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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. They're tremendous. They lost their starting setter to injury midseason, and that's when they suffered most of their losses. Their middles are serviceable, but Nuneviller is the best 6 rotation combo defensive/offensive player in the country (Eggleston is way more terminal, but Nuneviller is basically a libero who can terminate, literally - think Fleck at 5'11 with an arm like Melanie Parra's). Colyer will probably be freshman of the year. Pukis is a top setter. Their middles are serviceable. Their right side is good but not great. But they deserve to be where they are, for sure. On volleytalk a lot of Texas fans were as fearful of Oregon being in the Texas region as anyone. Their floor defense is elite. But all of these teams remaining are really really good.
  2. I'm guessing both. All of the remaining volleyball matches will be on ESPN+. But I also imagine the start of matches with conflicts from overflow will be featured on News. But it is a guess.
  3. Maybe. The opponents will be better in the next two matches, and that can make a difference. But this one in front of us is plenty challenging. It's not like Texas has struggled to make it to the Final Four. If Wisconsin advances they'll be rooted against even more so than Texas in Omaha. Which is a pretty big trick to pull off. 11 losses in a row will do that to you, though.
  4. 3 out of 4 serves. When the score was 20-13, which is already practically out of reach, Eggleston committed a service error. 21-13. Texas sided Marquette out on their next serve. 21-14. O'Neal served, but Marquette was in system and Anchante fed her middle blocker Hattie Bray a quick middle kill. 22-14. Marquette served a service error. 22-15. SKT committed a service error. 23-15. Marquette made an easy serve, immediate side out by Texas on a Skinner kill. 23-16. Skinner with a service error. 24-16, set point. After another side out of Marquette, 24-17, Fleck served 3 times. The first two resulted in blocks by Phillips and O'Neal to make it 24-19, and then Marquette got a side out from a net violation. 25-19 and the set. The point being, by the time Texas served an error in that 3 out of 4 serves that were errors, Marquette was already up 20-13, which is the equivalent of a 17 point lead in the 4th quarter. Doable, but it's going to take something of a miracle. The one serve that was in bounds was just as effective as the serves which resulted in an error. Which is the issue with serving. Serves that don't put the opponent out of system - in other words, the first contact is delivered to the setter within the 3 meter line - almost invariably result in a score, because the setter has too many weapons at their disposal, and the defense can't possibly cover every option. Even if they do somehow keep the ball from hitting the floor, they're on their heels and so provide a weak return, and the offense simply resets to get another powerful attack going. It is tough being the serving team if you can't get the opponent out of system. Just like it's extremely tough being the defending team if the serves are constantly resulting in poor first contacts, which means the defense can squat on whatever attack comes over, and often can field an attack that is in system and overwhelms the other team for a point on serve rotation. Bottom line, it's not nearly enough to keep the ball in bounds. The serve must put some kind of pressure on the other team, otherwise it might as well have been a service error for the most part.
  5. By that measure you give an opponent a free point every time you lose the point. You didn't hit the ball over forcing them to do something, so you gave the opponent a free point. Didn't get the dig? Free point. Hit the ball out of bounds? Free point. 4 hits on your side? Free point. Net violation? Free point. 3 meter violation? Free point. There's nothing to distinguish a service error from any other point given to the other team. You like our odds? The odds were 50-50 on every serve yesterday. Worse in the 3rd set. Expecting 100% conversion on 4 serves is silliness. Not to mention, a huge reason the block was so effective is because of how aggressive the serving was. Aggressive serving means a greater chance for service errors. Eggleston had two of those service errors. That's going to happen. She's the most aggressive server on the team. They're not going to go in 100% of the time. The other two were from SKT and Skinner. SKT has been serving MUCH more aggressively over the past 4 weeks than she did previously, and IMO the team is better for it. Skinner is serving instead of Halter, which not only provides a more aggressive serve, but also allows Skinner to provide a back row attack, even if we rarely use her in that way unless she's playing 6 rotations. Texas committed 13 service errors across the 4 sets, which means they averaged 3 service errors in each of the other 3 sets. So Texas committed one more service error in the set in which they were dominated than they averaged in the 3 sets they did the dominating. Wow. What a difference that made. In fact, they committed 4 service errors in the 4th set, too (2 service errors in both the 1st and 2nd set). Bottom line, that wasn't where Texas lost that set. They lost that set in serve receive, and not getting Marquette out of system enough on the serves that did land inside the court. But they corrected that in the 4th set, and that's what was important.
  6. This is a misstatement. Saying that service errors are giving away points makes the assumption that any serve which goes in leads to a point. There is no team ever in the history of women's volleyball that scored on 100% of their serves. The typical amount is around 40%. Even while getting completely dominated in the three sets they lost, Marquette still managed a 50% side out. There is the problem that if you lose the serve, you obviously don't get a chance at a second one to score another point. But if we project a 50% sideout and Texas committed 4 service errors, you could extrapolate Texas gave up 2 points on the 4 errors, and then another point on the successive serve those 2 points would have granted. So giving away 3 points on service errors. Which assumes Texas should never have service errors, while still maintaining an exceptionally aggressive service posture, which is an absurd assumption. And also giving Marquette the less generous sideout they maintained the entire match, rather than the sideout they had in that set, which was better. We're also failing to discount Marquette's service error in that set (one of only 6 in the match), and their 3 attack errors, to match UT's. The fact is Texas was the better team by a long shot and dominated for the most part. In the one set where Marquette was able to establish some effectiveness with their serve, they looked better. Texas wasn't able to match that on their end, and so they lost. The score wasn't truly indicative of how one sided the set went, because Texas made a small rally at the end to outscore Marquette by 3 when the set was out of reach for all intent and purposes. Nonetheless, Texas came back the next set and established who is boss.
