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2018 volleyball off-season news (Black and Gold Scrimmage Sat. 8/18- 3:00 PM)

AztecBuff

AztecBuff

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I always like to have one of these "catch-all" general off-season threads for each of the Olympic team sports, and can't see where one had been started yet for volleyball this year.
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Starting this thread NOW to wish the best to Buff setters Brynna Deluzio and Emily Demure, who are the 2 Buffs (out of 230 players from around the country) going down to Colorado Springs this weekend (March 2nd through the 4th) to participate in the "U.S. Women’s National Team Open Tryout" (See https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyb...-Athletes-Trying-Out-for-Womens-National-Team for full details.)

In addition to giving the players an opportunity to get on the National team coaches' "radar" (including National Team head coach Kiraly who oversees these annual events), these tryouts are one of the bases for selecting players for some U.S. collegiate national summer college teams, two of which travel to Europe and Asia to compete against international competition. This summer's teams being selected from those attending these tryouts are :

"
The U.S. Collegiate National Team program has three competition options:
  • U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – May 20-31, CNT Asia (International)
  • U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – July 4-15, CNT Europe (International)
  • U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – June 22-July 1, CNT-Detroit, Michigan (Domestic)
"
(I don't believe any of the 5 Buffs attending these tryouts last year were selected for any of the teams. However, 2 season's ago, I believe Gabby Simpson, Alexa Smith and Cierra Simpson all were selected to compete on one or another of the summer teams. By the way, Gabby Simpson, who transferred to Kansas before last season, also looks to be at the tryouts this year so, of course, best wishes to her also.)

If there are any hardcore volleyball fans reading this (or just curious to see what these things look like), there are usually multiple streams available for each of the practice courts for all the sessions, with this year's streams looking to be available through the event's home page at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/USA-Teams/Indoor-Volleyball/Women/National-Team-Tryouts . The tryouts are scheduled to start at 2:00 PM MT on Friday. I believe, at least in prior years, the highlight for volleyball fanatics is near the end, when a couple teams' worth of the top-rated players (who I believe end up being the core of the summer teams) are selected to play in a select match (with all the other players also getting to play in other matches). From the article, I'd assume those are scheduled for 7:30 AM Sunday this year.

Note- looks like the practice times are broken out by waves, with Ms. Deluzio's White wave scheduled to be on the court at 4:00 PM MT Friday, while Ms. Demure's blue group following at 6:10. (My admittedly quick search couldn't find time breakdowns for the waves for Saturday's sessions.) The general structure of the tryouts, pulling from the article-
"
The tryout will involve four sessions with three waves per session. Friday’s first session goes from 2-8 p.m. MT, while Saturday’s sessions are at 8 a.m. (focus on serve/receive and individual work) and 2 p.m. (middle-centered and out-of-system focus). The final session on Sunday begins at 7:30 a.m. MT with tournament style play, along with 16-18 athletes selected by the U.S. Women’s National Team staff to participate in a “USA” training session. The Sunday session wraps up at 10:30 a.m. MT. Fans wishing to attend the tryout in Sports Center II should access the U.S. Olympic Training Center through the entrance on Union Boulevard.
"

For anyone who wants to check out the streams to see how the Buffs are doing (if you can even find them among the many streams provided), the article also breaks out which of 3 waves (Red, White or Blue) each player is in, and the roster # they've been assigned. For the Buffs-
"
P85 - Brynna Deluzio (S, Colorado, 3, White)
...
P58 - Emily Demure (S, Colorado, 3, Blue)
"

(Although I'm sure he'll be VERY busy otherwise, the Buffs will also hopefully have some support if needed from CU Assoc. Head Coach Lee Maes, who will also be in the Springs, per the article, as one of the "Court Coaches".)
 
Looks like a relatively minimal spring competition schedule this year for volleyball, at least against other teams. (Assume MAYBE (???) only having 11 players on the roster affected this spring training period's schedule?)



Full blog post -
 
The vball Buffs finally get to play against players wearing another uni later today.

