A very young and inexperienced 2016 UB volleyball team will take the court soon, trying to match or improve on the previous three seasons' identical 6–10 MAC records, and it will be a tall task for this team. The team has eight freshman, four sophomores, one junior and one senior. Three seniors graduated last year, plus four players are no longer on the team (three of whom saw regular playing time), and one player's career ended due to injuries. But there is some continuity in coaching for the first time in four years, as the entire coaching staff, led by second year coach Blair Brown Lipsitz, returns.

The Skej
This is a grueling schedule for a very young team. The first 16 matches are on the road this year, 13 of them are non-conference matches. The team doesn't play a home match until October 1, when it opens a three match homestand against MAC opponents. After that, the team hits the road again, and then returns home for a five match homestand.

Only one NCAA tournament team is on the schedule, Robert Morris. Six opponents had RPIs under 100 in 2015. Note to fans: most of Buffalo's home games this year will begin at 6pm (instead of 7pm in the past).

Scouting the Setters
Buffalo has two setters this year, sophomore Madison Clark (Williamsville, NY) and freshman Scout McLerran (Friendsville, TN).

Clark showed a lot of potential when she took over the setting duties last year after regular setter Marissa Prinzbach was injured. Clark wound up setting in 12 matches and actually had higher assists per set in while playing setter than Prinzbach did (9.6 for Clark vs 9.1 for Prinzbach). Clark also led the Bulls to four of their six MAC wins. Clark stands 6–2, making her the tallest setter in recent UB history, and maybe the tallest setter since Millard Fillmore was Chancellor. Her height gives her the ability to attack from the setter position, something we haven't seen much of from UB setters, and Clark's hitting percentage from the setter position was 0.193, which was fourth on the team in hitting percentage (if we use only the matches she played setter). But in most of those matches, she didn't attack often. If she can continue to attack well and more often, this could give Buffalo a very aggressive offense.

McLerran, who stands 5–10, comes to UB with some impressive accomplishments, having led her high school team to three consecutive state championships, and is her high school's career leader in assists. McLerran was named All-State in Tennessee her senior year. While predicting how well freshman will do is difficult, consider this fact — McLerran's teammate the last three years was Nicklin Hames, the 2014 National High School Freshman of the Year, who has verbally committed to defending national champion Nebraska. In order to put up the huge numbers like Hames did over three years, and garner the accolades she has gotten, Hames has to be an outstanding volleyball player, but someone had to be sending her some pretty good sets, and that someone was McLerran. By the way, Scout is McLerran's middle name (her first name is Isabella) and her parents gave her the middle name of Scout because they are fans of the Harper Lee novel To Kill A Mockingbird.

Lots of Outside Hitters
Two outside hitters return this year, 6–1 sophomore Valisha Watkins (Beechwood, OH) and 5–9 sophomore Raven Jordan (Ashburn, VA). Watkins was the regular outside hitter a year ago as a freshman, playing in 28 of the team's 29 matches. Jordan was the backup. Watkins showed great athleticism and potential, and hit the ball with great power; but she also showed great inconsistency as her hitting percentage was an anemic 0.030. Jordan wasn't much better, hitting 0.047 for the season. Jordan's size might be small for an outside hitter, but she makes up for it with a huge vertical leap; she can touch 10 feet (only two Bulls can touch higher). Since UB now has five outside hitters on the roster, both Jordan and Watkins need to improve their effectiveness to remain on the court.

Three freshman outside hitters join the team this year: 5–10 Lauren Slavoski (Shavertown, PA); 5–9 Rachel Sanks (Alexandria, VA); and 6–0 Taina Benitez (Cincinnati, OH). Slavoski was the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader Player of the Year, and received high praise from coach Lipsitz. "Lauren can do it all and be a six-rotation player for us," said Lipsitz. "She has a heavy arm, can score from all positions on the court, and remains dedicated to being a great defender." As a high school senior, Sanks was named first-team All-Conference and first-team All-Region, and according to Lipsitz, she is an explosive player who is quick at the net. Benitez was first team All-Conference as a senior and second team All-Conference as a junior. According to Lipsitz, Benitez brings both speed and physicality to the offense, and will be a strong all-around player.

Middle Blocker: Depth and Experience
UB has the pleasant problem of having three experienced and talented middle blockers on the team, but only two can be in the lineup at any time. The three experienced middle blockers are 5–11 redshirt senior (actually she's a graduate student now) Amber Hatchett (Chicago, IL); 6–1 junior Cassie Shado (Indianapolis, IN); and the tallest player on the team 6–3 sophomore Megan Wernette (Naperville, IL). It would be a shame for one of them to sit on the bench, given that they all had strong seasons a year ago (although Hatchett missed most of the year due to injury), and it's entirely possible that one of them will play another position this year (more on that later).

