Season Preview: Setters

The 2018 NCAA Volleyball season kicks off this week around the country and this Friday in Seattle, as the Huskies open their campaign with two straight matches against 14th-ranked San Diego. Single-game tickets are available for purchase now. GoHuskies.com will take a look at the four positions leading up to the season opener, starting with the middle blockers, continuing with the liberos, and today focusing on the setters.

SEATTLE – A young Husky roster will be striving this season to overcome their relative lack of experience and click together as a group, and at the center of that effort will be first- and second-year setters Ella May Powell and Natalie Robinson. As Powell and Robinson find their rhythm with the Husky hitters, the Dawgs can make age nothing but a number.

"Certainly we graduated a lot in the setting department," says Head Coach Keegan Cook. "Bailey Tanner and Jade Finau, five years of setting experience each goes a long way. But I've loved the two women we have in our gym right now."

According to Cook, whether the Huskies rotate both setters or one plays all the way around will be an ongoing process, and could depend as much on how other positions are shaping up around Powell and Robinson, but he's comfortable with both. "I expect us to spend periods of time in a 5-1, I expect us to have moments when we switch to a 6-2 if we're having a hard time siding out, and these two give us that option."

Even with two fifth-year seniors on the roster last year, Robinson was called off the bench last year due to injuries to the elder setters, coming into the middle of a big road match at USC. She then played a key role in four key Pac-12 matches against Utah, Colorado, Oregon, and Oregon State, posting at least 20 assists in each match, with the Huskies going 3-1 in that stretch.

That experience, unexpected as it was, will certainly serve Robinson well this year, as will a season spent on the beach and a full spring indoor season.

106278 — **Natalie Robinson helped set the Huskies to a 3-1 record in four key Pac-12 matches last year including a double-double against Oregon.**

"Natalie certainly had a trial by fire and she also had a full spring with us where she was the only setter, so she is really comfortable with our system and how we want things to go," says Cook. "Strengths for sure I think are as a defender and a server, those things stick out for her, her ability to manage the back row."

Powell's arrival all the way from Fayetteville, Ark. had been anticipated for a long time by the Husky staff and so far Ella May "is having as good of a start as we could hope for a true freshman," says Cook.

One of the top-ranked setters in her class, Powell was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year for Arkansas and a First Team Under Armour/AVCA All-American. She was also the starting setter for the 2016 U.S. Girls Youth National Team.

With all those accolades, Cook says Powell still comes in "Really eager to be great, eager to learn, willing to put in the work. She is a good communicator, and does things that help you exchange a lot of information in a short period of time. I've been impressed with her ability to operate like a third or fourth year player in terms of how she communicates with the coaching staff and her teammates. So we're just getting started here and she has a lot to learn but has a pretty good focus about her."

Communication and hard work. As long as Powell and Robinson can practice those, the Huskies will be in good hands.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Jade Finau

Ella May Powell

Natalie Robinson

Bailey Tanner

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