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2022 Volleyball - Stacked as Hell

Js1

By Js1
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Js1

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Texas sweeps #7 OSU to open the season. -21, -22, -22

See y’all tomorrow 

1 minute ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I noticed about half our players have their names on their jerseys, and the other half don't. Not sure why

Late arrivals? I remember it took ages for SKT to get one last year 

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5 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

The embarrassment of riches made for some funky lineups with funky communications, but a pretty decent overall performance on the road against a competent opponent.

I am extremely gruntled by the backrow talent.  I am about to piss myself.

Yes! This is the type of backcourt Elliott should have built with all of the  past teams...It would have lead to more Championships.

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2 hours ago, Js1 said:

Texas sweeps #7 OSU to open the season. -21, -22, -22

See y’all tomorrow 

Late arrivals? I remember it took ages for SKT to get one last year 

It was a supply chain thing. They ran out of letters and had to import them from the Pacific Islands. 

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2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well - 15 x 3 would have been better than decent and I could have lived without going down 8 in second set. 

Yeah sets 2 and 3 could have gone the other way. We were down huge in set 2. Of course, JE teams the last couple seasons have done that and go on a big runs. JFO (OSU coach) was calling timeouts like a drunk. Usually coaches call them during 3-0 or 5-0 runs. She was really hanging onto them 

Team is still gelling. SKT had an accelerated timeframe to acclimate to setting Skinner and Caffey. Ewert even less time to acclimate to everyone. 

3-0 was great for first game on the road at a top 10 opponent. I was expecting a 3-1 or 3-2 win. 

Let’s come out with similar intensity and sweep them again tonight 

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16 minutes ago, sunset87 said:

Looked pretty strong overall. Still need some work on middle opposite of O’Neal.

Both Bella and Kayla didn’t get on campus until late. Would expect that to slowly improve as they all get more acclimated to setting, blocking schemes, etc 

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First of all that was an amazing win. Ohio State may be the best team we play all year. It's between them, Minnesota, and Stanford. Ohio State lacks a dominant left pin, and that will be their downfall, but they have the best setter in the B1G and arguably the best setter in the country in Podraza, one of the best middles in the country in Rader, an outstanding libero in Murr, and Londot is a terrific 6 rotation RS. They're not an amazing serving team, although Londot gave us fits in that 2nd set. But they're a very good defensive team, and they do have weapons in the front court.

The atmosphere was outstanding. Ohio State is still an up and comer in that department in the B1G, so this was a huge step for them from a crowd perspective. Texas is royalty in volleyball, one of THE iconic brands in all of college sports, so of course we bring a crowd, but I felt like the energy from the Buckeyes was much better than the polite Garrison Keillor-esque golf clapping Gophers last year, even though their arena holds more and their attendance averages are way higher. 

The grit and determination of the team in the 2nd set reminded me of the comeback against Minnesota last year in the first set. There's a never say die attitude that's embodied by Eggleston's short term memory and her honey badger attitude about her mistakes that the team feeds off of. Best exemplified by the reverse sweep of KU in Lawrence and the amazing turnaround in the 3rd set against Washington.

The starting lineup was exactly what I thought it would be. What I didn't anticipate was Halter coming in Mighty Mouse style "Here I come to save the daaaaaaay!" in that second set. The reports out of camp, what we saw in the O/W scrimmage, and Elliott's quotes (circa AAS Danny Davis tweets after attending a practice) regarding Halter are one thing. But for her to make a transformational difference in a match against a legitimate top 10 opponent is something else. It's obvious to me that Halter and Fleck will be the primary back court players for Texas this year. Understand Halter is not only going to be the sole freshman playing a pivotal role on this team. There's not even a 2nd year player who will be firmly in the rotation. It's all 3rd, 4th, 5th year players, with one (Kayla Caffey) entering her 7th season. I do think they'll continue to work in Kahahawai into the rotation, but given Phillips' dominant performance from the right side last night, it's tough to see someone taking that from her, and Skinner appears just as ensconced as the LH in the 3 rotations opposite of Eggleston. 

