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Next year will be very interesting for Shocker VB. Lambo is facing his first truly rebuilding year (as opposed to reloading) in some time.
Emily Stockman was a superstar and will be very difficult if not impossible to replace.
Nevertheless Lambo has a lot of raw material to work with and the prospect of rebuilding the team may even energize Lambo.
On the outside he has Amanda Backes (5'11" but plays bigger), Emily Adney (6'2"), Dana Loganbill (6'1") and, hopefully, a fully-recovered Lindsey Eckenrode (6'2").
In the middle he has Sarah McGee (6'3"), Jada Witham (6'3"), Elizabeth Field (an athletic 6'1") and Ashley Andrade (6'2").
If nothing else Lambo looks to have some good size and athleticism to work with in the middle and on the outside.
We have a very experienced setter returning in Mary Elizableth and one of our more celebrated recruits in Chelsey Feekin. At 5'10" and 6'1" respectively we will have setters capable of battling at the net. How, Lambo choses to use Chelsey next year will be one of the more interesting things to follow next year.
Perhaps our biggest question mark will be our back row players. We have Waldo and Jackie returning but both need to step their games up significantly to give us the back row play we have grown accustomed to with Augspurger, Broussard and Granville. We have a redshirt freshman in Lindsey Engel out of Andale High.
Lambo may need to look at the JUCO ranks to see if he can find a good libero similar to what Creighton came up with in Nayka Benitez. Or maybe he will tinker with converting a little bigger player to the Libero positon ala Cara Hackmann (6'0") at MSU, although I don't know that we have any good candidates for that on our current roster.
UNI only loses 1 senior from this year's team so they will no doubt be the odds on favorite to repeat as MVC champs next year. MSU loses only 2 seniors and will probably be a solid pick for second behind UNI. After that who knows.
Another trip to the NCAA Tournament is probably a real long shot for the Shocks next year, but nevertheless it should be a fun year to see how a relatively new group of players will develop.
:goshocks:
Emily Stockman was a superstar and will be very difficult if not impossible to replace.
Nevertheless Lambo has a lot of raw material to work with and the prospect of rebuilding the team may even energize Lambo.
On the outside he has Amanda Backes (5'11" but plays bigger), Emily Adney (6'2"), Dana Loganbill (6'1") and, hopefully, a fully-recovered Lindsey Eckenrode (6'2").
In the middle he has Sarah McGee (6'3"), Jada Witham (6'3"), Elizabeth Field (an athletic 6'1") and Ashley Andrade (6'2").
If nothing else Lambo looks to have some good size and athleticism to work with in the middle and on the outside.
We have a very experienced setter returning in Mary Elizableth and one of our more celebrated recruits in Chelsey Feekin. At 5'10" and 6'1" respectively we will have setters capable of battling at the net. How, Lambo choses to use Chelsey next year will be one of the more interesting things to follow next year.
Perhaps our biggest question mark will be our back row players. We have Waldo and Jackie returning but both need to step their games up significantly to give us the back row play we have grown accustomed to with Augspurger, Broussard and Granville. We have a redshirt freshman in Lindsey Engel out of Andale High.
Lambo may need to look at the JUCO ranks to see if he can find a good libero similar to what Creighton came up with in Nayka Benitez. Or maybe he will tinker with converting a little bigger player to the Libero positon ala Cara Hackmann (6'0") at MSU, although I don't know that we have any good candidates for that on our current roster.
UNI only loses 1 senior from this year's team so they will no doubt be the odds on favorite to repeat as MVC champs next year. MSU loses only 2 seniors and will probably be a solid pick for second behind UNI. After that who knows.
Another trip to the NCAA Tournament is probably a real long shot for the Shocks next year, but nevertheless it should be a fun year to see how a relatively new group of players will develop.
:goshocks:
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