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Posted

Should be an interesting year! Our usual question mark, passing/defense, could be our greatest strength. Pin hitters will be solid if not spectacular. Season success probably boils down to 2 things:

-Swindle - will she return to the form of the setter that brought us a natty 2 years ago? I'd hope with good passing this year she can shine, as she struggles most when running around the court scooping up shanks.

-Will our young middle blockers show some improvement? They were strong recruits one upon a time but were meh last year even with Singletary's heavy arm. Texas has a history of developing MBs better than any other position

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Posted (edited)

Would also add our offense should be a little different, as both Hunt and Josephson bring some USAMNT and Canadian MNT things. I think Stafford will basically hit from all over the court 

Edited by Js1
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Posted

I'm going to go out on a limb and say someone, not just sure who, will be a better hitter than "free ball" Wenaas. I also think Stafford will be better defensively than Skinner. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say Gary and Kujundzic both will be better than Akana. Maybe not at serving, but they're supposed to be good at that too. But how far this team will go will ultimately rest on Ella's shoulders.

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Posted
1 hour ago, BevoBae said:

Should be an interesting year! Our usual question mark, passing/defense, could be our greatest strength. Pin hitters will be solid if not spectacular. Season success probably boils down to 2 things:

-Swindle - will she return to the form of the setter that brought us a natty 2 years ago? I'd hope with good passing this year she can shine, as she struggles most when running around the court scooping up shanks.

-Will our young middle blockers show some improvement? They were strong recruits one upon a time but were meh last year even with Singletary's heavy arm. Texas has a history of developing MBs better than any other position

Maybe someone should stomp on Ella's foot.  (kidding, or am I?).

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Posted
12 minutes ago, Hard Times said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say someone, not just sure who, will be a better hitter than "free ball" Wenaas. I also think Stafford will be better defensively than Skinner. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say Gary and Kujundzic both will be better than Akana. Maybe not at serving, but they're supposed to be good at that too. But how far this team will go will ultimately rest on Ella's shoulders.

We are going to have fantastic floor defense. Our block will not as good as past years, but our floor defense should make up for that. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Hard Times said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say someone, not just sure who, will be a better hitter than "free ball" Wenaas. I also think Stafford will be better defensively than Skinner. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say Gary and Kujundzic both will be better than Akana. Maybe not at serving, but they're supposed to be good at that too. But how far this team will go will ultimately rest on Ella's shoulders.

Not sure what the numbers say, but just watching matches I always felt we had too many miscues by Akana. Don't mean to bash her, just making a casual observation. I'm eager to see how her replacement does. 

Posted
3 hours ago, BevoBae said:

-Swindle - will she return to the form of the setter that brought us a natty 2 years ago? I'd hope with good passing this year she can shine, as she struggles most when running around the court scooping up shanks.

 

Stafford is an excellent passer, as was Devin (if she is the OPP) + our 2 new little transfers. Texas automatically becomes a better passing team without Jenna "shank city" Wenaas. 

Ella is going to be fully healthy and from the social media things I've seen, she seems to have taken a major leadership role as a 3rd year player. Ella, Devin and Emma will be the backbone leadership of this team.  Whitney is the "mom" (IRL and on the court)

Posted
55 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

Not sure what the numbers say, but just watching matches I always felt we had too many miscues by Akana. Don't mean to bash her, just making a casual observation. I'm eager to see how her replacement does. 

Was she even that elite of a server last year? I feel like her 2023 serving was tits. 2024, less so

Posted

Ames, Van der Wal and Ramsey are all on the U21 team, which plays Team Canada tonight

Ames beat out preseason All-SEC MB Jaela Auguste (Florida) for the roster spot. 

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Posted

Sounds like AVW's serve is legit and Gary's floor defense was very good in the win last night over Canada (3-0 sweep).  AVW was a serving sub and Ames played sparingly, it was mostly DeLeye and Gibaldo outside and Anyanwu in the middle making the plays

Gary got one mention:

Anyanwu scored three early points to lead the U.S. to a quick 8-4 lead in the third set. A great defensive rally by Gary helped the lead remain at four, 12-8. After giving up the next point, the U.S. scored six consecutive points and went on to finish the match on 13-4 run. Anyanwu, DeLeye and Gibadlo all scored four points in the set.

They play Puerto Rico today (4pm central) and Chile tomorrow (6pm) 

Hopefully AVW will get more PT in some of these other matches before the QFs on Friday

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Posted

U21 team beat the shit out of Puerto Rico

Libero Ramsey Gary led all players with eight successful receptions and shared match-high honors with seven digs.

Outside hitter Blaire Bayless led all players with 14 points on 12 kills, a block and an ace. She hit .800 with her 12 kills on 15 attacks without an error.

“We came off of a good win against Canada yesterday and we wanted to come into this match with the same intensity and same fire. I think we did a great job playing well over time and finishing strong,” Bayless said.

Middle blocker Lizzy Andrew registered a match-best three blocks to go with five kills for eight points. Opposite Noemie Glover (six kills and an ace) and outside Abby Vander Wal (five kills and two aces) each scored seven points. Middle blocker Ayden Ames added five points on three kills and a pair of blocks.

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