Penn State Women’s Volleyball Starts Slow as Freshmen Adjust

Penn State, off to its slowest start in 28 years, is looking for leaders.

With a 4-3 record (its slowest start since 1983, according to an article by Stephen Pianovich of the Daily Collegian) and sitting at the bottom of the Big Ten standings (OK, not really the Big Ten standings, given that the Big Ten season hasn’t started yet, but they have the worst record so far), Penn State isn’t quite up to tempo.

In fact, as Russ Rose noted in an interview with Matt Howland of the Daily Collegian, as a team, it’s missing a few beats.

Even though you might have been the leader of your high school or your club team, you go into a college situation where most of the players are deferring instead of stepping up and doing things. I recruit kids and I expect them to be able to come in and play. I think what has enabled the top teams in the country to maintain being the top teams is the young kids that they recruit are able to come in, adapt, and some teams don’t miss a beat. Right now, we’re missing a number of beats.

Missing beats. Out of synch. Bad connection. Two words come to mind: youth and inexperience. Here’s Coach Rose again, from the Matt Howland article:

We’ve got a lot of young kids out there playing, and I think they’re a little hesitant to be as aggressive as they need to be to make the good decisions. Those things will probably develop with time, but until that happens, it’s a struggle, for sure.

To underscore just how young and inexperienced this team really is, take a look at Penn State’s statistical leaders through the Texas match in the Tables below: Attack Leaders – all sophomores and freshmen; Set/Serve leaders – one junior, one sophomore, one freshman; Recept/Dig leaders – one junior, three sophomores, two freshmen; Block/Points leaders – four sophomores, three freshmen.

That’s youth (and inexperience).

Attack Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	K	K/S	E	TA	Pct.
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	432	3.54	144	1090	.264
01	Scott, Ariel	So.	118	33	31	418	3.54	136	1083	.260
16	Slay, Katie	So.	122	33	33	257	2.11	63	502	.386
14	Whitney, Aiyana	Fr.	65	24	0	113	1.74	51	320	.194
06	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	141	1.44	60	410	.198
07	Grant, Nia	Fr.	117	32	32	151	1.29	44	309	.346
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	110	0.91	34	246	.309
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	1676	13.74	564	4159	.267
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	1377	11.29	684	4077	.170

Set/Serve Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	Ast	A/S	SA	SA /S	SE
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	1275	10.54	91	0.75	76
23	Longo, Ali	So.	117	33	0	90	0.77	32	0.27	30
05	Carpenter, Kristin	Jr.	100	33	4	76	0.76	14	0.14	37
04	Gonzalez, Dominique	Fr.	84	29	6	19	0.23	8	0.10	21
33	Fuller, Lacey	Fr.	67	30	0	4	0.06	7	0.10	6
n/a	Team	n/a	122	33	33	1549	12.70	209	1.71	288
n/a	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	1293	10.60	113	0.93	202

Recept/Dig Leaders - 2011

Search:

#	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	RE	Dig	Dig/Set
23	Longo, Ali	So.	117	33	0	19	397	3.39
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	4	279	2.31
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	22	245	2.01
05	Carpenter, Kristin	Jr.	100	33	4	12	182	1.82
06	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	21	156	1.59
04	Gonzalez, Dominique	Fr.	84	29	6	10	123	1.46
33	Fuller, Lacey	Fr.	67	30	0	13	59	0.88
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	113	1729	14.17
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	209	1671	13.70

Blocking Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	TB	B/S	BE	BHE
16	Slay, Katie	So.	122	33	33	27	146	173	1.42	11	3
7	Grant, Nia	Fr.	117	32	32	13	94	107	0.91	4	0
1	Scott, Ariel	So.	118	33	31	5	81	86	0.73	2	1
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	13	48	61	0.50	6	3
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	5	54	59	0.49	9	19
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	76	503	327.5	2.68	40	31
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	51	341	221.5	1.82	69	39

Video Interview with Lacey Fuller

Oh, and here’s Lacey Fuller in a “Tuesday Talk” video interview with the Daily Collegian:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrO4mKrtXLU&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

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