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2021 Texas Volleyball


TexasDPT

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3 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

The timing can’t be coincidental after the Iosia transfer either. 

We all talked about Texas needing to get better at libero/DS and this with Fleck would be a substantial upgrade. 

If this happens I think Iosia was almost certainly shown the door but that’s just me speculating. 

Also Texas has a lot of interest in her brother for football. Like, a lot

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On 1/6/2022 at 2:23 PM, texasstrong12 said:

Put me in the group of being very meh on losing Iosia if Texas adds another good DS from somewhere else. She’s young but I haven’t seen anything yet that shows she’s anywhere close to being an elite player. 

Granted, that might say something about Elliot’s development/evaluation of talent at that specific position. 

I think Elliott felt the same way. 

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4 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

I think Elliott felt the same way. 

Honestly, assuming Elliott sees what goes awry with our back row players (it's not a given seeing how long we have struggled with subpar recruiting/development and curing it only by getting one recruited and developed elsewhere through the portal), he should feel bad.

Iosia is not one player that didn't work out, like Ashley Shook.  She's one of a long string of "inadequate" DS.

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It's a long string of players but Elliott isn't a moron. Elliott knew he needed to upgrade at libero with O'Brien/Fleck and I'm sure he recognized the obvious here too. 

I see this as a major positive. If you aren't good at developing/evaluating talent at DS just go get a bunch of players that are already developed at another school. 

 

Edited by texasstrong12
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5 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

It's a long string of players but Elliott isn't a moron. Elliott knew he needed to upgrade at libero with O'Brien/Fleck and I'm sure he recognized the obvious here too. 

I see this as a major positive. If you aren't good at developing/evaluating talent at DS just go get a bunch of players that are already developed at another school. 

 

Letting the B1G/Pac recruit and develop Liberos for us is quite genius. All offense to Elliot, bc I don’t trust his eye for HS liberos. But John Cook? Yup 

Edited by Js1
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2 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

It's a long string of players but Elliott isn't a moron. Elliott knew he needed to upgrade at libero with O'Brien/Fleck and I'm sure he recognized the obvious here too. 

I see this as a major positive. If you aren't good at developing/evaluating talent at DS just go get a bunch of players that are already developed at another school. 

 

Bingo. He’s been below average at developing our defense, serving and passing. Perhaps he is smart enough to leverage NIL to buy them. Let’s hope.

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6 hours ago, Goodman said:

Bingo. He’s been below average at developing our defense, serving and passing. Perhaps he is smart enough to leverage NIL to buy them. Let’s hope.

 

I don't know about serving. Texas is one of the best serving teams in the country currently. 

I don't know what happened to Iosia's serve, though. It was really good a couple of years ago. Over time it became a lollipop.

But Eggleston, Parra, and O'Neal all have very effective serves.

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10 hours ago, Goodman said:

Bingo. He’s been below average at developing our defense, serving and passing. Perhaps he is smart enough to leverage NIL to buy them. Let’s hope.

I just find it interesting that he's finally just now addressing it via the portal.  Maybe he really doesn't know how to fix it "organically," and is afraid to tamper with the staff too much.

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The hot rumor on volleytalk is Larson’s husband, David Hunt, will join the Texas volleyball staff after resigning as the head coach of Pepperdine’s men’s team after five years. 

I was told he’d be the volunteer coach, and Larson would remain the official assistant.  I don’t know whether that holds up or not. 

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13 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

The hot rumor on volleytalk is Larson’s husband, David Hunt, will join the Texas volleyball staff after resigning as the head coach of Pepperdine’s men’s team after five years. 

I was told he’d be the volunteer coach, and Larson would remain the official assistant.  I don’t know whether that holds up or not. 

Woah that would be legit 

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11 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Woah that would be legit 


Apparently that has been the plan all along. It was a little tough for me to swallow, but him resigning from Pepperdine suddenly gives it a lot more legs than it had previously. 

I guess if he sends out an Instagram pic of their new house in Tuscany I’ll have to reappraise. Otherwise I’m expecting an announcement pretty soon from UT. 