 


(With a nice 2 year start at CU, Coach Mahoney and company definitely have my trust (not that they need it anyways), but would be interesting to hear why this year's spring training period ended up happening as it did. Most teams, including the Buffs in prior years, typically play 4 or more spring matches against other teams, while this year's squad has only played one. Maybe the team is taking one of the (every 4 years) allowed international trips in the summer?)
 
With the Pac 12 always releasing their volleyball schedules MUCH later (2+ months, usually in July) than most other schools, the Volleytalk forum always tries to figure out, at minimum, the major non-conference matches for the Pac schools, at least other matches listed on the P5 and other top volleyball schools schedules. Just a few things regarding the Buffs I've seen so far:
  • The Buffs (along with Illinois), have evidently been rotated out of the prestigious Big 10/ Pac 12 Challenge they had been a part of the last 3 seasons (playing Penn State and Illinois each year, with Stanford being the other Pac team).
  • But, Iowa just released their schedule (https://hawkeyesports.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=452), and it shows them playing the Buffs on September 1st at UDub, so the Buffs look to now be part of another Pac 12/ Big 10 Challenge. Don't know their source, but a couple folk in Volleytalk are saying Illinois might be the other Big 10 team in Seattle. If so, after already having played them 3 years in a row, they may get to be a nice rival of the Buffs (assuming this challenge lasts multiple years like the last one did). (With Penn State being a perennial power, and Iowa, although improving, only finishing 7-13 in conference last year (although still a respectable #46 in RPI), assume the Buffs may try and schedule a little tougher the rest of pre-season. Note that Illinois, like the Buffs, are perceived to have lost less production from last season than most of their competition, when they ended up #17 ranked, so that should be another great match.)
  • Also, CSU released their schedule the beginning of this month (http://csurams.com/schedule.aspx?path=wvball), and it shows them coming to Boulder on September 15th to play the Buffs. It also shows them playing Portland State in Boulder that day and Indiana State at Moby the night before. Since pre-season tournaments are common in volleyball, I'd think the odds are good the Buffs may also be playing those two teams around those days.
 
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Wyoming schedule released. It has Buffs playing at Laramie on 8/25 under the header "Rumble in the Rockies". Also under that header it has Wyoming playing North Florida and Oral Roberts on Friday 8/24 so I'm guessing that the Buffs will also be playing those two teams on either 8/24 or 8/25.
That leaves the weekend of 9/8 unknown. With the first two weekends as away games I'm hoping that the 9/8 weekend is a home tourney. And probably those 4 weekends are all the non-conference matches with PAC 12 starting in the second half of September.
 
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Most likely those four weekends will be all the non-conference matches before the conference season starts.
 
Official non-conference schedule released. For the weekend not already known about/ discussed above from other teams' schedules, the Buffs are hosting a tournament with Georgia, North Carolina and Oklahoma visiting on Sept. 7th and 8th.


 
Full volleyball schedule now released:
Schedule - https://cubuffs.com/schedule.aspx?path=wvball



Direct link to Article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2018/6/18/...-will-play-16-matches-on-pac-12-networks.aspx

(Note- As always, grateful that, between the Pac 12 networks and streaming, a pretty large majority of matches will still be viewable for those of us who can't attend the matches live.)

"
BOULDER — Colorado will have 16 matches, seven home, seven away and two neutral, featured this volleyball season on Pac-12 Networks.

Fourteen of the matches will be against conference opponents, while the remaining two will be against Illinois and Iowa during the second weekend of non-conference play, August 31 and September 1, in Seattle, Wash., for the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge.

Just as they do every season, the Buffs kick off the Pac-12 slate against Utah, hosting the Utes at the CU Events Center (formerly the Coors Events Center) on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m., the first of three Pac-12 Networks matches. CU will then host Southern California on Sunday, Sept. 23, in its only meeting of the season between the two teams.
...

Nine of the 12 conference teams made the NCAA Tournament in 2017. Stanford made it the furthest in the tournament, advancing to the semi-finals, while USC and Washington advanced to the region finals. Colorado, UCLA and Utah made the round of 16, while Oregon and Washington State made it to the second round. Oregon State was the other team that qualified for the tournament.

