As most of you know, I am a child of the 1980's. Born in 1969, I first got into listening to FM radio when I was a pre-teen and my family had moved back to Texas and settled in north Houston. For those of you that are younger, FM radio was all we had back then. We discovered music through radio, bought music at a huge record store in a mall and listened to music on 8-track tapes, vinyl and cassettes.
As an early teen I was drawn to the complicated rhythms and odd time signatures of what would eventually be called progressive rock. My favorite band - still to this day- is/was Canadian progressive hard rock trio "Rush". Rush's most famous album is titled "Moving Pictures", one of the signature albums of FM rock radio in the 80's. It includes the hit "Tom Sawyer", which is Rush's most recognizable song. About midway through the song, there is the following lyric:
"Always hopeful, yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent
But change is "
That lyric has played out in my life in many ways. As I've heard this song played in arenas this year - including ours - and in various other places, including my own Spotify playlist, I've thought about how this may apply to our season.
Could this be a season where there really is no permanent lineup? Could this be a season in which we are - positively - not chaotically - always making changes? Those changes may not be permanent, but we may find ourselves continually hopeful, yet discontent and therefore mixing, matching, changing. Changes won't be permanent, but "changes" will.
Case in point: The setting. We have already seen the following: 5-1 with Zorn, 6-2 with Zorn and Collins, 6-2 with Zorn and Orton, 6-2's with the pair of setters flipped to start sets within matches.
Caroline Kahle has earned the right to stay on the floor in some fashion. She's gone from libero to left side and now in the most recent match, back to libero. In addition, Saul and Goodson have been in the jersey. Sometimes they have stayed. Sometimes one in receive and one in serve. So again, lots of changes there.
Molly Cravens: middle, or right? Kennedy Jones: left, right or bench? Middles: Ky and Jordan, Jordan and Molly, others? Second right side: Cravens if not in middle or Gilardi or deeper down the bench?
Will Koonsen hold up all year or are there times where you want to keep Kahle at libero, but substitute Koonsen out? If Jones is playing opposite of Koonsen at the time, who comes in or how do you adjust?
It's true that all of this is what your pre-conference schedule allows you to explore. All of these questions and others not mentioned here have clearly been thought about and solutions offered. I guess my point in this is: there are SO MANY ways that this club's personnel can be used that I conjecture this may be a season where we do not completely settle into one particular usage pattern.
Now, I think some of these issues will find their resolve and settle into a definitive, repeatable structure. But I'm not so sure ALL of them will and I'm not sure all of them even should or even have to. No matter what "starting lineup" we put out there each night, there are always at least of couple of players that have at some point been regular starters left on the bench to begin the set. Since that is always going to be true and when you think about the additional depth provided by players used more sparingly, we may be in for a season where changes keep coming along with the wins.
Some seasons eventually produce a fixed set of starters and then there are occasional substitutions based on performance. This might not be a season like that. 2026 could be a season where there is a subset of athletes that tend to start, but the last one or two spots in the starting rotation and/or the last one or two ways we utilize players is going through phases of constant, deliberate and necessary change. Change based on opponents, fatigue, consistency and how well players practice in between matches.
So, let's just see how the puzzle gets worked. Be hopeful knowing that changes may not be permanent, but change itself just might be.