La versatile Mosher è la protagonista dell'Illinois

Brooke Mosher had a tremendous freshman season with Illinois, being the team’s second-best scorer, but in 2023, she will help the Fighting Illini in the challenging Big Ten women’s volleyball conference in a different capacity.

After displaying great ability to score points at the collegiate level, she’s now tasked with arguably an even major role in the team’s offense, having moved to the setter position.

• Watch the Big Ten Volleyball matches live on VBTV.

Playing setter is nothing new to Mosher, who before starting her college career has spent a lot of time in the position. When she joined Illinois, however, she was asked to play outside hitter due to several teammates getting injured and thrived, earning a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection.

Despite her success as a hitter, she felt confident about getting back to setting ahead of her second season with the Fighting Illini.

“I’ve played setter for the majority of my life and I think that gives me more confidence,” Mosher reflected. “It's something I've been looking forward to. I think the biggest change is really just making myself a little bit more of a leader. I had been playing basically every position my whole life, so doing that my whole life really helped a lot. And then last season, I just really kind of went for it. That's all I thought. I didn't really think about it too much, I just told myself to just go for it.”

Mosher’s return to the setter position has been nothing short of great as the sophomore has produced 441 assists in the team’s 12 first matches of the season. Better than that, she registered double-doubles of assists and digs on six occasions and was in spectacular form last Sunday, when Illinois topped Michigan State in the tie-breaker to secure their first Big Ten victory in the season and she contributed season-high 46 assists and 17 digs.

Secondo le sue compagne di squadra, Mosher sta prosperando anche in altri aspetti dello scambio, come lo sviluppo di un forte legame con i suoi battitori e l'assunzione di un ruolo di leadership.

"Penso che Brooke sia una grande compagna di squadra", ha commentato la battitrice esterna Raina Terry. "A prescindere dalla posizione in cui si è trovata, ha fatto un ottimo lavoro. Stiamo cercando di capire tutto, di capire i tempi e le piccole modifiche da apportare, soprattutto con un set più veloce. Devi solo parlare con la tua palleggiatrice e lei deve parlare con me. E credo che abbiamo fatto un ottimo lavoro in questo senso. Ho notato che parla molto di più in palestra e che si sta infiammando e si sta dando da fare".

La prima stagione di Mosher come palleggiatrice per Illinois continuerà questo fine settimana, quando la squadra giocherà altre due partite in casa della Big Ten, affrontando Penn State venerdì e Iowa sabato. Il secondo duello, che inizierà alle 18:00 ora locale (23:00 UTC), sarà trasmesso in diretta streaming per gli abbonati a VBTV di tutto il mondo.

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