Early in the season, Kelly Sheffield said that he was worried about the load that the true freshman would have to carry over the course of the season. The amount of high-level volleyball over a long stretch of time is more than any of these young players have ever experienced. Big Ten volleyball is a lot, and the season is much longer than anything these freshmen had in high school.
After watching a couple of his young freshmen have a tough night against Penn State, Sheffield seemingly decided to mix it up and let three other players who were chomping at the bit to get in. The starting lineup was:
Charlie Fuerbringer - Setter
Grace Egan - Outside Hitter
Halle Thompson - Outside Hitter
Grace Lopez - Right Side
Jaela Auguste - Middle Blocker
Lynney Tarnow - Middle Blocker
Kristen Simon - Libero
Kelly Sheffield was able to get his freshmen stars the night off and still walk away with a sweep
Related: Kelly Sheffield is sitting Wisconsin volleyball out of this signing period for good reason
The two Graces were back on the court together for the first time in forever. Grace Egan is fully back from an earlier injury, and Grace Lopez appeared to be back to her explosive self. We haven't seen enough Lopez this season to really know how 100% she was. She's been a bit buried behind Decelise Champion.
With Champion taking the night off (as well as Audrey Flanagan and Eva Travis), Lopez got to show why she was a highly coveted transfer from Miami a couple of seasons ago. Sheffield loved what he saw from Lopez: "What we got out of Grace [Lopez] is exactly what I knew we were going to get out of her. She's chomping at the bit to get in there, and has been playing really well and really clean."
Lopez had a very effective night with 11 kills, hitting .429 with only two errors. She also had an ace and eleven digs to round out her evening. She showed that she's an incredible depth piece for Sheffield as tournament volleyball is around the corner.
The other Grace, Grace Egan, also had a great night back in a starting role. She wasn't as clean or effective as Lopez, only hitting .100, but Rutgers was working hard to slow her down. And regardless, the goal for Egan was to get her back to swinging with fearlessness again, which we got to see. She was also the major target for serve-receive, and she was extremely effective in this role.
Sheffield also gave Halle Thompson the start and Audrey Flanagan a night off. So, we didn't see Champion or Flanagan throughout the match, as both were able to take a break. With more volleyball tomorrow, it's a load-management situation.
The stars of the show were Auguste and Lopez, with Fuerbringer adding four aces and 34 assists. Auguste had 10 kills to go with Lopez's 11. This duo made Sheffield very pleased: "I thought we got better with our out-of-system attacking as the match went on. We got on some nice service runs. Jaela [Auguste], that's a pretty efficient night from her, and [Grace Lopez], I thought, was awfully good and took some nice swings."
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