  7. For sure. Don't have any idea what's going on, lol. Edit - Ah, a reference to Houston players' racism regarding the lynching tree.
  8. UH had a 21-13 lead in the first set, which is basically the equivalent of having a 3 touchdown lead in the 4th quarter. Not to trigger anyone, but Stanford stormed back to win 26-24. Right now we're in a UH timeout after Stanford took a commanding 9-2 lead. Now 10-2. You can check out the stats here if you want more consistent point updates: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=437489 As I type this it's now 11-5.
  9. I'm honestly shocked Wisconsin didn't steamroll Penn State. I got that one way wrong. I've never seen Penn State's OH Kash Williams show anything but one speed - full blast right into the block. I figured the Badgers would make her a liability.
  10. Another HUGE transfer program, btw. Almost as big as Texas. Buzzerio is the big name, but Gray, Dalton, and Ennis (former A&M) are all huge contributors.
  11. And then you realize how good it feels to embrace the Dark Side.
  12. I'm just saying I'd be guessing. Plenty of people have negative stereotypes about all kinds of things and people. But she knew she didn't want Baylor to be her transfer destination like her older sister. Elliott had to do a hell of a sales job simply to get her to consider Texas.
  13. Kinda. There are a ton of professional opportunities outside the United States. Doesn't have to be Europe. Brionne Butler played her first year in Indonesia (she's in Italy now). Every one of UT's 5 "seniors" honored on senior night want to go pro, including Ewert (didn't play much) and Caffey (too short for a middle and 25 years old).
  14. Same reasons as any other sport. High profile transfers in all of them. First you have coaching changes. Then lack of playing time or desire for an increased role. Coaches pushing players out to make room for other ones. Returning home. Higher profile program. Better chance at a championship. Change of scenery. Change in school for academic reasons for grad school. Playing with family. Etc.. It's not completely clear why Skinner wanted to transfer. Kentucky is a top tier program that just won another SEC title. They have a reputation for strong development. They have a good setter in Grome. They just won the national championship a couple of years ago. But her older sister transferred to Baylor the year before. She allegedly wanted to play the left pin and Kentucky had her on the right. It's been documented she had no desire to play in state in general or to go to Texas specifically. Elliott convinced her to simply give Austin/UT a look. Molly Phillips came back from her Christmas vacation to show Skinner around campus, even though there weren't any students. She fell in love with the place and realized she had the wrong impression of what UT was (I don't know what she means by that - don't care). Chose to transfer to Texas right there and then. Prior to that the rumor was she was strongly favoring UCLA, whose coach just recently resigned after the Bruins missed the tournament entirely, so it looks like a really good move all around. I don't think there are too many inexplicable transfers out there, although there are a shit ton in total. I'm curious to see what happens over the next couple of weeks with this next crop.
  15. It's going to be something similar with Wisconsin-Penn State and Stanford-Houston, IMO.
  16. I called this match a prison rape on volleytalk and it wasn't received well, lol.
  17. He's in Moscow bringing Griner home while following this match with a chip implant.
  18. I've got some Marquette fan on volleytalk telling me about how I don't know what I'm talking about regarding Shaka Smart. Him: He beat #6 Baylor by 30! He's a winner! Me: You sweet summer child.
  19. It ain't on yet. 9 minutes to go. Are you guys new to how ESPN does this stuff?
  20. I'm getting Baylor and Louisville and it's telling me Texas is on ESPN+ I get that, but I'm telling you every outside citation for this game, from the official Texas website, to the NCAA, to ESPN, to CBS Sports...whatever source you want to go to other than your guide, says ESPN2. I'm counting on it being on ESPN2. Every match is ALSO going to be shown on ESPN+. They'll also be available after their conclusion, like all ESPN+ content is. That said, I am not the producer actually responsible for what shows up on ESPN2, so if the person in charge decides they want something different regardless of what they've communicated to every outlet under the sun, then I have no control over that.
  21. That is a fact, jack. The two matches in Austin are on ESPN2. The other matches are on ESPNU. I THINK the matches on Saturday are ESPNU, then the semifinals and finals next week are ESPN2.
  22. Television saying first serve 2:55 eastern time.
  23. I don't know how to break it to you, but this is the group for the semifinals and finals as well. If ESPN does its usual thing, it may be for the foreseeable future. I should get clarity on who you mean by Beth. It's Courtney Lyle and Holly McPeak.
  24. Okay. So our potential regional final opponent has been determined. This was a huge win for Ohio State. Oldenburg is only in her third year. They made the Sweet Sixteen her first two years. She scheduled every single one of last year's Elite Eight teams, including Texas twice, in an effort to compete better in the Big 10 and to move on to the Elite Eight. I'd like to say that grueling schedule has just paid off. Don't know if that's the case or not, but whatever the reason, they've moved on. BTW, other than Elliott, Oldenburg is my favorite coach. I love her vibe on the sideline and her attitude in press conferences. So happy to see her have success. That said, I hope Texas rips their heart out and shoves it down their throat on Saturday.
  25. I never have liked Minnesota's floor defense as much as Ohio State's. Murr suffering a knee injury and being held out was a huge contributing factor to their 4 match loss streak. She still looked gimpy in their last two matches, but she's looked good here. I got crushed early in the year on volleytalk for saying I liked Murr more than Minnesota's McGraw. I mean, people came out of the woodwork to have a go at me, but I stuck to my guns. It's been extremely gratifying to see the mainstream consensus come around to agree with me.
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