole. As I've mentioned in the past, Stanford played 2 strictly defensive specialist-- one their server specialist who would be replaced as soon as her service rotation was up, and the other who was replaced Fritzmorris when her spot rotated to the front line. However, if she is a "plus" defender (especially on service receptions) and an elite server, she will be an upgrade, IMO, over what Brown provided this year.

(01-10-2020 06:42 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  She only played in 18 matches her freshman year (64 sets) vs 30 matches (115 sets) sophomore year.

2018: 20 assists, 14 aces, 234 digs, 3.66 digs/set
2019: 78 assists, 27 aces, 541 digs, 4.70 digs/set


https://butlersports.com/roster.aspx?rp_...ath=wvball

Thanks. The digs numbers are very good for a strictly defensive specialist. The number of aces is pretty average. However, aces don't tell the full story regarding service quality. How many were returned with a quality kill attempt is the key. If that figure is relatively low then her serves were VERY effective.