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2019 Texas Volleyball


Js1

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I hope I don't jinx the team by saying this but the serving was great. As I said, if this team can just solve the serving issues they can be really good. Even Logan got on a run, which I can't remember ever seeing before. Other than the one she tried to send to San Marcos, it looks like she's finally getting in a groove.

This team is good enough at blocking, defense and attacking they don't have to get a lot of aces to win. They just need to be consistent and not give away all the momentum on service errors.

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15 hours ago, UrbanAchiever said:

With my apologies to a couple great Kansas teams, this feels like the biggest conference game since Nebraska was in the conference. 

Biggest conference game in hype since those Nebraska matches in 2007-2009 but the results looked like the last time a highly ranked KU team came to Austin 😂

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Logan has clearly been watching film of Hollann Hans from aggy.  She switched up her serve from floater to hard hybrid with just enough topspin to make it dip and Baylor wasn't ready for it.  That's the 3rd match in a row the team had more aces than errors - right after we were bitching about that ratio a few pages ago.  Makes it easy to laugh when Logan launches one like that.  Baylor couldn't even handle some of the easier serves tonight.

This was a well-coached game.  We took away their only dimension and they couldn't do anything else.  Their setter's 4 kills were from frustration.  She didn't know whom to set, so she just said screw it and dinked it herself.  Their coach panicked and used 2 challenges in the first set.  The team followed his lead and they stayed in that mode until their one last desperate run at the end of the 3rd set.

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Sunderland mentioned we've been spending 2x as much time in practice on defense.  Elliot finally realized his offense is basically a turbo charged Ferrari and there's not much needed to be done there.

@ KU is a classic trap game for us.  Team better be focused.  We lost 3-1 last year in Lawrence.  Granted, Jada Burse (22-11-47, .234) isn't there anymore to destroy us.  Though Ashley Smith is still there (17-1-30, .533 last year).   This Kansas team is 6-10 (2-4) and only hitting .170 as a team.  Wow.  That's awful.  They are allowing 1.40 aces per set as well.  That is good for us. 

 

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https://volleyballmag.com/texas-baylor-102419/

Quote

AUSTIN, Texas — Heading to Wednesday night’s match, Baylor — the only unbeaten team left this season in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball — had never won in Gregory Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Texas.

It still hasn’t won in Gregory.

And it wasn’t even close.

Fourth-ranked Texas (13-2 overall, 7-0) stands alone atop the Big 12 with a 25-19, 25-10, 25-19 defeat of the No. 1 Bears (16-1, 6-1).

Texas is now 84-2 all-time against Baylor — 44-0 at home — and has beaten the Bears 35 times in a row.

Quote

As a team, the Bears — who entered the match 48-2 in sets this season — hit .084. What’s more, Baylor had one service ace and six errors, while Texas was vicious with nine serves and just six errors and kept the Bears out of system all match. Five of the Texas aces came from sophomore outside hitter Logan Eggleston.

“What really changed the match tonight was our serving,” Elliott said. “In the spring, we were talking about our first contact a lot and spending a lot of time on it. Tonight, we hit all cylinders with that and got them out of system a ton and just put so much pressure on them.”

Quote

“I feel like we did a really good job,” middle blocker Brionne Butler said, crediting UT associate head coach Eric Sullivan. “I know Eric worked really hard on the scouting report and just making sure we know their tendencies.”

Butler, who missed the team’s first eight matches with a foot injury, must have really studied that scouting report. She led Texas offensively and defensively, putting up 12 kills (hitting .500) and eight blocks.

And the scary thing is, Butler, who led the team in blocks in 2018 and was third in kills, hasn’t even returned to full health yet.

“As of right now, I wouldn’t say I’m back to 100 percent,” she said. “Still really limited, mostly in practice, but I think I’m slowly being able to get to that point.”

Baylor had no answer for the 6-foot-4 sophomore.

That was Bri still not at 100% last night? My god.  