Volleyball season tickets go on sale Tuesday, June 19, and start at $40 for general admission. Reserved seats are $55 and floor seats will be $75. Fans can secure their season tickets with a $40 deposit until they go on sale June 19.

Single match tickets will be available to purchase on August 6. General admission seats are $8, reserved seats are $10 and floor seats can be purchased for $15. Kids 12 and under are free.

And don't forget about the new Women's Sports Pass. For just $125, the women's sports pass gives you general admission seating for all volleyball, soccer and women's basketball home games. This is a savings of over 50 percent off the single game price! You can buy your Women's Sports Pass today on CUBuffs.com or by calling 303-49-BUFFS.
"
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For the last few years, conference play has consisted of 20 matches, so there's always 2 conference schools the Buffs only play once each season. Look like it's the L.A. schools (USC and UCLA) this season, with USC only playing CU in Boulder, while the Buffs will only play the bruins in Westwood.
 
Sept 7 will be an interesting day according to that schedule. At noon, there will be two matches played simultaneously at the Coors Events Center : CU will play North Carolina, and Georgia will play Oklahoma. I guess MAYBE the UGA vs OU match will be played on one of the practice courts. Bigger chance someone messed up.
 
BeBe said:
Sept 7 will be an interesting day according to that schedule. At noon, there will be two matches played simultaneously at the Coors Events Center : CU will play North Carolina, and Georgia will play Oklahoma. I guess MAYBE the UGA vs OU match will be played on one of the practice courts. Bigger chance someone messed up.
Click to expand...
I got clarification on this. There are indeed 2 matches at noon. CU match in the main court and the UGA match in the practice facility.
 
Hope they provide some seating in the practice facility. There will most likely be parents and family who will want to watch the match.
 
Congrats are in order to volleyball setter and #ForeverBuff Nicole Edelman. She continues to advance her pro career each year to, I believe, higher ranked European leagues. For this coming season, she has just signed with Beziers in France. (She started her pro career two years ago in Switzerland, and was in Spain last season where, per the below link, she was MVP while helping lead her team to 3 different Spanish national titles.)

Article- https://volleymob.com/former-cu-buffs-nicole-edelman-signs-in-france/



Edit- wanted to add that it looks like her team's the defending regular season champions of France, so hopefully she has put herself in a good position to succeed (standings- https://www.scorespro.com/volleyball/france/pro-a-women/standings/).
 
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Great to see all the current vball Buffs, veterans and rookies, are now in Boulder!



(The 2018 roster is now available, with no surprises (additional transfers) either incoming or outgoing - https://cubuffs.com/roster.aspx?path=wvball&roster=444&sort=class
________________________________________________________________________

Also, a couple more Buffs with pro contracts this year- Taylor Simpson (also in France like Ms. Edelman) and Joslyn Hayes (Brazil) -


 
Of course, pre-season polls are almost always meaningless (other than maybe to start getting fans amped for the season), but wanted to mention I just saw the 1st 2018 pre-season poll (from Prepvolleyball), and the Buffs are showing at #19. This puts them around the middle of the Pac, as there are 6 conference schools ranked ahead of them (Stanford #1, USC #10, UCLA #11, Washington #12, Oregon #14 and Utah #18).

Article link (Prepvolleyball is generally a premium site, but this article seems to be showing up without membership. Other than the rankings, the article doesn't say anything about the Buffs, or really discuss any team other than Stanford.) - https://prepvolleyball.com/articles/college-articles/college-insiders-july-division-i-poll/403763

Edit- just wanted to add, as reference, the Buffs ended up #18 in RPI and #19 in the Coaches' poll last season.
 
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I probably won't post any of the later ones, but just wanted to mention looks like volleyball's starting a daily Twitter countdown to their season starter. Only 30 days to go (and ~24 before the Black and Gold scrimmage)!

