ND Volleyball had a good month of March.

1. They spent spring break in Hawaii training and playing NCAA permitted spring scrimmages. As best I could determine, they defeated Chaminade and lost to U. of Hawaii, a squad that is usually a ranked team.

2. ND added two more recruits for 2024, middle blocker Grace Langer of Colorado and right side hitter Kailyn Greene-Gordon of New Jersey. This brings the freshman class to a total of six, all of them front row players. The odds are that at least a couple of them will have an immediate impact. All of them should improve the team's competitiveness in practice. One of them, middle blocker Mallory Bohl of Michigan, was a January admit and is already practicing with the team.

3. I also learned that ND had earlier added a fourth commit to the 2025 class, libero Maya Evens of California. She joins setter Maya Baker of California and two Texans, right side hitter Chichi Nnaji and outside hitter Sophia Thornburg. California and Texas produce many talented players.

4. I can't speak to the quality of these recruits because the sites that provide rankings are pay sites. I am assuming that Coach Rockwell knows what she needs and can evaluate well. The relative success of the 2024 and 2025 classes will tell us much about her level of recruiting because these will be the first two recuiting classes that will be completely hers...

Re-enforcing MPG's premise that Volleyball had a good month,

Kailyn Greene-Gordon is from Paul VI High School and Haddonfield, NJ, the same town and high school that Freshman All American Hannah Hidalgo hails from! Coaches communicate in hopes to form a pipeline. And Hannah gets a 6'3" (or 6'4") reminder of home.

You're still here! Nice to hear from you. *

I am, thanks, but I plan on withdrawing

from my previous active participation. I just don't have the time anymore. Something needed to take a hit. It's been about 12 years since I joined to support and follow Madison Cable's progress. Who knew I'd still be around but for the great people on McGraw's Bench (and beyond).

I like to think I helped make the Bench a more entertaining, informative, and fun place. You need to carry-on now. I need to play more sports rather than follow them, but I'll still be reading. Excited about soccer next year! (among other things)

A great time to be Irish!

I never knew that we joined for the same reason.

I was searching the internet trying to find out why Madison wasn't playing her freshman year and I came across a post on the Bench about her troubles with her knees and then kept coming back. The two year hiatus I took a while back was worthwhile, I'm sure you will miss some parts, you don't find many people willing and able to talk wcbb in real life, but overall enjoy it.

I always looked forward to your posts, especially the poems, you have a unique perspective. The board is getting a little bit tedious these days.

Enjoy yourself and I'll be disappointed if you end up taking up pickleball.

Ha, ha, ha! You made be laugh out loud.

BTW, I think it was fractures in her feet freshman year, but I can believe someone posted "troubles with her knees."

(I think you were the only one to "enjoy" the "poems".) I genuinely thank you.

I'm sure you are right about her injuries, maybe I assumed..

it was her knees because she always wore the knee braces afterwards that she never wore in high school.

Volleytalk has a thread on Notre Dame

2024 and 2025 recruiting classes are pretty highly ranked given our record the last few years.

Click here for link at https://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/91933/notre-dame-roc

Thank you for the link. The comments there confirmed some

of my impressions. I did see one site that ranked ND's 2024 class as #13 in the nation prior to the two late additions. We'll see if ND can rise to the middle of the ACC in the fall, even with the addition of Stanford, Cal, and SMU to the conference.

Thank you both for the info. *