SL Xpress
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SL Xpress last won the day on August 7 2021
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I'd really like to see better serving. I do not know where that comes from. I would also like to see another Sullivan on staff that can develop the middles and make them a priority in the offense. I don't think future national team coaches that stay on staff for 10+ years grow on trees, but I do not believe we have anyone on staff who makes the position the same kind of priority he did, and I believe it's affecting our roster, development, and match emphasis. The stats from the Wisconsin game were posted. They had 50% first ball side outs in the first set. 52% FBSO in the second set. That's not a setting issue. We weren't even getting a chance to perform an attack. Going on another serving error harangue, Wisconsin committed 10 serving errors to our 6. Wisconsin, along with Stanford, were one of the leaders in serving errors per set on the year at 2.9. But every one of those first ball side outs had the same effect on the outcome as serving the ball right into the net. So while we didn't commit as many serving errors, our serves were milquetoast that gave our side no opportunity to score during our serving rotation. Our passing was dogshit. Including Halter. The only match that approached it in terms of poor performance was Stanford. Now, there's an argument to be made a great setter betters the ball even with bad passing, but that's not what was going on on the other side of the net. Wisconsin was regularly scoring on shitty second contacts because Colyer and Vajagic were fucking wizards with their roll shots. Again, not a setter issue. Which is not to say there's not a setter issue. I admit Swindle is not some kind of be all end all. But to blame our ills on her is missing other really key flaws on this team.
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It's why players/recruits shouldn't be taken at face value, and yet they are. Heck, human beings shouldn't be taken at face value. I've seen people rationalize decisions all the time when I know for a fact the decision making process and what got them to pull the trigger was different than what they describe. We're fully capable of deluding ourselves even more than others. The best liars always start with themselves. I remember when Lexi Sun told people she wanted to transfer closer to home and then ended up at Nebraska. I'm just saying if she goes to Nebraska she will be transferring again after a year because she's on the bench. That's not even a knock on her. That's a credit to the spectacular talent at middle blocker they have on their roster. If she had gone to Nebraska originally she would be transferring, too. I can almost guarantee in some way she feels misled or duped about her opportunities at Texas and she just wants a change of scenery. The rest of it is rationalization for why she's making the "right" decision. Which she very well may. It wasn't a good sign to get pulled in the Elite Eight. Maybe her playing time goes down next year. I do know I wish she wasn't transferring. I think she's a good to very good player. She's not exceptional like I'm used to at Texas, but she's a very good second middle blocker.
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She won't start at Nebraska. Allick graduates, but they are loaded at the position.
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I think it's obvious losing Sullivan off the staff hurts most at middle blocker. It's not just his acumen in developing the position. It's his advocacy in how the team should be run around the position. Sullivan helped make the position a priority. I will say while Ames is a very good middle blocker, she never exactly jumped out of the gym. I guess I was expecting someone who looked more like Andi Jackson. Singletary looked like what I think of when I envision a star middle blocker at Texas. Frankly, Harvey has that look athletically, but just looks lost as a college level middle blocker. Her lateral and vertical speed look off the charts, but her instincts don't appear to exist. Bunton looks like a very solid MB2. Better potential than Bergmark, who I was very satisfied with. My worst case scenario is that Ames transfers to A&M and Morrison develops her into a powerhouse. That would make it challenging to recruit against A&M for top middle blockers in the future. But I had a similar fear about Lexi Sun and Nebraska, and that worked out fine. Losing starters in Singletary and Ames in back to back years is not a good look regardless, and makes it challenging to compete for national championships. This team would have looked different with Singletary in the lineup, IMO. We'll see where she lands. I have no doubt wanting to win a national championship is what she's putting out there, but people say all kinds of things. Rumors that Wisconsin is a likely destination. I'm interested to see if she goes somewhere she can serve. Also, she's putting out there she wants to play more opposite. Not sure which national championship team is going to want her at that position, but what do I know? It's highly likely she (her agent, her club coach) was already contacted before she entered the portal, because that's how this stuff works a lot of the time.
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If they're funding 18 spots it's doable. I don't have a strong opinion on all of this right now. I'll watch what Elliott does. I know to compete for another national championship we need better serving and more production out of the middle. I know most people would strongly argue better setting. That's not my opinion, but I'm also not trying to say Swindle is the best setter in college volleyball. I just think she's good enough, and she's bringing intangibles that aren't measured in the box scores but end up making a difference in the final score. But again, there's a strong resistance from a lot of quarters regarding that, and I'm not here to pick a fight. I'll just agree to disagree. I do know in watching that Wisconsin match it wasn't Fuerbringer that was making the difference in that match to me. It was Colyer and Vajagic terminating on terrible third contacts from beyond the 10' line on roll shots that found the floor. Over and over again. Those should have been excellent transition opportunities, and instead they ended rally after rally. I'm also concerned about our littles with Halter departing. Not saying I should be. But she was a constant over the last 4 years and now she'll need to be replaced.
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I don't know. I don't go to practices. I just watch the matches. We had great serving in 2022 and 2023. Halter is a very good server. But she was a good server as a freshman. We brought in Gary. She was actually somewhat effective tonight, so it's hard to criticize her. But she didn't even serve as the libero last year at Indiana. Kujundjic was brought in with 60 career service aces, but I have no idea how she earned them. And for a backcourt serving specialist she was a big nothing burger on defense. Spears served some early in the season then was dropped. I've watched Vander Wal serve maybe once or twice this year. To me teams bring in great servers more so than develop them. At least for the most part. The one thing I'll never get is why Lauenstein never served for us. I assume that was injury related, but if so, how was she playing regular rotations? When she was at Nebraska she was their best server. Did she completely lose it?
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I'd say met expectations for me preseason. But it's a bummer earning the #1 seed and losing the regional finals on your home gym. Wisconsin was simply the better team. No question about it. The thing is, I'm not quite sure how much better Texas is going to be next year. They need to be better at middle blocker and the serving line. Where is that coming from? Maybe we get better at server if they bring in someone from the portal, but they did that last year with Carlson, and that was a disaster IMO. Last time we'll have Halter play for us. That probably makes me the most sad of all. I would have loved to have her play in Kansas City.
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It starts with recruiting. We're not recruiting great servers. And we're not playing our most aggressive servers. Maybe they hit it out of play too much, but Miller has a top spin serve. Kahahawai has a top spin serve. Spears has a top spin serve although we didn't see it this year. Elliott just seems to hate top spin serves, to be honest.
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Kujundjic as our serving substitute. That has been the biggest waste of a rotation this year. I'm sure she's a nice person, but we need another Akana.
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I will point out that a lot of Wisconsin's points - I mean A LOT - have come from swings where either Colyer or Vaginajic are 10 feet off the net with a roll shot. It's not because Fuerbringer bettered the ball so much. It's because one of the Wisconsin players miraculously got the second hit somewhere close to their vicinity and they capitalized.
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Wisconsin winning the long rallies, too. Man, this is not looking good. Not with our inability to go on serving runs.
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I don't know that we've scored on one of Stafford's serves, and she's usually one of our best servers.
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Another friggin' service run from Wisconsin. This is dribbling away. Got to get a side out.
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I mean, it won't have less.
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Uh...use your powers for good, man.
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