I really do not understand our setter subbing. I’d rather watch Taylor learn from mistakes and build her connection with the middles/hitters than see Poulter come in at this point in the season. Especially since during the 4th set in particular she set our hitters into the block on 5 straight points to start that set. It happened repeatedly in that set along with sets behind the hitters. And I can’t think of a match where pulling her for Poulter and leaving Poulter in worked in our favor.
Passing was pretty brutal too starting in the 2nd set with that string of terrible serve receive that basically turned the entire match around, but again, I’d rather watch Taylor learn/grow trying to make it work off subpar passing and making mistakes than see a 5th year setter come in. Our team is really young, the benefit of Taylor starting as a freshman are those connections they’ll build for the future. Plus I think her connection/setting of Eva and Chloe is significantly better, she struggles the most with the middles (and it seems like often is pulled when she and Lourdes are struggling) and I think giving up the good of how she works with Eva, Chloe and even Raven is crazy. Dave pulled her in the PSU match but put her back in quickly, and that seemed to work? I just don’t get it. Not only do I think her setting is all around better, she’s a better blocker, passer when the ball comes at her, server, etc. If she’s rattled, sure, take her out and calm her down but give her a chance to go back in, she’s the better option for a ton of reasons (and not just because she’s genuinely better).