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Posted

Im not able to look this up, but I imagine winning back to back matches where match points were saved in each has to put us in an elite group. Hopefully we don’t make it 3 in a row this weekend against ASU—my blood pressure can’t take it!

Posted
3 minutes ago, WBT said:

I never really got on board with Skinner, especially following in Logan's footsteps. 

Loved her in 2022 as a complement to Logan and then in 2023, but something felt super off about her in 2024. Her outside of volleyball stuff seemed to interest her a lot more 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, WBT said:

Big comeback last night.  I've only been able to catch parts of the Creighton, Stanford, and Louisville matches but I agree that this team is a lot more likeable and fun to watch than the Skinner/Wenaas experience the last two years.  Even in 2023 they weren't thar fun to watch until turning it on in the tournament.

Wenaas was just too maddeningly inconsistent in both hitting and passing.  I'm grateful she pulled it together for the 2023 final four.

I never really got on board with Skinner, especially following in Logan's footsteps.  A big part of it was her being a teansfer.  And not just a transfer but for two years having every broadcast run into the ground the story of her wanting nothing to do with Texas coming out of high school in Katy.  And when she did transfer to Texas (with big NIL I'm sure), she decided Texas wasn't so bad.  Gee...thanks.

Really with you on Skinner.  Also, at UK, she was admittedly a burnout, even with or maybe because of an NC under her belt.  I think last year she was a burnout again.

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Posted

Also 84 (!!) digs. By a Texas team??

18 for Stafford

17 for Emma

12 for Ramsey

10 for Binney

9 for Ella

 

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Posted
Just now, Js1 said:

Also 84 (!!) digs. By a Texas team??

18 for Stafford

17 for Emma

12 for Ramsey

10 for Binney

9 for Ella

 

JE was "interviewed" and said something like "you can't really contend without at least two elite DS."  I was a little bit orlly?  He's learned a lot.

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Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

JE was "interviewed" and said something like "you can't really contend without at least two elite DS."  I was a little bit orlly?  He's learned a lot.

Well we won back to back titles with stellar little and back row play. Fleck, Barnes, Halter + Logan and Skinner doing enough in those rotations

Texas will have Gary at L next year and the top ranked 2025 libero who is taking a redshirt. So it seems the pipeline will continue 

Edited by Js1
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Posted
1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Loved her in 2022 as a complement to Logan and then in 2023, but something felt super off about her in 2024. Her outside of volleyball stuff seemed to interest her a lot more 

Skinner absolutely tanked team chemistry last year, starting in the summer before the season.  

Posted

The first RPI Futures has Texas #2.  Whoever posted it on VT didn't post the projected records, but I would guess Texas will be projected at 2-3 losses, considering we have already gotten through Wisconsin, Stanford and Louisville unscathed.  The rest of our non-conf slate (ASU, TCU, Baylor) is at home, as well as Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, OU

The two trip-up spots are road matches at Florida and aggy

Nebraska
Texas
Pitt
ASU
Louisville
Creighton
Kentucky
TCU
Stanford
SMU

Other teams: 11 Wisconsin, 12 PSU, 15 aggy, 19 Florida, 21 Missouri, 22 Baylor, 26 Tennessee, 40 Auburn

Posted
1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Really with you on Skinner.  Also, at UK, she was admittedly a burnout, even with or maybe because of an NC under her belt.  I think last year she was a burnout again.

Yeah. I don’t think that mentally tough/mentally weak is the correct lexicon any longer, but she definitely seems to be a person that needs breaks and cannot just grind away indefinitely at stressful tasks.  Admittedly that’s based mostly on a couple minutes worth of interviews she has given on transferring, and on mental health, combined with her transfer from UK and then performance at Texas. So scant evidence for sure. 

Posted
9 minutes ago, someguy said:

Skinner absolutely tanked team chemistry last year, starting in the summer before the season.  

I won't lay all the blame on Skinner - Elliot shoulders a lot of blame for last year. 

