I really thought Hannah Willms was going to be a more explosive player. High jump record holder ect. I know she is young but just doesn't have the spring off the floor I expected. She was blocked a lot today.
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I really thought Hannah Willms was going to be a more explosive player. High jump record holder ect. I know she is young but just doesn't have the spring off the floor I expected. She was blocked a lot today.
Maybe bad day, as she was Big 12 Award winner last week (can't remember Freshman or Newcomer).
Staff thinks she is just beginning her development and has a tremendous upside.
Eckerman is the best high school VB player to ever come from Iowa - made the US national team - and yes, ISU recruited her hard. All of the national VB powers did.
Intially, she was thought to be a Penn State lean until the PSU assistant who was recruiting her, Salima Rockwell, took the same job at Texas. Then she signed with Texas.
It's telling that CJL said after the match yesterday, "we need state of Iowa players to play at Iowa State."
Willms has been playing great. Both she and Carly had trouble finishing vs. Texas. While their errors appeared unforced sometimes, certainly Texas was a presence and affected them. Willms is going to be almost unstoppable with a little more experience and timing.
Yes, and the coach's strategy--a good one, I think-- was to invite 1,000 young female vb players to attend the game. Nothing like involving potential recruits early on; that is one way to create a culture of support.
Nancy Meendering Metcalfe might disagree with you. Played at Western Christian (Hull).
Nancy Metcalf | Athletes | USA Volleyball
Eckerman to Texas is like Taylor Greenfield to Stanford or Kiah Stokes to UConn. A chance to play for a top flight program with consistent opportunities for Final Fours, if not a national championship, won out over being a home state hero.
Eckerman was a big-time diva on the club circuit while in HS with numerous personal issues to boot. For her own sake (although bad for ISU), it was probably best that she leave the state in order to max out her considerable talents.
She was really off, and I was down on her immediately after/during. In her defense, I think some of that was setting, also. I'm not sure she's getting the ball where she wants it, or in relation to the net. We seem to really sell out and telegraph where that is coming from sometimes, and the block really had time to get there.
You look back and see the UNI match and Straube didn't play well, and I think coach mentioned later about some knee issues or soreness. Didn't know it at the time. Who knows, maybe players get dinged up and we never know.
