2024 Volleyball: SEC, here comes Daddy

[idigTexas 2288]

1 hour ago, Rickylovesweed said:

I think this start is a good thing much like last year. 

Now they know they can't simply coast through the year and must improve. Last year's 2-2 start was a wakeup call for everyone. 

I agree.  we don't need to play our best at the beginning of the year.  Let's spend this part of the season figuring out what works.  We'll be ready when it matters.  

[Js1 85338]

Texas drops to 6th in the AVCA poll

Pitt
Stanford
PSU
Louisville
Nebraska

Wisconsin 8
Kentucky 10
Florida 13
Tennessee 16
Baylor 18
Minnesota 19
Miami 20
Arkansas 22

Auburn and Georgia RV

[Pogo 284]

Also team Swindle.  Carlson needs to be a significant offensive upgrade from Ella in order to make up for the defensive liability, but she just isn't.  She panicked in the 5th set and only set Madi while their defense was ready every time.  Then UM's pins hit over like her block wasn't even there.

[Js1 85338]

15 minutes ago, Pogo said:

Also team Swindle.  Carlson needs to be a significant offensive upgrade from Ella in order to make up for the defensive liability, but she just isn't.  She panicked in the 5th set and only set Madi while their defense was ready every time.  Then UM's pins hit over like her block wasn't even there.

Yep. Our middles are still too young so they’re late sometimes. So in the front row, you have inexperienced middles and a short setter 

[Js1 85338]

On 9/8/2024 at 11:23 AM, wood said:

Which way is she missing? In/out/up/down/off/tight, or just all over the place? I thought she seemed to be setting Maddy too tight fairly regularly vs Minny. And yeah, I've been saying since last year that Jenna should only play back row when absolutely necessary.

Madi was all over the place - too tight (blocked) or kept hitting long.  Madi is hitting .186 to start the year.  At this point, Elliot is destroying her NPOY chances. Jenna ain't much better at .188.  

At this point, just stick with Ella - she has the chemistry with Madi already and let her spend the time gaining the reps with Mari, Ayden, Reagan.  We are not going to win many matches if we don't get better OH production from Jenna and Madi. 

We are the youngest we've been in the middles in a LONG time - Mari has 23 sets played prior to this year, Ames with 0.  Like, I am glad Asjia came back last year, but it stunted Mari's growth and left us very inexperienced in the middle.  Same with not landing Blackwell out of San Diego.  Like I said, they are late constantly or jumping too early.  Which means sometimes we are leaving our OHs or S on an island - and Carlson is a juicy target there. 

[wood 11225]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Madi was all over the place - too tight (blocked) or kept hitting long.  Madi is hitting .186 to start the year.  At this point, Elliot is destroying her NPOY chances. Jenna ain't much better at .188.  

At this point, just stick with Ella - she has the chemistry with Madi already and let her spend the time gaining the reps with Mari, Ayden, Reagan.  We are not going to win many matches if we don't get better OH production from Jenna and Madi.  

Kinda what I thought too, but I haven't seen as many of our sets this year as y'all have. I thought Carlson's set location was supposed to be her strength, and that was supposed to be why there's a setting competition right now in the first place, but so far I haven't seen that consistency materialize. She obviously puts up a weaker block than Ella. Add that to the inexperienced middles, and it gets ugly in a hurry. I don't see that she's bringing enough with her setting to offset that, and like you said, Ella already has chemistry with Madi and others. Also, I'm not sure why my fingers spelled it 'Maddy' instead of 'Madi' earlier. That is not what I told them to do.

Edited September 10 by wood

[Js1 85338]

SMU just swept Baylor. Look at them go! 

[Js1 85338]

Swindle starting tonight!

[Js1 85338]

Look night and day better with Swindle. Just saying 

[Js1 85338]

25-19 Texas

1-0

[Js1 85338]

ESPN *really* talking up Swindle

[ATXbronco 4065]

Swindle looks more toned this year too.  

 

That one Cougar with the black eye is good.
 

[Js1 85338]

Sweep. Just start Swindle 

[TexasDPT 297]

Having Swindle at setter helps with putting up a solid block on the right pin and keeps the opposing defense on their heels since she can attack on second contact when she's in the front row. 

