Agree…Mia being a freshman may not be ready to start in the rotation, and I have no idea how her back row skills are. But if hitters are being shut down, we have another option. I thought freshman Liana played well on the right pin. Not a lot of swings, but she had more blocks than the stats showed. She came in and immediately got 2 blocks with Amelia and then another with Layne. But stats only showed 2 for the match. Too early to tell if Mia was ahead of her before her injury.
I agree Grace is our best option, we’ve seen so far to go 6 rotations. She has played a serving and defensive specialist in previous seasons with a small amount of time hitting from both pins. You could try a line up of Taylor & Grace on the left with Liana or Mia on the right. You would put Karissa subbing with the right side hits, so you could have her play the front row again during a set if Grace struggles. I think that’s how you would pair up subs…but it gets confusing when you have so many players out of their natural position. Thank goodness the staff knows all the options like the back of their hand.
Finally, I noticed Anna did not wear a thigh wrap for either the KY or Cincy matches. But pictures from the ISU match show it on. I believe this has been a reoccurring injury since last in her freshman year. Anna goes down and I think you have to return Karissa to the back row. So it’s not just a front row issue. Karissa playing OH makes us weaker in the back too. It really is fitting the puzzle pieces together to get the best combination of available players on the court.
Also, FIU has had a diverse roster for some time. They must have some pipelines that are long standing.
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