- Disengaged Skinner
- Constant position battles (setter, RS) with fan/program favorites seemingly getting the shaft for the transfer instead (Swindle/Carlson and Rutherford/Devin) 
- Players seemingly pulled on a whim, often to be replaced by someone who fucked up too or worse (random times JE would yank one of the middles for Bunton, or pulled Madi out of backrow without talking to her)
- Freshmen not really getting any chance when Wenaas or Rutherford were not doing well

That was a shit show of epic proportions, and you saw it when we kept losing all these 5-set matches over and over.  The team didn't fight for each other, like this one does. 

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Posted
12 hours ago, Js1 said:

If Vandy finishes off Cal (leads 2-0), the challenge will end in an 8-8 tie

Texas, Bama, MSST and OU all had 5 set wins today 

 

I've watched this more than 3 dozen times, and still can't believe it....

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Posted
13 minutes ago, MirrOlure said:

I've watched this more than 3 dozen times, and still can't believe it....

I didn't think she could get it inside the antenna from that angle.  Incredible effort and execution in the moment.

Posted (edited)

I am guessing when they do this again next year (SEC/ACC challenge), we will be playing somebody in a more ACC-friendly neutral site

Texas will probably schedule Stanford again regardless and Kentucky/Louisville already play in the regular season for their in-state rivalry, so I don't think either of those match-ups would happen in the challenge. 

Would LOVE Texas to play Pitt somewhere on the east coast (Charlotte?), and you can pair that with something like Florida/Louisville or Kentucky/SMU (if we play Pitt)

aggy graduates Cos-Okpalla, Hellmuth, Lednicky, Humprey, Underwood, Waak and Perkins, so I would bet Jamie will petition for his very young/inexperienced 2026 team to avoid SMU/Pitt/Louisville/Stanford

Edited by Js1
Posted
3 hours ago, Js1 said:

Trying to piece together some of our most epic 5 set comebacks in the Elliot era in the 10 years.  Multiple wins when down 4+ points in the 5th set.   And the 3 consecutive years with a 5th set in the NCAAs (Florida, BYU, Utah) 

  • 2025 Louisville - down 11-7 in the 5th
  • 2025 Stanford - down 10-5 in the 5th
  • 2024 Ole Miss - down 13-7 in the 5th (this may have been our only 5-set match win in 2024, that team was super unclutch)
  • 2023 Tennessee - down 24-23 in the 4th set, trailing 2-1.  Won the 5th set in less dramatic fashion, but was in the NCAA tournament and we eventually won it all 
  • 2021 Washington - down 0-2, reverse swept them in the NCAA tournament, winning sets 4 and 5, -9 and -9
  • 2019 UCSB - down 2-1, won sets 4 and 5, -18 and -10 (NCAA tournament)
  • 2018 KSU - won set 5, 19-17, after being up 2-1
  • 2017 KU - down 2-1, won set 5, 18-16
  • 2017 Utah - won set 5, 16-14, after falling behind 2-1 in the NCAA tournament
  • 2016 BYU - down 11-5 in the 5th set in the NCAA tournament
  • 2015 Florida - down tied 13-13 in the 5th set in the NCAA tournament, Texas won 17-15

That's crazy. Minor point: iirc we were down 11-6 last night, no?

Posted
3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Really with you on Skinner.  Also, at UK, she was admittedly a burnout, even with or maybe because of an NC under her belt.  I think last year she was a burnout again.

Yeah that was the impression I got from her all last year. I kinda thought maybe being the poster child for women's college volleyball was weighing pretty heavy around her neck.

Posted
1 hour ago, MirrOlure said:

I've watched this more than 3 dozen times, and still can't believe it....

That play was what turned the 5th in our favor imho. Crazy how much indoor volleyball swings on momentum. That was a huge emotional boost and a bonding moment for the team that imho we'll probably look back at many times throughout the development of this team over the course of the season.

Posted
1 minute ago, wood said:

Crazy how much indoor volleyball swings on momentum.

That definitely gave us momentum. I also thought Louisville's passing broke down a little towards the end of the set and the 3 consecutive errors by Petersen to tie it at 12 were huge. 

