Well- definitely need to be South Dakota fans the rest of the year. (Assuming we can do OK in conference, don't want to have a bad RPI hit come tournament selection time keep us from a tournament berth, like the Wyoming loss almost did to the Buffs last year.) Although only 4-5 going into the game, SD looked very solid, especially defensively and (although it's hard for me to tell on the computer) on their serve.
My guess is that Nicole Edelman must be fighting some illness or injury, as both last weekend and today she was sitting on the bench the whole match instead of standing next to the rest of the team. (I believe there was an article or video in the Daily Camera over the summer discussing her having back surgery late last year. If that is acting up, hope its nothing serious for her.)
Defensively, I'm also wondering if Gwen Herring, one of two defensive specialists on the roster this year, is OK. I would have thought we'd have seen her today, especially with the serve receive and passing issues the Buffs were having. Hopefully she's OK injury-wise. (I saw her hurt her leg during a match a couple weeks ago, but she was able to play last weekend.)
I'm definitely with MOBuff that I'd like to see Alexis Austin, if near 100%, playing a lot more. I just don't see anyone else on the Buffs (maybe other than T. Simpson) who can hit it like her. (I believe an earlier thread here mentioned she might have a foot injury she's recovering from, so maybe she just isn't able to go a full match at this point.)
Assuming it is an injury issues with Nicole Edelman (and possibly 2-3 other key contributors), I think we'll need to be patient with the "quarterback" now being a freshman EARLY in her 1st season, especially with the bulk of the other players around her also being freshmen or, (except for C. Simpson) sophomores who were lightly used last year. Hopefully, any injuries aren't too bad. I know in one of the earlier post-match interviews the Coach mentioning, without being specific, something to the effect she's trying to make sure players are physically ready for Pac 12 play.
As I mentioned in an earlier post above, hopefully the Buffs can take it to Illinois and/ or Creighton tomorrow. Although the Buffs will definitely need to play a lot better than today to do it, A victory against either of them will be better than any non-conference win last year and constitute a "high quality" win selection committees like to see, and might counteract most if any damage done from this loss. And, probably more importantly, give them more confidence going into what will be a challenging conference schedule. I was a little impressed the Buffs came back to win game 3 after losing game 2 in spite of having 23-16 and 24-20 leads, which must have been a little demoralizing.