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6 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:


Apparently that has been the plan all along. It was a little tough for me to swallow, but him resigning from Pepperdine suddenly gives it a lot more legs than it had previously. 

I guess if he sends out an Instagram pic of their new house in Tuscany I’ll have to reappraise. Otherwise I’m expecting an announcement pretty soon from UT. 

And he’s following Akana too? 🤔

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1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Done deal!

 


That’s some truly crazy stuff. 

To get someone of that caliber as an assistant coach is an absurd coup on Elliott’s part. Obviously he and Larson were something of a package deal. I imagine Elliott’s understanding of trying to make a marriage work with a volleyball partner, even if neither of his two wives were quite at the level of notoriety of Jordan Larson (although his first wife was a two time All-American at Washington State), may have helped his empathy with any struggles David Hunt and Larson are experiencing. 

I don’t want to be dismissive of Tonya Johnson, but on paper this has been a hell of an upgrade to the coaching staff. 

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I'm interested to know how the coaching responsibilities are going to be delegated.

I just want to see Jordan Larson being in charge of training proper back row defensive ball-control and serve-receive passing to all the pin hitters and Liberos/DS's. That should be our #1 priority, along with teaching them how to read opposing hitters. I really hope that Logan, Madi, Melanie, and Devin receive excellent training technique from Larson and develop into complete 6-rotation pin hitters. I think Fleck will only get better under Larson's tutelage, and hopefully Keonilei Akana decides to transfer in and take over the libero position for the following season.  If not, Emma Halter will need to develop or Elliott can of course just go back into the transfer portal.

David Hunt will probably be handling the offensive schemes, which I think he will do fine with considering all the athletes on the fall roster.  I just want the starting setter (Saige or new Jenna) to be able to run the offense at a consistently high level and be able to locate sets to any hitter on the floor. Better ball-control should definitely help them in doing so.

I'm assuming Erik Sullivan will continue being in charge of the defensive schemes and scouting reports. Texas has traditionally been decent at blocking so Erik can continue on focusing on the first-line of defense, while Larson trains the second-line (back row floor defense). 

The only downside I see with this coaching staff is not having a female coach of color representing the type of players Texas has been known to attract...I guess time will tell with the 2024 recruiting classes and beyond...

Edited by TexasDPT
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9 minutes ago, TexasDPT said:

Aren't she and her brother trying to become a NIL-packaged deal?

I don’t think they’re married to it. Mike Roach of Horns247.com mentioned it in his latest update, but he didn’t state it as if it was an end all be all. They’ve just discussed how fun it would be to go to the same school and possibly do something like that. 

I did notice, too, that all three paid coaches on the women’s volleyball team are now going to be white dudes. It’s been nice having Salima Rockwell and Tonya Johnson on the staff all these years. 

Also, I wonder if Jordan will be limited in off campus recruiting as the volunteer coach? 

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13 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

I don’t think they’re married to it. Mike Roach of Horns247.com mentioned it in his latest update, but he didn’t state it as if it was an end all be all. They’ve just discussed how fun it would be to go to the same school and possibly do something like that. 

I did notice, too, that all three paid coaches on the women’s volleyball team are now going to be white dudes. It’s been nice having Salima Rockwell and Tonya Johnson on the staff all these years. 

Also, I wonder if Jordan will be limited in off campus recruiting as the volunteer coach? 

I'm pretty sure volunteer coaches cannot do any off-campus recruiting like at high school or club volleyball tournaments.  But she will be able to meet recruits on official/unofficial on campus visits. 

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1 minute ago, TexasDPT said:

I'm pretty sure volunteer coaches cannot do any off-campus recruiting like at high school or club volleyball tournaments.  But she will be able to meet recruits on official/unofficial on campus visits. 

It’s just such a bummer. Although it might be wearing on Jordan. I know the big club tournament she attended in the spring she basically had a gaggle of people around her constantly. She’s arguably the biggest star in all of US volleyball. 

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So...it looks like there could be some kind of announcement in UT's favor regarding Keonilei Akana soon. This is based on the social media super sleuths on volleytalk, who are reporting the official TexasVolleyball Instagram site is now following her, which doesn't happen unless they've signed papers or given a verbal to the coaches.

