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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. When you see the number 71 describing the amount of posts made with the complete lack of information we’ve seen so far, for an event that happened recently, this is what you get. Caveat emptor. I know you’re not new around here, but I have to ask Are you new around here?
  2. Last year's championship match? ESPN2
  3. No, last year's championship match - which was a barn burner between the two biggest fan bases in volleyball, Nebraska and Wisconsin - averaged over 1.1 million. The match between the two program this year which was only shown on the Big 10 Network (BTN) attracted 589k viewers. I'm a little disappointed in the numbers, but that's okay. The overall trend is up, but currently the fanbase is being dominated by Big 10 schools. Both attendance and television ratings are through the roof in the Big 10. Not quite as much throughout the rest of the country. Of course Texas home games being shown on LHN doesn't help, but even the ESPN broadcasts didn't attract anything approaching the numbers the Big 10 showdowns racked up on BTN. UT's biggest regular season draw was one of the Ohio State matches.
  4. Thats a good fit for both her and Louisville. Not the greatest fit for Glock, of course, but such is life. We’ll see if that’s how it transpires, but it makes sense.
  5. Deandre Pierce in the transfer portal. I hope she finds a place where she can get some playing time. Regardless, nice memory to take with her this season, to say the least.
  6. That San Diego team was for real. Blossom best pure setter in the country. Blackwell an elite middle blocker. Frohling right there with Kipp and Londot as one of the best opposites. Lukes and Edwards outstanding 1-2 punch at OH. Benbow terrific libero. I said before the match if they'd been on the other side of the bracket they would have been in the finals. Blossom was a weakness in the front row that Texas exploited over and over (felt good after Gabriel got abused against Kentucky) but neither Louisville nor Pitt had 2 pins with the height/vertical of Eggleston/Skinner. Some Louisville fans got pissed at me on volleytalk since they beat San Diego pretty soundly at the beginning of the year, and cited their issues with close matches in the West Coast Conference, but I stood my ground based on what I'd seen. Given the relative results, I'd say I feel at least partially validated.
  7. Got it. Just remember the argument is who is going to be #1, not necessarily who deserves to be #1. I don't think there's any chance whatsoever that Texas is ranked #1 next season. I guess maybe if a Stucky/Anchante/Carlson/Miner type transfers in, but that's not going to happen. And there won't be a Skinner type transferring in, either, IMO. But there's no harm in predicting it. I predict you're wrong.
  8. They can be overrated and still be ranked #1.
  9. You have a higher opinion of Bergmark than I do. She's adequate. I would not call her a part of one of the best middle combos in the country. I'm glad to have her, but I don't think she's special. I'm more curious to see what Singletary can do. No offense to Bergmark. I'm grateful she came to Texas. I have no real concerns about her starting as MB2. I just don't think she provides much of a wow factor at all. Stanford's big issue is Baird's inconsistency, and Rubin is slightly undersized at 6'1. But I like Francis and Vicini more than O'Neal/Bergmark. Miner over whoever Texas has setting. Oglivie is an outstanding libero. Kipp is the best opposite in the country by a mile, and will be the favorite going into the season for national player of the year if Stanford can make it to the Final Four. They utilize 3 6 rotation pins in Rubin, Baird, and Kipp. Kipp is Eggleston good out of the back row. Rubin is a very good 6 rotation defender. Not elite like say a Nuneviller, but as a true freshman she was impressive. I don't think Texas is going to land a top OH because they'll have to play 3 rotations. Maybe some other program gloms onto enough talent to surpass Stanford as #1 in the preseason polls, but I feel highly confident it won't be Texas.
  10. It actually got better. But yes, it does suck. Heck, SKT served a 2.56 passing against in the national championship match. It's not really feasible to be worse than that. Understand, I actually liked SKT's serve over the course of the season, but that's abominable.
  11. Not a chance. Stanford returns everyone plus a heck of a recruiting class. I don't understand why Wenaas comes here. Her strength is playing 6 rotations and providing stellar defense in the back row. We have Halter, Akana, and Barnes. We're not running two 6 rotation pins. Skinner is going to get those 6 rotations. We'll see what happens, but my guess is a true freshman plays 3 rotations at the left pin. Probably Byrd, but maybe Helmers. Either Phillips or Kahahawai plays on the right pin. If there's an otherworldly offensive threat that's willing to play 3 rotations like Skinner did this year, sure, grab them. But that's not Wenaas.
