Trip to the Sunshine State

The Ponies did what they needed to do for a 2-0 weekend against Clemson and Georgia Tech. Both Clemson and Georgia Tech were missing key players due to injury, but the Mustangs did what they have only been able to do a couple times this year, handle business with ease. They only dropped 1 set, one in which they led 15-10 against Georgia Tech. The rest of the match and the Clemson match were in total control. 

This weekend will not be so easy. Florida State is a team that has a lot of new faces, with many of them being young. They are still figuring each other out and searching for an identity but with Chris Poole in the lead you can never count this team out. Then the Mustangs trek to Miami, who I think might be the most overlooked team in the NCAA right now. Miami is a team led by Flormarie Heredia Colon who leads all of the NCAA with 6.25 points per set. This team serves extremely well and has enough pieces around Flor that they should be able to do real damage all season. Miami has an unofficial RPI of 11, and playing at Miami would give them a slight advantage. This gauntlet of a trip is a real opportunity for this Mustang group to mature as a team and show how dangerous they could be come December. 

What to Watch For

Coach Erger has continued to be vocal that this team needs to improve on defense, presumably she is mainly talking about their back row defense. You saw more digs and longer rallies this past weekend, but this weekend the teams are better. Will we see this team continue to improve in this category?

Natalie Newsome and Jadyn Livings seemed to also bounce back this past weekend, after a couple weekends in a row of being quiet for the Mustangs. Look for the middles and Malaya Jones to be heavily involved against Florida State for this team to have success. The key spot in the game against Miami is the second outside position, which has been Christa Wilburn in the back row and Madison Scheer in the front row. The performance of these two or whatever variation Erger and staff roll out there will be crucial to them pulling off a win in Miami. 

Coming soon… Two highest ranked recruits made their way to Dallas last weekend; this will bring the conversation about what recruiting has looked like for the Mustangs and what they will continue to need moving into next season.