Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
3 hours ago, Mittens said:

Eh.  That's barely under her average for a 4 set match.  

More her errors and hitting % were a bad day at the office. The adjustments made in set 4 to get her a smaller block worked out

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

Wednesday

TCU @ ASU, 7pm, ESPNU
USC @ UCLA, 9pm, BTN

Friday
SMU @ UNC, 5pm, ACCN
Texas @ aggy, 6:30pm, SECN+ (boo)
Nebraska @ Wisconsin, 7pm, BTN

Saturday
USC @ Minnesota, 8pm, B1G+
Marquette @ Creighton, 7pm, FS1

Sunday
Kentucky @ Texas, 12pm, ESPN
Pitt @ UNC, 12pm, ACCN
Oregon @ Nebraska, 1pm, BTN
aggy @ Tennessee, 2pm, ESPN2
Indiana @ Penn State, 3pm, BTN

Posted

This is going to feel like the most NCAA type of weekend for our team - back to back second weekend quality opponents with 1 day in between

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

I’m having a bad feeling about this week. We’re up against 2 quality opponents and haven’t been playing our best recently. Hope my gut is wrong. 

I want to find out how good this team is. 

We saw they were better prepared than the tough early season schedule they faced...but not by a lot. Came back from 5 points down in the 5th set against both Stanford and Louisville, both quality Elite Eight type of teams. I think Louisville has the potential to make it to the Final Four, depending on their bracket and how they do in the regional finals. They won't be a regional host at this point, but they'll likely be seeded somewhere #7 through #10. 

Coming back from 5 points down late in a set is extremely difficult in volleyball. 

At the same time, Texas has weaknesses. Our serving isn't overly impressive (it's not bad, per se, but there are several servers in the rotation who do not put consistent pressure on the defense). Our middle production is practically nonexistent, especially when you compare it to past teams. But we're trying to get better. We're running the slide more right now than we did last year (that's where the middle blocker moves from her middle of the net position to run to the right and attack the ball at the right pin). We don't look particularly smooth with any of the middle blockers, but Ames is getting a fair amount of swings on the play.

Harvey and Swindle have a terrible connection, to the point where Swindle doesn't even set her all that much when she's on the floor. Which is a shame, because that's Harvey's strength right now. 

We have good to excellent pin hitters at all 3 positions. Stafford is a national player of the year candidate. Probably needs Pitt to not make the Final Four, or it's going to former teammate Babcock, but she might be second in line. Spears is a legitimate national freshman of the year, a force of nature at times out of the backrow. Very few players in the country regardless of classification are as intimidating with their back row attack as she is. Of course, we do take her off the court for the double sub, but that's been effective, too. 

I feel like Vander Wal is coming into her own, lately. 

We have a never say die back row defense, with Gary a living breathing Sportscenter highlight reel.

We're better with our tip coverage than I can remember. It's not 100%, but it's pretty good. Especially on resets where our hitter hits it softly off the opponent block to reset the possession. 

Everyone seems bought in, including players like Harvey and Bunton, who are having to alternate starting, and Kahahawai, who is playing part time her senior season. 

Swindle has had some rough sets in setting the ball, including those first two sets at LSU, but she came on in the 3rd set, and Binney produced the vast majority of her assists in the 2nd set, so it all worked out for the win. 

I don't know if we'll win either match this weekend, but both of them will be great tests. Let's find out what we have at this point in the season. I have a lot of belief in this team. I never feel like we're going to lose a set, no matter how far behind we are, and the team seems to feel the same way. At the same time, I always feel confident we're going to lose at least ONE set, or go extended points at some point, because that's how we do things this year.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Edited by SL Xpress
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
1 hour ago, Js1 said:

This is going to feel like the most NCAA type of weekend for our team - back to back second weekend quality opponents with 1 day in between

The way this week’s schedule and timing fell, did us no favors.

aggy plays at #16 Tennessee on Sunday after playing us.

Posted
1 minute ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

The way this week’s schedule and timing fell, did us no favors.

aggy plays at #16 Tennessee on Sunday after playing us.

I don't think it's bad for the team. It gives them a chance to figure out what their routine would look like for Thurs/Sat Fri/Sun regionals. I think it's good.

I think it's terrible for me as a fan. The two most anticipated matches of conference play are back to back. I would have preferred to spread them out a bit. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
1 hour ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

The way this week’s schedule and timing fell, did us no favors.

It is what it is, no reason to cry about it now. 

Posted (edited)

Texas faces the other non-Texas award winners this week -

POW - Cassie O'Brien (S, Kentucky) and Brooklyn DeLeye (OH, Kentucky)
DPOW - Ifenna Cos-Okpolla (MB, aggy)
SOW - Cassie O'Brien (S, Kentucky)

Texas’ Cari Spears, a freshman outside hitter from Frisco, Texas, owned a .373 hitting percentage and averaged 4.79 points and 4.57 kills per set over two wins on the road for the Longhorns. Spears posted 16 kills on a .351 clip with nine digs and two blocks to her credit in the four-set victory at Ole Miss. She then hit .400 on 16 kills and added four digs and one block in the sweep at LSU to help Texas improve to 18-0 and 10-0 in conference play.

Edited by Js1
Posted
2 minutes ago, Mittens said:

I want the W at aggy so damn bad...

Also need to even up the Lone Star Cup thingy.... aggy up 1-0 from soccer. 

Posted (edited)

The SEC really backloaded the schedules - Texas has aggy, Kentucky, Florida, Auburn, South Carolina to finish. 4 of the 6 in the top half of the SEC

aggy has Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, Georgia.  All 5 opponents are in the top half of the conference

Kentucky got set up right - they only have Texas and Tennessee among the top half of the conference left, with Missouri, OU and arkansas the other 3. 

Edited by Js1

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...