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  #1  
Old 06-08-2020, 06:22 PM
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Recruits coming this fall.

I’ll try to find a couple things on each of the SIX freshmen coming this fall and post in this thread to help the fans get up to speed on the new Flyers.

Up first is #51 Recruit Alayna (Laney) Yates. She’s from Cedar Falls, IA and I believe the first player from the Hawkeye state for the volleyball program. As a 6-6 MB she will draw comparisons to our last 6-6 MB Lindsay Fletemier who had a great career as a Flyer picking up three All-American honors and was named the A10 POY her junior and senior years.

Yates is better. Lindsay redshirted her first year in Dayton. She needed the extra year to acclimate to the DI game. I expect Yates to be in the starting rotation from day one. Yates is also more athletic. She’s quicker, especially moving laterally across the net from pin to pin setting the block. She’s quicker off her feet. She also can hit a bigger range of balls. Lindsay was really great at crushing overpass balls and just flat out hitting over any block. Yates can do all that but can also run the slide and hit off one foot. She also has the talent to score from out-of-system sets off the net. Not a lot of MBs can do that.

Prepvolleyball said this about Laney...

“...one of the most highly skilled middles in the country. Blessed with a motor that always runs hot, Yates can score at an elite level with her mastery of high deep corner shots and transition IQ plays. She has grown to be a player who can transition from the net and is always available for her setter. She also has shown the ability to score not just in-system but from 5-8 feet out of system and from off the net, hitting out of multiple zones across the net while using an ever-expanding shot repertoire. As a blocker, her sheer size can be overwhelming, but Yates is so much more. She does a good job of reading hitters, has the speed to move quickly from pin to pin, uses great hand position and has a desire and determination to be involved in every play at the net.

“Very smart, Yates soaks up coaching. Always improving, once Yates gets to Dayton, she should be a centerpiece of the Flyers’ program for four years. She is the kind of gritty workhorse that can turn a good mid-major team into a threat to make multiple deep tournament runs.”

When Fletemier played at UD, Chris use to say, “ Feed the horse,” meaning just keep setting Lindsay. I expect he’ll say the same with Yates on the floor. She will terminate at a high clip.

Laney had offers from B10 and SEC schools. The following article talks about why she decided to become a Flyer. She’ll be fun to watch from her first day and will be the front runner for the 2020 A10 ROY.

https://wcfcourier.com/sports/high-s...ce49ae90a.html

Laney and her high school teammates won the State Championship this past fall, after finishing runner up her junior year - the only loss that season.

When Jamie Peterson was a freshman I use to tell people Amber Erahon was our best player, but Jamie Peterson is going to be.

This year I’ll be saying Jamie Peterson is our best player, but Laney Yates is going to be.

Last edited by BeckysTXA; 06-08-2020 at 06:37 PM..
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  #2  
Old 06-10-2020, 05:32 PM
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Next up...L/DS Lexie Almodovar from Noblesville, IN.

Every year, prepvolleyball.com uses a large panel of college coaches to compile and vote on their Top 100 recruits listed in order, and then they list alphabetically the next 150 recruits to complete its top 250 senior aces list. They announce these rankings over about a week, and the first article is titled the senior aces prologue. This article always lists 10 to 25 recruits that “ just missed” being top 100s. This year there were 10 players on the just missed list and one of those was Dayton Recruit Lexie Almodovar. And thus, I will always refer to Lexie as a Top 110 Recruit, even tho there is not officially a Top 110 list.

At 5-8 Lexie played Outside Hitter in high school that went 6 rotations because she had great backrow skills. But, from day one, Dayton recruited her as a Libero/DS. At the elite level UD volleyball enjoys, its tough to play a front row position if your shorter than 6’. It can happen. Penn State won a National Championship with a setter that was 5’7”, but she was extremely athletic and could jump. The liability is blocking more than hitting. Your opponent hitters, some of who are 6’3”+ and Wisconsin’s Dana Renke is 6’8”, your opponent’s hitters can simply can hit over shorter front row players. Next year I anticipate our shortest front row player will be 5’10” Setter Bridget Doherty.