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1 hour ago, Pogo said:

Logan has clearly been watching film of Hollann Hans from aggy.  She switched up her serve from floater to hard hybrid with just enough topspin to make it dip and Baylor wasn't ready for it.  That's the 3rd match in a row the team had more aces than errors - right after we were bitching about that ratio a few pages ago.  Makes it easy to laugh when Logan launches one like that.  Baylor couldn't even handle some of the easier serves tonight.

This was a well-coached game.  We took away their only dimension and they couldn't do anything else.  Their setter's 4 kills were from frustration.  She didn't know whom to set, so she just said screw it and dinked it herself.  Their coach panicked and used 2 challenges in the first set.  The team followed his lead and they stayed in that mode until their one last desperate run at the end of the 3rd set.

I wouldn't say we took away their only dimension.  We intentionally allowed them to be one dimensional - Pressley was going to get hers regardless, so we challenged the rest of her teammates to beat us.  They failed spectacularly. 

Stafford - 3-6-17 (-.176)
Van der Mark - 2-1-8 (.125)
Lockin - 4-1-8 (.375)
McGhee - 2-0-5 (.400)
Milana - 3-5-16 (-.125)

Pressley had 18 kills by herself - the rest of her team combined for 14.  She had 11 of the team's 24 errors.  

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2 hours ago, wood said:

Fuck Baylor.

!

4 hours ago, Hard Times said:

I hope I don't jinx the team by saying this but the serving was great. As I said, if this team can just solve the serving issues they can be really good. Even Logan got on a run, which I can't remember ever seeing before. Other than the one she tried to send to San Marcos, it looks like she's finally getting in a groove.

This team is good enough at blocking, defense and attacking they don't have to get a lot of aces to win. They just need to be consistent and not give away all the momentum on service errors.

Best serving game I've seen since, I can't remember when. Eglesston has become the best server on this team. Takes pressure off White's jump serve. Hell, Petersen even played like a smart player and was all over the court. Great win for this team.

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19 minutes ago, Goodman said:

!

Best serving game I've seen since, I can't remember when. Eglesston has become the best server on this team. Takes pressure off White's jump serve. Hell, Petersen even played like a smart player and was all over the court. Great win for this team.

Syd had 2 aces and no errors.  That...from her...is great to see!

9 aces, 6 errors is what you want.  I can live with White's 2 and Logan's 2 because they are serving aggressively.  It was Sydney's constant errors all season long that pissed me off most.  Your libero shouldn't be constantly serving errors. 

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2020 stud Madison Williams tore her ACL last week.  Her dad said they expect a full recovery by the time she begins her Texas career, but she still needs some recovery time or opts to RS, I would think Melanie Parra from Mexico takes over for Micaya White as a 6 rotation OH.  2 time member of the Mexico National Team for the 2017 U18 FVIB and 2018 FIVB World championships. 

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I don't follow recruiting, but there better be a DS or 2 in the 2020 class because we're losing every back row player we have except Peterson.  I wonder if Shook might transition into Hahn's role as DS (and part-time setter when JE wants to get Jhenna off the front row for a rotation).  I can also see Phillips pushing for more playing time next year over a freshman.  Maybe either her or Asjia move to OH.

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1 minute ago, Pogo said:

I don't follow recruiting, but there better be a DS or 2 in the 2020 class because we're losing every back row player we have except Peterson.  I wonder if Shook might transition into Hahn's role as DS (and part-time setter when JE wants to get Jhenna off the front row for a rotation).  I can also see Phillips pushing for more playing time next year over a freshman.  Maybe either her or Asjia move to OH.

We have two L/DS incoming in 2020 - Nalani Iosia and Reilly Heinrich. 

Nalani is legit.  Having her play DS as the heir apparent to Peterson is probably the plan.   I also like your plan with Shook - very similar to what we did with Nicole Dalton. 

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Texas is a really bad match up for Baylor.  Big, athletic blockers and Baylor came in looking to challenge the Horns at the net.  Most other teams have tried to hit tool shots off the edge of the block or high and flat off the top of the hands.  Baylor tried to go straight at our girls just as Brionne was rounding back into form.  Big mistake and the result was 4.0 blocks per set.