As a sophomore at Nebraska she competed against super freshman Lexi Rodriguez but lost out as the libero. She was an outstanding part of the defensive rotation, though, leading the team in service aces with 42 on the season (she had 7 aces against Texas this past season in the Elite Eight loss), and coming in third in digs. She will have 3 more years of eligibility left. 

It's never done until it's done, obviously, but this one is strongly in UT's favor right now. It's been a crazy off season. Most years this would be the biggest news of the offseason. Getting a top flight defensive specialist from a championship caliber program who averages .32 aces per set. Not sure where it ranks on this one, but it might not be in the top 10. 

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32 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

So...it looks like there could be some kind of announcement in UT's favor regarding Keonilei Akana soon. This is based on the social media super sleuths on volleytalk, who are reporting the official TexasVolleyball Instagram site is now following her, which doesn't happen unless they've signed papers or given a verbal to the coaches.

As a sophomore at Nebraska she competed against super freshman Lexi Rodriguez but lost out as the libero. She was an outstanding part of the defensive rotation, though, leading the team in service aces with 42 on the season (she had 7 aces against Texas this past season in the Elite Eight loss), and coming in third in digs. She will have 3 more years of eligibility left. 

It's never done until it's done, obviously, but this one is strongly in UT's favor right now. It's been a crazy off season. Most years this would be the biggest news of the offseason. Getting a top flight defensive specialist from a championship caliber program who averages .32 aces per set. Not sure where it ranks on this one, but it might not be in the top 10. 

Not just a top flight DS, but a Nebraska recruited and trained player to take over as libero when Fleck is gone (portal after 2022 season pending obvi)

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4 hours ago, TexasDPT said:

Seriously….this off-season has been crazy!

This sucks to say but with all the new additions, if Texas doesn’t win the Natty, what does this say about Elliott?!?!?

Very fair question 

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4 hours ago, TexasDPT said:

Seriously….this off-season has been crazy!

This sucks to say but with all the new additions, if Texas doesn’t win the Natty, what does this say about Elliott?!?!?

That he’s an amazing program builder who has created a culture and environment that talented people with many options want to be a part of. 

Every season that doesn’t end in a national championship is a disappointment in some way. I know last year leaves a bad taste in my mouth as a fan. After the crazy comeback against Washington in the Sweet 16, going against a young Nebraska squad that was horrible on offense (hit for .222 for the year) IN Gregory, the sting from that loss isn’t going anywhere any time soon. 

But the year before, that ended in the loss to Kentucky doesn’t feel nearly as bad, I felt like Texas played really well. Kentucky just played better. 

I’ve spent about 30 years posting regularly on the main KU message board, back when it was an independent site until now. I found the amount of disgruntlement regarding Bill Self over the past year absolutely insane, since I’ve always thought of him as one of the best basketball coaches in the country. But having “only” one title with so many #1 seeds, plus a blow out loss to USC in the second round had the “someone other than Bill” talk at an all time high. In retrospect it seems dumb, and there’s no shortage of “I told you so” call outs going on, but to be honest I thought it was really dumb while it was going on.

I also remember Bobby Bowden finishing in the top 5 14 years in a row, and how much criticism he kept hearing because he wasn’t winning titles. Tom Osborne got the same kind of flak until he didn’t any more.

I hope and expect Elliott is going to win a few more titles to add to the one he already has, He runs the most consistently successful volleyball program in the country, particularly with Stanford and Penn State both dropping off. Titles matter, so I don’t want to act as if they don’t, but in the end I feel very fortunate as a fan that we have Elliott leading the program. Other than John Cook at Nebraska, there’s not a better program builder in the country. I don’t want to take that for granted by making his only measure of success whether he wins the whole thing or not. My expectation is that he will at some point, and I’ll relish it when he does.

That said, adding Akana was an incredibly important piece. She’s an elite server on the same level as Eggleston and Parra, and an elite defender in the backrow. Texas and Nebraska will start the season #1 and #2.

