Volleyball Preview: Middle Blockers
Coach Cook's Thoughts On The 2020-21 Dawgs
1/18/2021
All three of our middles can score. All three are in a good place offensively. No matter who’s in there, they can all score in different ways and that’s pretty important to this team. Knowing we have three capable players, I see all of them contributing and playing.Keegan Cook
Lauren Sanders
Senior
2019 Key Stats: 1.55 kills/set | .308 Att % | 1.09 blocks/set
"The idea of Lauren for two more seasons helps me sleep at night. She’s been on so many good teams. Her role has grown every year. I don’t think she’s ever been the offensive focus of the team so we keep pushing against that. She wants to be an All-American and we want her to be an All-American. She works and carries herself with a sense of discipline that you would see from an All-American. There’s an urgency at the end of her career to get her there.
"She’s one of the steadiest workers I’ve coached and I believe she will reap the benefits of that mature approach. I know she is as passionate as I am about getting her to that next level."
Marin Grote
Junior
2019 Key Stats: .319 Att % | 0.59 blocks/set
"Marin has the sharp edge to compete that we’ve been seeking these past six months. She is offensively diverse and willing to play multiple positions, the question is where she will thrive most. She’s had a presence of purpose since January of last year. I have confidence in her self-confidence.
“We’ve spent some time having her play opposite and block on the right, and in certain systems she’d be able to do that.”
Sophie Summers
Redshirt Freshman
"People think redshirting is this easy thing and you automatically get better. That’s not the case. Plenty of redshirts go through the year and don’t develop. It’s a challenge not being able to compete or feeling like you’re not getting coached as much. There’s a lot of ways it can go wrong. But Sophie did not waste that year. Particularly from January 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021, she was making the most of her opportunity to be in this gym and improve.
"She’s got a bit of Mel Wade in her in that all of her skills are at a really good base level. Serving, setting, covering, digging, that all-around presence, which is good for someone who has international volleyball dreams. A self teacher who does not need to be micromanaged. She’s really playing at a very high level right now."