Yeah, she got a kill then to make it 12-13, but Texas finished it off on a 4-1 run via a Louisville service error and 3 consecutive kills from Stafford, Spears and AVW

That whole match was nuts - .144 for Louisville, .153 for Texas.  Louisville hit almost .300 in set 1 and then never hit higher than .200 in any other set. Texas didn't hit .200 in a single set until set 5 

28 attack errors for Louisville (15 Texas blocks), 35 for Texas (19 Louisville blocks)

This match was really good experience and tape for when we face another really fucking physical block at aggy on Halloween. 

Posted
3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

On the other end, something was going on with Emma last night.  They were serving her hard and it was fairly effective at times.  At one time the announcers mentioned an alignment/responsibility problem with her and AVW that may have extended to other rotations.

I'm not going to ever doubt Emma's ability in serve receive or anything else for that matter, but they seem to have scouted something there.

 

3 hours ago, Js1 said:

I mentioned last night it was one of her worst serve receive matches. At one point, she was responsible for 75% of Louisville’s aces 

 

Second and third sets I noticed they were serving her body shots - high, hard, and flat- and she had trouble passing in system when she didn't go to an overhand pass. I watched the Stanford game also yesterday and it made for a stark contrast with how she handled serve receive when the ball wasn't at her and above her waist.  Something to keep an eye on.  

 

Did anyone else notice in the fifth set that serve receive rotation where we hid everyone but Emma and Torrey? It was before the switchover.  

 

3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Really with you on Skinner.  Also, at UK, she was admittedly a burnout, even with or maybe because of an NC under her belt.  I think last year she was a burnout again.

She had hinted on socials she was having anxiety about post college life.  I'm sure that figured into it.

Posted
5 minutes ago, Js1 said:

That definitely gave us momentum. I also thought Louisville's passing broke down a little towards the end of the set and the 3 consecutive errors by Petersen to tie it at 12 were huge. 

Yeah, she got a kill then to make it 12-13, but Texas finished it off on a 4-1 run via a Louisville service error and 3 consecutive kills from Stafford, Spears and AVW

That whole match was nuts - .144 for Louisville, .153 for Texas.  Louisville hit almost .300 in set 1 and then never hit higher than .200 in any other set. Texas didn't hit .200 in a single set until set 5 

28 attack errors for Louisville (15 Texas blocks), 35 for Texas (19 Louisville blocks)

This match was really good experience and tape for when we face another really fucking physical block at aggy on Halloween. 

Louisville had 3 chances at 11-8 in the fifth to take momentum back but couldn't pass on serve receive and ended up setting the outside pin where our two best blocks knew the attack was gonna go. If their receive could have generated better passes on any of those three serves I don't think we win.

Posted
Just now, gsoda3 said:

Louisville had 3 chances at 11-8 in the fifth to take momentum back but couldn't pass on serve receive and ended up setting the outside pin where our two best blocks knew the attack was gonna go. If their receive could have generated better passes on any of those three serves I don't think we win.

Yep, their passing broke down exactly at a bad time when they needed to take control and finish us

I am keeping an eye out on the passing numbers for yesterday's match.  But even near-perfect passing doesn't get you a win - Kentucky passed phenomenally (we'd kill for those numbers), but their freshman setter struggled to locate and they got swept by Pitt. 

Posted

You know what I really liked?  Devin hitting middle.  AA's footwork just isn't there and frankly I don't know if you can learn quickness.  When we stagnate on offense and let teams go on 7, 8, 9 point runs it really helps to have a middle who's a threat. I love AA's presence on the block but I wouldn't be mad if we saw a wrinkle from time to time of Harvey in the front or Devin hitting more out of the middle and not just on that one rotation.

Posted

I also realize it last night, but a few people pointed it out - the team on the right side of the court won the set

Set 1 - Texas left, Louisville right - Louisville wins
Set 2 - Texas wins after switching to the right side
Set 3 - Louisville wins after switching to the right side
Set 4 - Texas wins after switching to the right side
Set 5 - Louisville starts on the right, was the first to 8, then Texas switches to the right and wins the set/match

When they flipped the coin for the fifth set, Ella picked the left side, which allowed us to end up on the right (winning) side for the 2nd half of the fifth set

Always Sunny Reaction GIF

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