Neither Caffey nor Bergmark separated themselves from one another. Against Rice it was obvious Bergmark's best linkage is with former club teammate Ewert, but SKT took a pitbull bite on to the starting setter role against Ohio State, so I don't know if that will be any help. It's only one match, so we'll see. 

O'Neal was outstanding as the MB. Her slide looks in midseason form. She was terrific on the block, regularly making an impact even when she wasn't getting touches. 

Akana isn't using as aggressive a serve as she did last year. I don't know if that gets ratcheted up or not. Eggleston is the only one on the team with a physically imposing serve, which is not what I expected going into the season. I thought this would be a murderer's row of servers. What the team showed me against Rice they repeated here. There seems to be a move to keep the serves in the court more so than get the opponent out of system. Not that they don't want both, but last year the emphasis was on the latter, while against Rice and Ohio State it's been more on the former. To my eye at least. 

Which brings me to the most shocking development. No Melanie Parra sighting. Her Mexican National Team fans are livid on social media, especially IG. To me it feels like Pilar Victoria all over again. Not sure Elliott should recruit any more 6' under OHes. He brings in a conveyor belt of physical 6'2/6'3/6'4 OHes who can leap out of the gym. I know he had Amy Neal, but it was almost an accident she got the starting nod, and that was a long time ago. Theoretically she should have a clear shot at OH if she sticks around for next year, but realistically the portal still exists; Skinner, Kahahawai and Phillips will all still be on the team; and there are 3 acclaimed pins coming in as freshmen that better fit Elliott's ideal mold for his attackers. There's a part of me that wonders if they'll preserve her eligibility this season so she can use it at her next destination. She'd start at 90% of the schools out there. She'd start for Ohio State, for example. 

In any case, they brought in Ewert as a serving sub, who doesn't have nearly the serve Parra does, although it does have some funky spin that seems to give defenders some issues. However, bringing Ewert in as a serving sub keeps her engaged without having to switch his setters, so that SKT can continue to build up reps with her teammates against a quality foe. And while Parra has eligibility left, Ewert does not. 

I'm not going to lie. The whole thing feels weird to me. But Parra is just in a bad situation. She's not as good in the back row as Halter or Akana. She's not as good on the pin as Eggleston/Skinner/Phillips/Kahahawai. She's something of a liability on the block compared to them. We're not looking for a back row attack from anyone other than Eggleston (although I wish we'd try to incorporate Skinner more there). There's no room at the inn if Ewert is going to be the serving sub. If you're any kind of fan of Parra, and I am, it sucks. But that's life in the big city. Don't come to Texas if you're afraid of getting recruited over. Because chances are Elliott will do his best to do so. Not as something personal, but he's always trying to make the team better, and he has the recruiting chops to do so.

They told a story last night that Skinner told Elliott when he contacted her she had no desire to go back to the state of Texas. She was looking to the West Coast - UCLA specifically. He begged her to give him one shot to have a conversation with her. She came on campus for a visit, and the rest was history. She was blown away by the whole experience. No players or students on campus, and that was still what happened. The players who come for a big game at Gregory Gym have almost no chance. That's where we nailed all our big recruits last year against Stanford. A week later and our recruiting class was basically all committed. We don't actually have the room for this coming class, but I still expect Minnesota at home to receive the big recruiting push. 

Of the matches I watched yesterday, which included all or part of USD/Pitt, Colgate/Stanford, a phone camera tape of Baylor/Minnesota, and GT/Ole Miss, Texas/Ohio State provided BY FAR the highest level of volleyball played. Ohio State was in each set until the very end. That was as competitive of a sweep as you're going to see. 

I'm hoping to come out on top tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Ohio State pulls it out. They'll have the chance and the higher motivation to make the more effective adjustments. But man, if we can go 2-0 playing like we did last night, it would be something else. 

I can't believe we actually have an elite back court. I mean, I can't believe it. 

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