With under a month left before the 2017 volleyball season begins, VolleyMob is taking a look at some of the collegiate recruiting classes you may have missed and those who stand to make an impact on teams in and out of the final AVCA Top 25.
San Diego marks team number 22:
- Stanford
- Texas
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Wisconsin
- UCLA
- Washington
- BYU
- Creighton
- Penn State
- North Carolina
- Kansas
- Florida State
- Michigan
- Florida
- Missouri
- Hawai’i
- Ohio State
- Michigan State
- Arizona
- Oregon
- San Diego
San Diego enjoyed a 24-6 season over the course of 2016 as they scored wins in the non-conference over the likes of Stanford and UCLA. They dipped off a bit at season’s end and fell from being a national seed in the NCAA’s preview to not being ranked and falling in the first round to Baylor. Still, it was an extremely successful year overall for the Toreros, who now will look to build off of it and offset a few key losses with the addition of three freshmen.
The first of three freshmen is Hannah Patrick, a 6’2″ right side from Los Alamitos, California. She was a two-time All-Leaguer performer and was named a PrepVolleyball top-50 recruit in 2015 before earning PrepVolleyball senior ace recognition in 2017.
Also coming in at 6’2″, Roxie Wiblin joins the team as an outside hitter from Berkeley, California. She was also a two-time All-League pick and even led her Encore Volleyball club to a third-place finish at the Junior Olympic National Championships in 2015. Beyond her indoor prep career, Wiblin even collected a top-three finish in 2014 at the Beach Volleyball AAU.
Kim Sladek was the latest signing of the three, as Patrick and Wiblin signed in November. Sladek comes in as a 5’7″ defensive specialist/libero from Austin, Texas. At Westwood High School she was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year and was All-District in her final two seasons. In those last two years, she recorded a combined 1,063 digs, 193 assists and had over a 95% serve percentage.
The additions will help offset the losses of two AVCA All-Americans. Right side Lisa Kramer and middle blocker Lauren Schad both depart after exhausting their collegiate eligibility and graduating from the program. Beyond the freshmen, they will look to some returners to fill the void, as setter Kristen Gengenbacher is back for one last season after spending time with the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team for the European tour this summer. Outside hitter Lauren Fuller was also on the Collegiate National Team’s preliminary roster and will be a junior in 2017.
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