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TexasDPT

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Everything posted by TexasDPT

  1. I think Sun's overall back row play and serve-receive have already improved a lot since being at Nebraska. She looks more comfortable defensively and is digging balls that usually bounced in front of her at Texas. The training is definitely part of it, but I also think Cook let her play through her lows in the back row/serve-receive instead of taking her out (which Elliott did) even though it cost them some matches IMO. I think she's prone to have breakdowns in her game, but Nebraska's overall team defense will overcome those deficiencies. Elliott's tenure has produced some dominant front-row college players but in the 18 years he has been here, none have really been true passing, six-rotation players except for Mira Topic, Ashley Engle, Sha'Dare McNeal, Amy Neal, and now Micaya White (who is still too inconsistent at times). With the college rules of allowing 15 substitutions per set, Elliott has made his success by getting big, high-jumping, hard-hitting pin hitters like Hooker, Faucette, Webster, Eckerman, Bell, Prieto-Cerame, Nwanebu, and Bedart-Ghani who only played front but didn't have the skills to play in the back row. (Hooker didn't have the opportunity to develop b/c of Track&Field and Nwanebu b/c of her chronic back injury). Thus, Texas gets labeled as getting the top athletes but not the top volleyball players.... It would be nice if Elliott could develop complete players but at the minimum, his focus in the upcoming season should be improving the team's overall serving and floor defense.
  2. Nebraska's floor defense and tough serving can weather potent offenses.... but I hope Stanford stomps a huge fuckin' mudhole in them.
  3. Watching the final four, Texas really needs to improve on its serving and back row defense/ball control to compete for another title.
  4. I remember Elliott saying that Austin and other cities in Texas (Dallas and San Antonio?) put in bids to host the final four for the 2018-2021 seasons, and he complained that all sites were awarded in Big Ten states. 2018- Minneapolis 2019- Pittsburgh 2020- Omaha 2021- Columbus (Ohio)
  5. He claims he can't get top-ranked teams to come to Austin...unless they are sponsored tournaments like the Vert Challenge.
  6. Also, I think Micaya's ankle injury in the previous match may have been more severe than they let on. There weren't any designed back row attacks (or any that I can remember) in the BYU match. There were several times when I thought Jhenna should have set Micaya in the back row but didn't, and that definitely limited the offense. Serve-receive passing was definitely better this year and having a setter that could actually locate the ball with consistent tempo and height really helped out the players. It's the other aspects of the game Texas needs to continue to improve: ball-control/floor defense (actually digging up hard-driven balls to the setter) and serving tougher and more consistently (Micaya).
  7. So why is Texas consistently the worst top ten ball control team year in/year out? Watch every elite 8 match and compare Texas' ball control/back row defense to the other elite teams....the drop-off is significant. We win most matches because we have a bevy of elite hitters and typically very good blocking that can overpower teams. But when we go up against teams with similar hitters, we lose because ball control sucks.
  8. Honestly, I think it's coming from up top (Elliott)....it's been his M.O. to develop terminal hitters and blockers...the same effort needs to be placed on serve-receive and back row defense....it'd be even better if he could consistently train his OHs to be true 6-rotation players like Jones-Perry.
  9. Poor defensive back row and overall ball-control coaching.....they need to be trained to do more than just get a hard-driven ball up....they need to train to consistently pass it close to the net and up TO the setter....same goes for serve-receive.
  10. DS's don't get scholarships. Liberos do - Petersen, McCoy, Palmer (although she came in as a hybrid athlete that transitioned to Libero), Yogi, and Jennings. Kisner (my favorite Libero) was an in-state pick-up that started off as a DS and then became the starter when Jenning graduated. Rounsaville and Hahn and in-state pick-ups as well.
  11. When the 'littles' get a ball that is slowed down by the block, they pass it well. It's 2-3 feet off the net, and the setter has options. When they are digging balls that get past the block, they either don't get to it and if they do, it's not controlled well....the ball usually gets passed way off the net and behind the 10' line and then the offense becomes one dimensional and easy to stop because it's going to the left pin. It was different when we had players like Destinee, Haley, and Bailey who consistently hit over the block....but we don't have players like that anymore. Therefore, the staff needs to focus on developing a better defensive back row to stay IN-SYSTEM and have more hitting options.
  12. Yeah, don't know why they were hyping them up (Autumn/Claire)...they were playing like they have been all year....decent against crap teams and then they fold under pressure against good teams.
  13. Jhenna did an admirable job taking over the setter position....but we need a bigger setter who can LOCATE the ball just like her. Again, it goes back to floor defense if our block can't stop the opposing hitters. Jerritt, Erik, and Tonya need to wake the fuck up and start coaching our players up in this aspect of the game.
  14. Petersen's a keeper....but Rounsaville and Hahn need to graduate already
  15. We've been saying this for the past several years.....
  16. We need better blocking on the right pin
  17. Should have gone back row last play....Jhenna is starting to get predictable.
  18. I know Micaya likes to mix around her shots, but she needs to just go hard every ball....all of them do, but they need to do it by hitting high hands and off the block.
  19. Fuck! We need to slow down Jones-Perry.
  20. Dammit...we're getting blocked off the court at the end of this set.
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