So unless Lexie comes in and showcases elite jumping ability, I expect she is working hard to be the best DS/L she can be for the Flyers. But, my guess is Coach Horsmon will give her a chance to use her hitting skills as a backrow attacker, at least her first year. That’s because junior Maura Collins is really good and should be our Libero, but will be pushed by Lexie for the colored jersey. Maura’s two years of DI experience will win out, leaving a DS role for Lexie her first year.

The Libero can not contact/hit the ball above the net. It’s never really a problem. But as a DS (Defensive Specialist) you can contact the ball above the net and you can swing away from behind the ten-foot line. If Lexie can come in and serve receive at a high level (the toughest skill in volleyball) she could be our DS as a freshman and give us one more player in the backrow that could be an offensive threat and a big worry for opponent’s to defend in addition to her defensive assignments. At the beginning of last year. OH Mik VanLanen filled the role of an OH-DS. Towards the end of the year, we saw OH-DS Jordan Albarran getting more opportunities to hit out of the back row. It’s a role Lexie could step in and fill if she can upgrade our serve receive and side-out Percentage. We will have lots of very good hitters on the court at all times. You can always use another offensive threat, but the person winning the DS job has to be able to pass serves at a high percentage, and the backrow player that can do that the best will win the DS job. Lexie will compete for this role.

Prepvolleyball also puts together three different lists titled Defensive Dandies. One of those lists consists of prep players like Lexie, that play 6 rotations. 3 as OHs in the front row and then 3 rotations playing defense in the back row. Lexie made this list as both a junior and a senior. This last year she was on the First Team. There were only 10 players on the First Team, so she is one of the best prep players with strong skills for both hitting and playing back row defensive.

Prepvolleyball said, “Almodovar returns to the list after last year’s nomination thanks to her senior season stat line of 513 kills at a hitting percentage of .311, 37 blocks and 341 Digs.”

This is an interview from 3 years ago when Lexie was 15. She played for Munciana VB club which is one of the best in the country. UD has had a lot of players come out of this club.

https://www.flovolleyball.tv/video/5...exie-almodovar

On her club team at Munciana this year, which only got to play a couple weekends, Lexie was joined by her UD recruiting class teammate Lindsay Winner, 2 Ball State recruits, a Wisconsin Recruit, 2 Indiana recruits, one NC, one Northwestern and one GA. Lots of D1 athletes.

An article in Oct 2019 before the IN sectional playoffs, said Lexie was averaging 4.91 kills per set and 10.5 Digs. 10+ Digs per set is a solid average for a Libero that plays 5.5 rotations in the back row. Lexie piled up that average playing only 3 rotations in the back. Very impressive.

It’s behind a pay wall on prepvolleyball, but they have a picture of Lexie -one of her senior pictures in her uniform holding a volleyball. When I first saw the picture, I thought this woman is a competitor. The look on her face said to me, “Don’t even think about putting down a ball in my zone. I’ll make you pay if you do.”

I think Almodovar will be a tenacious competitor for Dayton and a whole lot of fun to watch get better every year.

Last edited by BeckysTXA; 06-10-2020 at 05:36 PM..
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  #3  
Old 06-11-2020, 02:33 PM
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Found another comment about Lexie. As mentioned above, she and her teammate Lindsey Winner played for Munciana 18 Samurai club for a couple months before Covid shut it down. Lots of D1 players on that team and it would have contended for an Open club championship - the most talented division in the club world.

In the last club rankings published in February, Munciana was ranked #6, even though they were down two starters, they were undefeated at 16-0. Here is what the comment section said...

The steady six-rotation play of OH Lexi Almodovar has been key. Coach Mike Lingenfelter calls her the most improved player in the club.

With 2 starters down my guess is they had to move Lexie to OH versus having her play L/DS, and she was delivering. Current UD Libero Maura Collins also hit and set in high school. There are some other back row players in the pipeline coming to Dayton that have hitter-defender backgrounds. I think there is an advantage with this combination. If you’ve worked to find the holes in the court to score a kill, I think that would help you defend against a hitter trying to do the same. I like we are bringing those type of back row players.

