Paolini? Like Lauren? She has never been a real contedor in the NT, in fact she has never been picked up for some big tournament.. Gibbemeyer is better than her, so was Dixon before the injury.. If Tetori gets back to her pre-injury form I expect her to be a starter.. They also have fresh faces in the team, Paolini is out of the picture..
My biggest worry is the setter position, as well as the OPP.. Lloyd ia a good player of course, but we know how much she struggled with the fast ofense, and also she was pretty bad in Italy this season.. Alisha retired, Thompson retired, Kreklow retired.. so 3 of the setters that got to play in the last 4 years, and gone now (not to mention Alisha is one of the besh worldwide and was a big big reason for that success)
You are right I totally forget about Dixon and for some reason I assumed Gibbemeyer to be older than Akinradewo You are right that both of them are better than Paolini. but this link suggested that Paolini was one of the eight players have been designated as alternates for the U.S. Olympic Women’s Volleyball Team
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Vol…es-US-Olympic-Womens-Team
MB has never been a problem for USA anyway, there are many good MBs already playing on international levels like Jackson, Wopat, McCage etc
It seems like either Carlini and Hancock will be the backup of Lloyd and Hancock is not close to level of Glass, Kreklow or Thompson. Maybe Carlini or even Nichol? For the opposites, Liz McMahon seems to be best option, I really don't want to see Fawcett in USA NT anymore. Not sure about Aiyana Whitney or Kadie Rolfzen?
I'm more curious about libero, it has never been the strongest position of USA since Sykora but now it is even worse. Any promising new comers? And what do you think about the chances of Newcombe? Do you think she can also make it to Tokyo?