 
As I also mentioned in a thread set up for this year's fall sport media day (https://www.allbuffs.com/threads/20...-day-olympic-sport-content-august-4th.133911/), Coach Mahoney and seniors Naghede Abu and Alexa Smith had a press conference. Content arising from it-

Replay of the presser (16 minutes, 35 seconds long- direct link from below tweet) - https://www.pscp.tv/w/1djGXnEoARdxZ



Quotes - https://cubuffs.com/news/2018/8/4/volleyball-media-day-quotes-and-notes.aspx

Notes (I presume provided for the press before the press conference) - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2018/8/4//Volleyball_Media_Day_Notes_2018.pdf
 
Best wishes to the vball team as they start their official training period leading up to the season!

 
Just wanted to mention it looks like the Buffs may have a pretty big un-anticipated (at least to me) hole (at minimum in experience) to fill this season, as senior Frankie Shebby is suddenly no longer appearing on this season's roster. For those who don't follow the team that closely, she started every match she played in last season (31 out of 34 total Buff matches), and was a SOLID 6 rotation outside hitter for the Buffs who was 2nd on the team in kills, 1st in serves received, 3rd in digs and 4th in blocks last season, her 1st playing for CU (after transferring from Oregon a couple seasons ago and red-shirting the 2016 season).

Assuming her deletion from the roster is accurate and permanent, hope one or more of the younger players successfully seize the opportunity this opening will provide, and best wishes to Ms. Shebby where ever her path leads.
 
I can't like your post, Aztec, because of the news contained in it.

I don't know how you keep up with all the players, Aztec. I follow Frankie on both Twitter and Instagram. CU volleyball is no longer mentioned in her bio on those two platforms.

All the best to you Frankie.
 
In case anyone doubted that the PAC is a top VB conference … that's 7 of 12 teams ranked in the pre-season top 20 and 2 more receiving votes.
 
Since I know I will be having this discussion with a friend of mine who says the B1G is a better volleyball conference than the PAC, 7 B1G schools in the pre-season top 25 (2 between 21 and 25) and 1 receiving votes.

We will see how things look at the end of the season.

Go Buffs!
 
Also forgot to mention I was (obviously) very bored for a bit a few days ago, so listened to the below description of new NCAA volleyball rules that was released (mainly for coaches and others "in the biz", so VERY dry for me). (Still, thanks to the Volleytalk thread (http://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/72769/2018-19-ncaa-rules-changes?page=4) that linked me to the video.)



Things I found of note -

1) As I guess could be anticipated given that the challenge/ review system for volleyball has only been up and running for the last 2-3 years, not surprising to me that the bulk of substantive rule changes are related to it-
  • Now, if a coach challenges a call based on whether or not there was (1) a touch or (2) the ball was in or out during a play, referees can/ will review both aspects of the play automatically as part of the challenge. (In the past, coaches had to let the refs know which of the 2 they were challenging, and the other aspect wasn't' allowed to be part of the refs' reviews.)
  • A Back row attack can now be challenged as to whether the back row attacker did or didn't cross or step on the (3 meter) line before their attack ( if the attacker attacked from a point above the net).
  • If a match goes to a 5th set, an extra (4th) challenge will now be granted to both teams. (Before, there were only 3 challenges allowed no matter how many sets a match went.)
2) Of interest to both teams AND fans, the break between the 2nd and 3rd sets has been decreased from 10 minutes to 5 minutes.
The reason given for this change is that (statistical) studies showed "too many" (whatever % that was) TV viewers of matches were changing the channel when the break between the 2nd and 3rd sets occurred.
Personally kind of bummed about this one, as i enjoyed the "Serve it up" promotion** the Buffs had in the past, as well as the break giving me time to absorb all that had happened in the 1st 2 sets, and maybe socialize with neighbors a little. (**There will only be 2 minutes allowed in the break for promotions, as 3 of the 5 minutes of the new break time is designated for player warm-up. Assume that's too little time to set up and run "Serve it up".) In the Volleytalk forum, it was discussed how this change could especially be an issue for fans of the schools (Nebraska, Hawaii, etc.) which frequently have big crowds at matches, as it lessens the ability to take concession or bathroom breaks without missing some of the action if they're stuck in lines.)
 
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