  12. Listen, I come across as a know it all, and it can be even worse in person, but I don't actually believe it as much as it sounds. I've just found that sounding convicted about my beliefs is beneficial in all kinds of ways. There's plenty of room for different opinions here. My thought on Gabriel is that she was a lot quicker than SKT, and was capable of bettering balls that SKT couldn't. Given how often we were out of system the last two years and how often Gabriel had to just throw it towards the net, I felt like she did a great job of giving the hitters a chance at it. Not perfect, by any stretch. A lot of the time SKT couldn't even get there. That said, I liked SKT's in system sets waaaaaaay more than Gabriel. Some of that could have been Hunt's influence. We moved our attack inwards, away from the antenna, which gave our hitters more space to go line. It also meant a different blocking path for opponents. But I also feel like SKT's backsets were way more accurate and more deceptive than Gabriel's, which helped O'Neal lead the country in hitting percentage. Early on there were issues with the connection with Skinner in particular, but that settled in a lot as the season wore on. Among the setters in the tournament, I liked both Anchante and Blossom a lot more than SKT, particularly in out of system sets, but their performance wasn't a good reflection of it because of how brutal Texas was with their serves and their transition attacks. Regardless of my feelings about either Anchante or Blossom, out of system they simply weren't as good as SKT in system. Especially with how well the blocking improved over the course of the season, raising up a notch in the tournament, and the floor defense getting quality dig after quality dig. Podraza was better in terms of blocking in the front row. She may be the best blocking setter in the country. But I've never thought of her as an elite setter, regardless of her accolades. I've watched her make way too many trap sets over the season to prefer her over SKT. And Lazaro is fine in terms of Louisville being lost without her, but again, I wouldn't pick her over SKT ever. For this team, that was in system so much and forced their opponent to be out of system as much as they did, SKT in my opinion was perfect. She has excellent accuracy and deception, and she makes good decisions. But I question if her setting would have been as good as Gabriel's - which had warts, for sure - if she had had to run around with her hair on fire the way Gabriel did the last two seasons. In my mind the answer is no. What's going to be interesting is to see what kind of setting we get next year, whether it's Swindle or someone from the portal. Heck, Podraza is available, although I have mixed feelings about that. Thank you for the discussion. I want to be clear I feel like what you're saying has a lot of merit, regardless of how I see it.
  13. That's interesting. I felt like that was SKT's weakness. I never felt like she did a good job of covering the court. Not compared to other elite setters. What she did a great job with is handling in system balls really well. Her back sets were terrific, whether to Phillips or O'Neal. Obviously you go to Eggleston and Skinner primarily, but given how talented those two were, I felt like she did a good job of spreading the ball around. Couldn't ever seem to get Caffey going like Caffey did at Nebraska, but that's okay. Heck, Nebraska did an abominable job getting their middles going this year, so it's not like she missed out in any way. Also, SKT wasn't a liability in the front court. That was particularly important versus San Diego, where they had Edwards going after her every time she had her front row rotation, just like Texas went after Blossom. I also don't think she was particularly great in defense, although she was serviceable. I felt like she had a really good serve at times, and then at other times it felt like it was dialed back, either by the staff or her. She had an abominable "passing against" number versus Louisville. A 2.56. Might as well have served it underhand. Literally. Overall I absolutely feel like she was a key to the championship. That's obvious. I'm glad she got Honorable mention honors as a setter, but I honestly felt like she deserved at least 3rd team AA recognition. I'm grateful we had her. No offense to Jhenna Gabriel, who I loved, but I still have nightmares of Stumler going over her 5'6 block at the net over and over again in the championship match versus Kentucky.
  14. He was just hired recently. He's kind of obscure in the sport. No reason to know, really.
  15. Wenaas is definitely in the portal. The point of bringing up Baylor and Florida wasn't to make some kind of definitive statement about UT's ceiling. I consider the Final Four a birthright. It's to emphasize the importance of experience at the setter role, and Texas won't have that next year. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by Baylor ignoring their middles. McGhee and Talbert were two of the biggest 1-2 punches in all of volleyball in the middle this past year. Of course, they have to replace both of them. Meh, that's Baylor's problem. They'll almost certainly be really young again this coming season. A big part of losing "early" is the seeding. It helps a lot to get that #1 seed and host the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds. Baylor lost to Wisconsin and Florida lost to Pitt, so no big shame in either case. But when you're a #1 and can face a #4 seed in the Sweet Sixteen, it sure helps make it easier to move on. In any case, like I said, my point is that to go far in the tourney with a freshman setter is unusual. Not saying it can't happen, or that Texas won't have advantages at other positions or overall talent superiority to most teams. It's just an extra challenge. For all we know she can completely bomb like Ashley Shook did, or Kennedy Orr did for Nebraska this year. You just never know.