Last edited by BeckysTXA; 06-11-2020 at 02:38 PM..
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  #4  
Old 06-14-2020, 09:25 AM
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BeckysTXA BeckysTXA is offline
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#250 Recruit Lindsey Winner is a 6’2” MB from Versailles, OH about 40 miles north of Dayton. She will be following in the footsteps of two other Versailles’ volleyball players that had great Flyer careers.

2013 UD grad Megan Campbell was a 6-1 MB that finished her career with All-American and First Team A10 honors. 2019 grad Lauren Burns was a 6-1 OH that also finished her career as an All American and First Team A10. Burns was also named the A10 POY her senior season. Both Campbell and Bruins were Senior CLASS Award nominees, showcasing their classroom, athletic and community service accomplishments during their time on campus.

Outstanding young women that represent the university at the highest level. It also speaks highly of their hometown and prep background which Winner will also bring to Dayton. All three players also played for Munciana Volleyball Club out of Muncie, IN.

Winner was initially focused on basketball and came to volleyball “late” starting as a high school freshman. She has huge upside because she is so athletic. A large percentage of high school MBs switch to both left and right OHs when they play in college. Once Winner gets on campus and in the gym, what position she plays will be explored. What we do know is UD is very deep at both MB and OH this year and this freshman class is huge with six players. All of these factors mean Horsmon will redshirt Winner this season, and she was recruited knowing that was the plan. The following article from her signing day talks about her recruiting process and decision to play at UD.

https://www.earlybirdpaper.com/versa...ity-of-dayton/

Here is what Coach Horsmon had to say about Winner in the daytonflyers.com press release.

“Lindsey is one of the better athletes we’ve brought to Dayton in the past few years. She is incredibly strong and gets off the deck smoothly. Right now, Lindsey is a shutdown blocker and continues to get better offensively. I think she will be a very strong slide attacker. Lindsey is tough, she competes on every point, and she brings a blue-collar attitude to our program. Lindsey is coming from the same Munciana program as Lexie and will compete for a national championship this year at the club level.”

As noted in a post above, the club season got canceled, but Lexie and Lindsey’s team was last ranked #6 in February and undefeated when the plug was pulled.

Finally, who doesn’t like having a player with a championship-pedigree in your program with the last name “Winner”. One area this year’s team must improve is blocking. It’s a critical Mission in a path to the Sweet 16. Although Lindsey won’t be able to contribute to this effort in matches this season, she will be a valuable asset in practice as an example of how to get it done. With her chop-wood, carry-water work ethic, I expect she will take personal ownership of the mission to improve the block, in practice, from the sideline, even as a redshirt freshman. That’s what a winner would do.

Last edited by BeckysTXA; 06-14-2020 at 11:00 AM..
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  #5  
Old 06-17-2020, 09:06 PM
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BeckysTXA BeckysTXA is offline
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6-2” Setter Aspen Aldous from Gilbert, AZ signed last week with Dayton and I announced that in her own thread. At the time, I speculated she might have been a setter that was overlooked. According to Coach Horsmon, she is a rare find talent-wise this late in the recruiting process. Here is the UD announcement.

https://daytonflyers.com/news/2020/6...20-roster.aspx

I noted in the previous thread Aspen played this past season with the #20 ranked Recruit (an OH) who is also the second highest ranked Recruit headed to the PAC. It’s what I like best about Aspen because she will be setting some highly ranked hitters at UD - #51, #66 and #73. Her high school also ran a fast offense. The Flyers run a fast offense. She will have to acclimate to the college game speed, but it helps she can shoot-set hitters.

Great pick up for UD. Plus, If grad-transfer, Swink, can win a starting rotation spot because she can go 6-rotations, Horsmon & Co will have hit several home runs during the off-season. Now if we can just get the schedule released.

Also, I’ve got a couple more players in this class to showcase, but it’s going to be about two weeks before I can get to it. It’s coming.

Last edited by BeckysTXA; 06-17-2020 at 10:17 PM..
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