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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. Yeah, Gary regularly looks like she's heading to the concession stands to go get a ball if that's what it takes. I mean, she just had the amazing play against Stanford, and then follows it up with this. I fell in love with Skinner in 2023. Her backrow attack seemed undefendable at times. I believe she was hitting over .400 off the BIC. She played on the national team that summer, the same way O'Neal had done the year before. I don't really blame the team's woes on her. There was a lot going on with that group. The setter stuff especially was an issue. Remember how slow Skinner started in 2023, primarily trying to get adjusted to Swindle and vice versa? NIL may have had something to do with her coming to Texas initially, but I can guarantee it wasn't any kind of big payday. Even now volleyball players aren't making the same kind of money other women's sports are bringing in, but back when Skinner transferred the whole NIL stuff was in its infancy. Also, she kind of saved our bacon. Remember we had just lost Skylar Fields to USC. That had the potential to be a debacle. Instead we really got an upgrade at the position in all kinds of ways. Look, Elliott has earned all kinds of allowances, so I don't really mean to criticize the guy. But sometimes I feel like we get enamored with who we can bring in, rather than bringing in the right people. Transfers have been such a big part of our success even before the portal was a thing. But I never liked bringing in Wenaas. I hate being critical of her, because she had a really good tournament in 2023, and she always seemed to be a good teammate, but I wasn't in love with her at Minnesota. Watching her as a starter for two years about did me in. And I always wondered about the Carlsen commitment. We just seemed on such a roll at the time. We flipped Ames, which was huge. Got Spears and Vander Wal. Got Harvey. Got Rutherford. Lauenstein announced for Texas. It just seemed like everything was going our way. "In Elliott We Trust." But things just never worked out there with Carlsen, and it seemed to destroy Swindle's confidence. I feel like Elliott took the program culture a little for granted, and thought it would just magically work. I still don't understand Rutherford's year. That was as big a misuse of talent as I've seen at Texas. We were just never able to get her going. I do think handling that NIL stuff can be a distraction. Sometimes Texas kind of puts it on players to create their own NIL opportunities, giving them tools, but expecting them to go out and hustle themselves. Which is kind of how it should work in some ways, but it's tough for anyone to tell when they've overcommitted themselves until after they've done it. In any case, this is the best start we've had to the season since 2022. It's not just about the wins, although those absolutely matter. Those regional host positions are really critical. But it's how the team is playing. Even with the mistakes and errors, it just feels like natural growing pains. There's a joy on the court I didn't always see the last two years - the amazing tournament run excepted in 2023. I missed that. Both Gary and Stafford are home run transfer additions. I don't know how I feel about the Binney/Kahahawai double sub, but it's keeping them involved with the team, and we are having some success there. Binney had a great save on that Louisville play, too, which allowed Gary to do her superwoman act.
  2. Those are all some great memories. That BYU win in particular stands out to me. I believe the Florida match is the one that everyone points to that led to replay because of the ball called out of bounds in UT's favor. UCSB was the Khat Bell speech, lol. Zoe Fleck was on that team! That Washington match was cray cray. It's like they flipped a switch midway through the 3rd set, and just blasted Washington off the floor. A bummer the next match went the way it did.
  3. It's not just the number, although that is impressive. She looks like a legitimate back row defensive player. One handing shit all over the place. For a comparison, I thought O'Neal looked like the best defensive middle I'd ever seen...but she was without a doubt an impressive middle playing defense in the backrow after serving, not a true backcourt player. Stafford isn't Brooke Nuneviller out there, who was a legitimate libero who was a great outside hitter for Oregon. But she would fit in with that Arkansas team from 2023. That Kentucky team we lost to in the national championship had elite level passing. That's another team Stafford would have fit on. I just don't recall any of our outsides being this good on defense. We've had outsides rack up big dig numbers, but it's as much because they're getting picked on as it is they're so amazing.
  4. It's a long season, but I think this Louisville team has the pieces to win a tough ACC. This could easily be a rematch late in the NCAA tournament.
  5. By the way, the Louisville hand sign stand for Loser.
  6. I love this fucking team. I would have loved them win or lose. So much more fulfilling to watch than last year. Thanks for joining the thread to the rest of you.
  7. I think they should make it the players have to stay on the court and the coaches can't talk to them during review calls. I get the coaches using it, but the system can do more to discourage it.
  8. This ref wastes no time on these challenges. That Hawk system makes a huge difference, too.
  9. The whole Carlsen/Swindle dynamic hurt my heart, too. And watching Skinner go from one of the most undefendable players I've ever seen to whatever last year was. Just really like everything this team is about. And there's a lot of upside, too.
  10. Fuck you magical meske timeout. Fuck you. Now 12-11.
  11. Um. I love this fucking team. I know we're down 12-9, and it hasn't always looked pretty, but this is a team that I find easy to root for.
  12. Honestly I'm really grateful for Ames. It felt like we were losing every one on one recruiting battle with Nebraska for a couple of years. It allowed them to build a monster roster. But we competed in the portal. Ames looks so much more fluid early this year than she did as a true freshman last year. She's no slide queen, though.
  13. Yeah, they featured her early on. Showed her next to Elliott's wife and talked about her impact on Halter.
  14. She's really good on the slide, too. She reminds me of how opponents must have felt trying to defend O'Neal. She's a tremendous weapon.
  15. I like Stanford. I think they have some handicaps in the NIL transfer portal era.
  16. Part of Texas' struggles in this match is the opponent they're playing is a final four worthy squad.
  17. I see no movement on this one.
  18. I got to say, this team is so much easier to watch than last year's team, regardless of the result tonight.
  19. Meske seems super charismatic. I think he's the most charismatic volleyball coach I've ever seen on television. I don't know how that translates into building a program, but he seems like he'd be a lot of fun to play for.
  20. Louisville is not nearly as big as Texas overall. They have the 6'6 middle blocker, who is amazing. They have Sherman, who is 6'3. Then they have the two 6'5 opposites. But their outside hitters, Petersen and Chicoine, are 6' and 5'10.
  21. I feel like Elliott leans on the idea he wants the players to figure it out. I find myself calling for timeouts often with him, but what are you going to do? Then I watch Hambly at Stanford and think, "Well, at least Elliott isn't THAT bad."
  22. I'm unconvinced there's a sport where a timeout seems to make a bigger difference than volleyball. It may not be true, but it feels like it.
  23. Chicoine was terrific for Purdue last year. It's a little crazy to me both her and Hudson transferred. That Cresse chick, the middle blocker, is deadly on the slide. A little weird that Louisville has two players with sisters who played at Texas. Peyton Petersen, the sister of Sydney, and Nayelis Cabello, the sister of Naomi Cabello, who transferred to NC State.
  24. It looked obvious to me the index finger moved to the left as the ball passed by. They showed some terrible replays from the side, but when looking from the camera from behind the Louisville side head on, it just seemed blatantly obvious to me. But it looked like the finger moved in real time to me as well.
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