few sets she has played in games has been against the 3 toughest opponents (GT, USD, Oregon) when noone on the team is hitting particularly high.

Against GT she was our second best hitter at .333 in playing 2 sets. She played 2 sets against USD and then 2 sets against Oregon and was in at the end of the 5th set in Oregon match. She did hit worse in those 2 matches for sure, but so did the rest of the team. She has only played in 7 sets this season, so other than in the 3 losses she has only got 1 set.

So on the one hand coach trusts her when she is feeling desperate, but all of these minutes against the weaker teams are going to the younger players. So she is not getting a boost in her hitting percentage like some of the other players are against some of the weaker teams. Stowell is at .174 which is better than Bobik .147. If Stowell only gets in in the tough matches when coach is feeling desperate, probably her hitting percentage will never be that high this season.

I think Stowell is kind of a casualty of the youth movement. It kind of makes sense that if she is not clearly better than the younger alternative (like Bobik) then might as well lean into the young player and let them gain experience. I hope Stowell can keep a good attitude and be ready when called upon.