I know this. I’d really really really love for Texas to be the team that knocks Nebraska out of the tournament. It felt so good in the spring of 2021 to beat them in the Elite Eight in Omaha. I want that feeling again. 

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On 5/13/2022 at 8:12 PM, Js1 said:

 

 

“[Keonilei] Akana, a defensive specialist, played two seasons at Nebraska and was a key part of Nebraska’s defense, while also being one of the team’s best servers. She led the team last year with 42 aces and her 302 digs in 34 matches ranked third on the team.” - Michael Bruntz, Husker247 Staff

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That's quite a coup.  I think it speaks well of Elliott and the program that three pretty elite DS types have come here, despite the apparent lack of "organic" recruitment/development of DS.

Of course, the perennial offensive firepower has to be a draw for those who feel already properly developed, but it seems an indication that Texas isn't a place where DS go to "die."

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3 hours ago, Steven Avery said:

Any thoughts on the setter in this video? is a HS Soph. 


She looks really good to me. It’s tough to know who Texas is even targeting prior to June 15, given the no contact rules. Even after that it can be something of a social media super sleuth game. Also, Texas has surprisingly targeted a very small number of in state players recently, to look out of state instead. But that doesn’t really mean anything. She’s listed at 5’10, although heights are notoriously fudged a bit. 

If Texas ends up recruiting her I’ll remember this post, but to be honest there’s a ton of extremely talented sophomores Texas will never show any interest in. Just ends up being a numbers game, with way more talented players that want to play for Texas than the room available for them. 

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26 minutes ago, Js1 said:

So we open with b2b matches in Columbus against Ohio State and then Minnesota comes to Gregory Gym on August 31st. Should be playing @ Stanford as well. Salty 

Minnesota will be the big recruiting visit the way Stanford was last year, I’m sure. 

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3 hours ago, SL Xpress said:


She looks really good to me. It’s tough to know who Texas is even targeting prior to June 15, given the no contact rules. Even after that it can be something of a social media super sleuth game. Also, Texas has surprisingly targeted a very small number of in state players recently, to look out of state instead. But that doesn’t really mean anything. She’s listed at 5’10, although heights are notoriously fudged a bit. 

If Texas ends up recruiting her I’ll remember this post, but to be honest there’s a ton of extremely talented sophomores Texas will never show any interest in. Just ends up being a numbers game, with way more talented players that want to play for Texas than the room available for them. 

She is a legit 5'9" but plays bigger than she is with lots of blocks. Varsity starter on the basketball team as a freshman who did the opening tip jump ball.  Is a gamer and a competitor. A bigger Jenna type maybe.  Runs a 5-1 which allows her to attack well but can also run a 6-2 and is a good RS hitter. 

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1 hour ago, gsoda3 said:
6 hours ago, Steven Avery said:
Any thoughts on the setter in this video? is a HS Soph. 

Impressive how well she sets out of system. Good blocker for being 5'8". I know it's a recruiting video but she makes the right decision more often than not.

Her athletism really shows up on the amount of out of system balls she gets, she runs down a lot and can keep the offense rolling. She is a very good blocker as a legit 5'9". Gabriel was what 5'6" when she admitted how tall she really was? 

She is a smart player like you said as far as reading defenses and making the right calls. 

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Seen her play a lot. She is small but runs a very very fast offense in club.

A few more notes I tried to add in the edit

Very hard for other teams to defend/block because the sets are so low and fast. Her outside is headed to UConn, RS to Texas State and Middle to UNC. So she had lots of front row talent.

Not a good blocker. In fact she is a front row liability defensively (sound familiar?). But her club played a 6-2 against so so it wasn’t an issue.

Excellent passer. Serve is good but it wasn’t really a weapon.

Took some time away from VB because her sister passed away - so she skipped the junior year recruiting push. Definitely a walk on. Very nice kid. Good teammate. Good family.

My daughters college team tried to recruit her where she would actually play. I don’t think she sees the court much, if ever at texas because she is a 5-1 front row liability. So my guess is she is going to get the work with Texas and hit the portal in a few.
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