Hatchett has put up some very good numbers in her career at UB, with a career attacking percentage of over 0.200 and over 1 block per set. She has the second highest vertical leap on the team, touching 10 feet 3.5 inches. And before she was injured last year, she was leading the team in aces — including three against defending national champion (at the time) Penn State.

Shado came on strong towards the end of her freshman year, and was named to the All-MAC freshman team. Shado continued to improve as a sophomore, and was named All-MAC honorable mention (but really, she should have been first-team All-MAC). As a sophomore, Shado's 1.15 blocks per set made her the second best blocker in the MAC, and her 0.295 attacking percentage led the team and was good enough for 8th in the MAC. She also averaged 2.18 kills per set. She has the largest vertical leap of anyone on the team, being able to touch 10 feet 9.5 inches.

Wernette opened some eyes as a freshman, taking over the middle blocker position when Hatchett was injured. After a shaky first few games, Wernette played well the rest of the way and finished with 1.74 kills per set, 0.68 blocks per set and a 0.231 hitting percentage, second best on the team. Wernette can touch 10 feet.

The freshman middle blockers are 6–2 Kristina Curcin (Toronto, ON) and 6–1 Ally Boskat (Jamestown, NY). Slavoski has also played middle blocker in high school.

The Mystery at Right Side
There's lots of possibilities at right side, and no real incumbent. Clark played right side sparingly last year before she took over the setting duties, and no one else on the team has collegiate experience at right side. Some of the players on the team have high school experience at right side, including Watkins, Boskat and McLerran. Also, Wernette is listed on the UB roster as a middle blocker/right side, but she didn't play right side in high school or as a UB freshman last year. However, I think if Wernette is not one of the starting middle blockers, I could see her as an effective right-side hitter. I could also see Hatchett moving over to right side.

So there's a lot of possibilities. Clark and McLerran could play a variation of a two-setter offense, each attacking from the right-side when they are a front court player and setting when they are a back row player. Or, since there are taller right side players than McLerran, perhaps Clark plays right side when she is in the front row, McLerran sets from the back row; and when McLerran rotates to the front row she is replaced by Wernette or Boskat or Watkins or Hatchett, while Clark sets from the back row. Or maybe a true two-setter offense where the setters only play back row and two different right-sides or used. Or perhaps Buffalo will use a one-setter offense, in which case they need only one right side, who would that be: any of the above if they are not setting.

No Experience in the Backcourt
All four of the players who are no longer on the team were back row players. In addition, the player whose career ended because of injuries (Tessa Ooyama) was the regular libero for most of the season. So, there are no returning players that are true back row players. Two freshmen join the team to play back row, 5–3 Madelyn Torbeck (Cincinnati, OH) and 5–8 Hannah Watson (Cleveland, OH). Lipsitz says that ball control is one of Watson's best attributes. Regarding Torbeck, Lipsitz says "Maddie is a fiery individual who has a commanding presence on the court. She is able to keep points going with her athleticism."

Since the regular lineup a year ago used a libero and two defensive specialists and a serving specialist, it's safe to say that you can't run that lineup with just two back row players (unless there are some position changes, the likely candidates are Sanks and Jordan because of their height). More likely, some of the front row players will be asked to play all the way around, and the candidates are Clark, McLerran, Watkins, Slavoski, Jordan, Sanks and Benitez. Even Hatchett might play a little back row if she is asked to serve or if she plays right side — she was surprisingly effective last year as a back row defender before her injury — in fact one of the highlights of the match against defending national champion (at the time) Penn State last year was Hatchett's back row back-to-back digs of rockets off the arm of Penn State All-American Megan Courtney.

Can Last Year's Weaknesses be Fixed?
One weakness last year was the back row defense, which struggled most of the year (although we saw some improvement there during the MAC season until Ooyama was injured). With only freshman available in the backcourt (or front row players playing all the way around), a repeat of last year's weakness in the back row is a definite possibility. And if the back row isn't making good passes, the whole offense will struggle.

Also, Buffalo was last in the MAC in aces a year ago. While serving is more than just aces, Buffalo's all-around serving game was not strong last year, and I expect that would be a point of emphasis from the coaching staff this year.

Fearless Prediction
Because the team is so young, I predict a very slow start, and then noticeable improvement so that by the end of the year, Buffalo will go 5–11 in the MAC.