She's also been back long enough to reestablish her connection with Jhenna.  Texas has made limited use of the middles on offense this season but with Brionne and Jhenna getting their timing back that changed radically.  .500 on 8 attempts for Asjia was just slightly more impact than Baylor expected but within the range.  There is no way that they were prepared for .500 on 18 attacks from Butler.  This season the OH have been the clear focus of the offense and the Baylor middles were clearly halfway bailing to the outside to double early in the match trying to take that away.  That nearly open net allowed Brionne to score 3 of the first 7 kills that Texas posted in that first set before BU adjusted.  But the adjustment left poorly formed double blocks and even outright single blocks for the OH whenever the Horns were in system.

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16 minutes ago, Js1 said:

I would like very much to see more of that quick middle set to O'Neal off one foot

My jaw dropped when I saw that play, as did Paul Sunderland's.  I don't know that I've ever seen a slide in front of the setter like that, but I really like it.  If Butler is approaching toward the net, the defense knows the ball is going to be at the spot Butler will be at.  On that front slide/quick set, they could have that timed for the set to be anywhere within about 6 feet of Jhenna.  In this case, only the MB was anywhere close and Butler had a wide open look at the right half of the court to park one.  There's a handful of combos you could run off of that as well.

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1 hour ago, Pogo said:

I don't follow recruiting, but there better be a DS or 2 in the 2020 class because we're losing every back row player we have except Peterson.  I wonder if Shook might transition into Hahn's role as DS (and part-time setter when JE wants to get Jhenna off the front row for a rotation).  I can also see Phillips pushing for more playing time next year over a freshman.  Maybe either her or Asjia move to OH.

Yeah, at some point I'd like to see some really top-ranked shorties recruited.  

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4 hours ago, sushihorn said:

This season the OH have been the clear focus of the offense and the Baylor middles were clearly halfway bailing to the outside to double early in the match trying to take that away.  That nearly open net allowed Brionne to score 3 of the first 7 kills that Texas posted in that first set before BU adjusted. 

They were completely bailing on the middles when Butler wasn't playing early in the year. It's going to be interesting how teams adjust now. Our OH should have a lot more opportunities to dominate because teams have to adjust for Butler. 

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5 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

They were completely bailing on the middles when Butler wasn't playing early in the year. It's going to be interesting how teams adjust now. Our OH should have a lot more opportunities to dominate because teams have to adjust for Butler. 

And she’s absolutely our most terminal hitter. You won’t dig many against her, it’s either killed, blocked for a point or hit out.

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#2 in the RPI behind Baylor 

1 - Baylor - .73865
2 - Texas - .72342
3 - Wisky - .71406
4 - Stanford - .70278

That would be my top 4 seeds right now.  If Baylor and Texas split, I give the #1 overall to Baylor.  If we go 2-0 versus Baylor, we get the #1 overall as long as we don't drop any other Big 12 matches. 

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Texas gobbles up 43 of the first place votes to leapfrog Pitt (18 first place votes).  

Texas (43)
Pitt (18)
Baylor (1)
Wisconsin (1)
Tree (1)
Minnesota
PSU
Nebraska

Baylor at 3, Tree at 5, Minny at 6, BYU at 11, Rice at 18 and USC and A&M still RV. 

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5 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Niiiice.  Hope we can keep it up.

Halfway through conf play at 8-0

@ Tech - should be an easy win (3-0 or 3-1)
WV - sweep
@ OU - tough test
KSU - sweep
TCU - sweep
@ Baylor - THE BIG ONE
KU - sweep
@ ISU - toughest test not named Baylor

We should stay #1 until November 20th.   Win in Waco and I don't see how we aren't the #1 overall seed. 

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We weren't very sharp last night, but fortunately Tech sucks.  Logan couldn't serve or pass.  Jhenna set a few too low for the middle and back row.  The one thing that worked like a champ was subbing Molly for Jhenna on the front row with Claire setting from the back row.  Molly had 3 blocks and a kill in very limited action.  It also looked like Micaya was only hitting her topspin serve at 80% just to make sure it gets in, specifically when Molly was in.  I like that lineup, and it did its job in all 3 sets last night with Micaya or Claire at the service line.

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