The UT Arlington Athletic Department kicks off the 2024/25 athletic season later this week as the Volleyball team travels to their first match of the season. As is customary, the Western Athletic Conference released its preseason poll and as I alluded to a couple of blog entries ago, the Mavs have garnered respect in the conference.
To refresh, in the UTA hosting championship post, I mentioned the volleyball team is returning a lot of talent. In conjunction, the WAC lost two of its top four programs in Stephen F. Austin and UT Rio Grande Valley. Looking at who is returning, last year's results and recent historical performance, this year's preseason volleyball poll was about as easy as it gets, even in the transfer portal era.
As we head into the season, here's what the prognosticator's think the final standings will look like, with first place votes in parenthesis:
- Grand Canyon (4)
- UTA (5)
- Utah Valley
- California Baptist
- Tarleton State
- Abilene Christian
- Utah Tech
- Southern Utah
- Seattle
A couple of things stick out to me. First, UTA garnered more first place votes, which means some coach somewhere thinks UTA is not going to finish in the top two, but pretty much everyone believes GCU will. Don't get me wrong, the 'lopes have, for volleyball at this level, a huge budget and return Tatum Parrot, one of the best attackers I've seen personally in a long time.
I have heard of coaches who intentionally raise or lower a team in their rankings to provide motivation or other reasons. That may or may not be the case here, but even with how much UTA returns, more on that later, I'd still put GCU in first ahead of second place UTA.
Second, I'd flip third and fourth and then fifth and sixth. I think both those spots are close and can see the poll finish exact, but prior to the start of the season, I just think CBU is a bit better than UVU and ACU a bit better than Tarleton. That said, any sports follower, even for a small period of time, knows the better team doesn't always finish ahead.
I'm not a fan of preseason awards, as they are worth just as much as this blog, that is to say nothing, but Parrot is pegged as the Player of the Year, UTA's Mollie Blank the Setter of the Year and UVU's Lani Matavao as the Libero of the Year.
Two Mavs appeared on the All-WAC team: Outside Hitter Briana Ford and Middle Blocker Paige Reagor, both graduate students. Blank, also a GS, did not appear, despite the individual accolade. That is a bit of an oversight if you ask me as the Setter is equivalent to a quarterback, reading the defense, passing to the attacker and giving the offense the best chance for a point. If everything else is equal or close, the setter will lead to a resounding win.
Speaking of graduate students, this may be the most experienced roster I have seen in a long time. The Mavs have five (5!) graduate students on the roster. Alyssa Duran and UTSA-transfer Cansu Gunaydin are the other two. There are no true seniors, but the graduate students are like seniors on steroids.
The only real question mark I have is who will fill Alli Wells spot at Libero. Duran was third in digs and likely will fill the role, but I'm not 100 percent certain. If the Mavs claim a title, it will be due to a Libero coming out and excelling.
Ford will play the all-everything card at Outside Hitter, as she was first in kills and blocks while second in digs on the team. Reagor found comfort at UTA after transferring in to go third in kills and second in blocks (trailed Ford by one in that category). Junior Jalie Tritt was second in kills, fifth in digs and looks to continue where she left off. Gunaydin led UTSA in kills two years ago at 270 and recorded 190 as a senior last year. She'll definitely be in the rotation.
Redshirt Sophomore Sophie Ocampo is the only other returning Maverick to log over 100 kills last year. Junior Ava Burroughs will likely take an increased role near the net as she actually led UTA in blocks per set, seeing far less action than Reagor or Ford.
As an aside, the experience this team has certainly shows a different side of the current NCAA and may be what allows these types of sports to grow. While UTA doesn't have football, we've certainly seen the transfer portal turnover the basketball rosters for both genders. Having watched most of these volleyball Mavericks the last few years, it is impossible not to be invested at a level beyond the logo on the jersey.
The season starts on Friday in Lafayette, Louisiana as the Mavs take on Murray State in the Sawyer Memorial Classic. First serve is set for 3 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment