1. Beginning the second season of a complete rebuild, the Irish completed the non-conference part of the schedule with a 6-2 record. The schedule did not include any teams that I would view as NCAA tournament contenders.
2. Coach Rockwell has been creative in assembling this season's line-up. Last season's setter, Phyona Schrader, has been moved to an outside hitter position and has been reasonably effective there. The new setter is a grad transfer, Nicole Drewnick, who was a reserve for Nebraska and Georgia Tech. She looks good to me, but I don't know for certain because of the quality of the competition so far.
3. The two stars of the team are senior libero, Hattie Monson, and junior transfer, Sydney Palazzolo. Monson was the only starter from 2021 who remained with the team when Coach Johnson left and has been a positive leader for the team since the beginning of the Rockwell era. Palazzolo was Big South player of the year in 2022 and leads the ND offense in kills from her outside hitter position. She is talented enough to play the back row positions, so she never has to leave the court.
4. Blocking other teams at the net has been a challenge so far and may prove to be a fatal weakness in ACC play. The best middle blocker, senior Lauren Tarnoff missed the recent home and home sweep of lowly Toledo.
This resulted in undersized senior Charity McDowell and the versatile former setter, Schrader, as the two middle blockers. The other middle blockers on the roster are an injured sophomore and a walk-on freshman. Neither of them has seen action for the Irish.
5. Volleyball recruiting is on an early commitment schedule with many recruits committing by the beginning of their high school junior seasons. Coach Rockwell salvaged part of the 2022 recruiting class and added a couple of late walk-ons and three grad transfers for the 2022 season. She honored two 2023 commitments from the Johnson era and added a late Harvard de-commit, Ava Lange. Lange has been a regular in the outside hitter rotation and has moved ahead of the top returning outside hitters from the 2022 team. I view her as Rockwell's true first recruit, although she probably had some work to do with the earlier 2023 commits.
6. The Irish were 5-13 in the ACC last season, avoiding the cellar by virtue of two wins over last place Va. Tech. I think that they have a shot at an 8-10 record in the ACC this season, if Lauren Tarnoff is able to return to the court this week. They open the season with two winnable matches at home this weekend vs. BC and Syracuse. If they don't win both those matches, they are likely to fall back to last season's 5-13 mark
7. The outlook for 2024 is more positive. Coach Rockwell's first complete recruiting class features two middle blockers and two outside hitters, all of whom should be ready to play. Recruiting for 2025 is off to a good start with commitments from a setter, a middle blocker, and an outside hitter. Each of these three has been to USA training camps.