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NCAA DIVISION I VOLLEYBALL


No frosh fright F


Freshmen making early impacts for their top 25 NCAA Division I women’s teams


reshmen have been contributing to top NCAA Division I women’s volleyball programs for more than three decades, but for every Deja McClendon of Penn State University (MVP of the NCAA Tourna- ment in 2010), there are countless others who must toil in practice waiting for their chance. The early part of the 2011 season did reveal a num- ber of players who were making an immediate early-sea- son impact for teams ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 Coaches’ Poll. Timing plays a role in any freshman’s chances (a gradu- ated senior left a position open or beating out a veteran), but there are some players who make it impossible to leave them out of the lineup.


Jane Croson, who won a gold medal for Sports


Shack at the 2011 USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships 18 Open Division and earned the most valuable player honor in the process, was headlining the group. The 5-11 outside hitter was adapting to the col- legiate game nicely, leading the University of Hawaii in several offensive categories.


Hawaii Head Coach Dave Shoji says Croson was continuing to get better, but he was keeping expecta- tions reserved. “If you look at the numbers of all the top freshmen, those numbers will be a lot better two years from now,” says Shoji, who has more than 1,000 career coaching victories. “As well as Jane is doing, she is playing the toughest position. It’s diffi cult to transition to college when you are a left side player. They are used to overpowering the block in club ball and that’s not done very much at the Division I Ievel.” At the University of Washington, heralded fresh- men outside hitters Summer Ross and Krista Vansant were causing quite a stir in Seattle where sports colum- nists were fi lling up column inches on their early-season prowess as fast as the pair was racking up kills. Four-time defending national champion Penn State was banking on a true freshman setter (Micha Hancock) to lead them back to the national championship. The Nittany Lions had already lost more matches this season (three) than they did the past four seasons, but Hancock and fellow freshman Nia Grant are two reasons why some still suspect the defending champs will have a huge say in the NCAA Division I national championship outcome.


Most coaches feel the role of the freshman recruit has not changed radically in recent years. University of Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen, who saw his team race to a 12-0 start behind a freshman setter (Lexi Dannemiller), says the new era of freshmen face the same challenges.


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“I don’t know if roles for true freshman have changed drastically over the past 20 years,” he says. ”I think there has always been a number of freshmen who are ready to come in and perform at a level to help top teams compete and there is always a good number that need more time to gain experience. Possibly the number that can impact has grown slightly, but I don’t know if that is a fact or not. We seem to have one or two a year who are able to make that early impact.” John Cook, who has won a national title at University of Nebraska in 2006, thinks the land- scape for freshmen is still precarious. “We have had very few freshmen make an impact here over the years,” he says. “That is still the case. We are always recruiting impact freshmen if we can get them.” Cook has a starting freshman libero in Lara Dyks- tra, who enrolled last winter to get a head start by prac- ticing with the Huskers in the spring. “Lara is solid,” says Cook. “She is trying to replace a a great player in Kayla (Banwarth). We need her to have more of an impact. That is our goal. We love her mentality and commitment to be great.”


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Rosen thinks part of the key is not even ask- ing the freshman starter to do too much. “Lexi has made a huge impact on our team in these fi rst four weeks of play,” says Rosen. “We had hoped


she could make that type of transition, but did not know if it would happen or not. I think it has been hugely helpful for her that we have a very experi- enced veteran group around her. They have


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