  16. Texas is always going to be in the running. Stanford will be the favorite as of right now. Texas will likely be just outside the "favorites" depending on who they get in the portal. The biggest thing is the unknown at setter. Pitt runs a 6-2, but the other 3 Final Four teams all had Covid year setters - including SKT for Texas. UT will likely be putting a true freshman out there. She enrolls in January, and she's extremely highly regarded as a 6'2/6'3 setter (2nd rated setter in the class), but the best freshman setters last year in Averi Carlson for Baylor and Stucky for Florida were both eliminated in the Sweet Sixteen. Backcourt looks good, but it's tough for me to believe it will be as good without Fleck. I'm not saying it can't be, just that she was unbelievable. Both in terms of as a player and as a team leader. And her serving was outstanding. There's at least a ton of potential. So much of the team is made up of the 5 incoming freshmen plus the 3 freshmen from last year. They're all ridiculously talented, but I'm expecting growing pains. One thing's for sure. If they end up falling short next year, they'll be one of the favorites the next season.
  17. There's so many moving pieces. Remember, this past offseason was a whirlwind, and it was unprecedented. I can't imagine this offseason equaling it, but I also can't imagine we'll know the final roster until after the spring portal window closes down and all the prominent transfers make their final decision. That said, here's the roster as of right now (from volleytalk): Opp - Auburn Thomkinson, Fr OH - Sydney Helmers, Fr S - Ella Swindle, Fr MB - Nya Bunton, Fr Opp/MB - Jordyn Byrd, Fr MB - Mariana Singletary, R-Fr OH - Kenna Miller, R-Fr (walk on) S - Marina Crownover, R-Fr (walk on) ______________________________________ L/DS Emma Halter, So OPP - Devin Kahahawai, So MB - Deandre Pierce, R-So (walk on) _________________________________________ OH - Melanie Parra, Jr OH - Madisen Skinner, Jr+ L/DS - Keonilei Akana Jr+ L/DS - Reilly Heinrich Jr (walk on) _____________________________________ MB - Bella Bergmark, Sr+ OPP/MB - Molly Phillips, Sr+ MB - Asjia O'Neal R-Sr+ ____________________________________ It's guaranteed that O'Neal will be a starting MB, and that Skinner will be a starting OH. As of right now Swindle is guaranteed to be the starting setter as a true freshman, but it's almost a certainty that Texas will bring in another setter from the transfer portal. Doesn't mean they'll be competition. Could only be for depth. Carissa Barnes is virtually certain to be another L/DS as another covid year 5th year transfer from Texas A&M-CC. Although it's not official yet. Everything else is up in the air, including Molly Phillips playing right side or moving back to middle blocker. I'm sure Js1 will start another volleyball thread for next year's team, and we'll have more discussion there, but this at least gives you a peak at things. Other people can speculate as to what the lineup will actually be. I consider it wasted effort, because there's simply no way to know.
  18. You can google Wisconsin volleyball nudes. Not a big fan of it, but it's out there. However those photos got out there, it was a significant betrayal of trust somewhere in the chain.
  19. The obsession with service errors among fans and commentators drives me bananas. I keep wanting them to point out the serves where the opponent easily passes it on top of the setter, she has 3 options available (or a 4th with a back row hitter) and the ball easily hits the floor because the defense has no idea where the attack is going to come from. Because there are WAAAAAAAAAY more of those than there are service errors. In any match. Texas sided out at an obnoxious 70% rate for the championship match. That occurred because Louisville couldn't get enough pressure from their serve, and they're one of the better serving teams in the country. Texas meanwhile was consistently putting brutal pressure on Louisville's serve receive. They passed at a 1.91 rate. That's terrible. Didn't matter about the service errors. I'm not saying I was cheering each one of them. The 3 in a row was particularly frustrating. But if you're going to serve as aggressively as Texas did, you're going to get errors. That's just the way it is. You cannot win at this level without aggressive serving. You just can't. There was a comment in the pre finals press conference where one of the Louisville players (DeBeer) makes the joke that her coach's solution for everything is to serve tougher. And there's a lot of truth in that.
  20. Tower will be lit tonight at 5:30pm.
  21. No, it's four. When you hear "3" it's because that's how many NCAA titles volleyball has won. However, they won the AIAW national championship in 1981 when that was THE championship, since the NCAA was late in recognizing national championships in many women's sports. There's nothing illegitimate about it. It's not some kind of made up national championship after the fact like other schools we know, do. When you hear commentators remark about UT's 3 national championships, you'll always hear them add the word "NCAA Championships." But it's not really accurate in the most pragmatic sense. That's a real championship. The banner hangs in Gregory for a reason. It's officially accounted for in every Texas source you can find, and it should be. When Mick Haley is cited regarding his national championships, he's credited with 4 - 2 at Texas and 2 at USC, with one of them being the AIAW championship in 1981. Anyway, it's a pet peeve of mine. It diminishes the UT volleyball program slightly in a way that's undeserved. Congrats ladies on number 4!
  22. Fortunately this team rescued me. Otherwise I would go down in infamy.
  23. Elliott with the F bomb on national TV, lol.
  24. I choose to believe Akana heard all those Go Big Red cheers and channeled it as cheers for herself.
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