Most importantly, she can set Madi the way she needs to in order to terminate the ball from both the front and back rows. When Madi is hitting efficiently, then the ball can be spread around more to the other hitters because the defense won't be able to camp out on her. 

The only thing Ella really, really needs to work on is setting in front of the MBs to run quick/gap/31 attacks from the middle... that's the one thing Carlson is so much better at... but I'll take that deficiency if the pins can produce like tonight.

With the setter issue hopefully solved, the coaches can now focus on Mari and Ayden's blocking. Both are still slow in reading the setter and therefore, are so slow in closing the blocks. It's gonna be a rough ride until they both get more experience and playing time. 

I'm still not a fan of Jenna playing back row, but she's serviceable. She has that spot locked down unless one of the DS's can step up their play.

[Js1 85338]

Yeah, we are going to have to live with the growing pains of Ames/Mari. 

But going back to last night and our hitters seeing Swindle for 3 full sets - 

Rutherford .579
Madi .300
Wenaas .360
Ames. 400
Singletary .222 (but 6 blocks)

At this point, just give them the reps with Swindle and let the rest work out itself.  We are asking our hitters to adjust to two different setters and not only that, but our middles are both still learning the position and blocking AND adjusting to two different setters.  Take away one of those things where all they have to do is get their blocking down and chemistry with just Swindle. 

[shadow_operative2.0 15984]

We agree with DPT’s post. 

[Pogo 284]

29 minutes ago, Js1 said:

we are going to have to live with the growing pains of Ames/Mari. 

This should be a perfectly acceptable course of action.  We did it last year with Swindle.  They will have fewer growing pains with only 1 setter.  Hopefully, that will be the case going forward.  If it's that obvious to us, it has to be to JE as well.

[Js1 85338]

Halter is becoming one of my favorite players ever 

 

[perfectchaos007 6642]

Melanie Parra had 30 kills in TCUs win over Minnesota last week. She won’t win it, but I think she’ll be in the conversation for PotY this year. 

[Js1 85338]

We will start on ESPNU against Tree, as Creighton has taken Louisville to 5 after they had a 2-0 lead 

[Js1 85338]

I know the no doubles rule means Emma can set with her hands but I wish she’d just go back to bump setting 

[Dahobbs 17534]

Struggling right now to get anything going. 

[Js1 85338]

4 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Struggling right now to get anything going. 

Ella working on her middle connection a lot this first set 

[Js1 85338]

15-9 Tree

We can’t pass for shit. Again. 

[perfectchaos007 6642]

Time for rotating setters again?

[Dahobbs 17534]

Getting taken apart right now. 

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

We are a football school now 

[Js1 85338]

Just time to accept this team’s ceiling might be Sweet 16 for now 

[Js1 85338]

25-16 Stanford. Just ugly

[perfectchaos007 6642]

Skinner is still in offseason mode. She’s not dialed in at all

[TwiceHorn 31472]

1 minute ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Skinner is still in offseason mode. She’s not dialed in at all

Wenaas too. Although I am thinking her final four performance was more an aberration. 

[Js1 85338]

Bunton and Whitney in

Elliot is flailing with this team 

[perfectchaos007 6642]

After a hot Texas start in set 2, Stanford leads 15-14 at the media timeout. 

[Js1 85338]

This team is bad 

[Cairn Horn88 8264]

I hate to lower my expectations, but I don’t think I have another choice.

[TwiceHorn 31472]

10 minutes ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

I hate to lower my expectations, but I don’t think I have another choice.

I have to remind myself that we can't coast through the B12 while growing the players and chemistry. And keep a high seed. 

Tbh though after about 10 years of fanaticism and wondering if JE would ever turn the corner, I kinda blew my load the last couple of years. Refractory period. 

I also think we have too damn many transfers. 

Edited September 15 by TwiceHorn

[sunset87 240]

Middle block is way late on the pin sets.

[Gut Wagon 8071]

32 minutes ago, Js1 said:

This team is bad 

I don't know the intricacies of the game the way many of you do, but I must agree. Getting run off the court. 

[perfectchaos007 6642]

Swept. 2 more matches to figure shit out until SEC play 

[Js1 85338]

35 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I also think we have too damn many transfers. 

Ironically, not going out and getting a MB and a DS are two of the biggest problems. 

MBs are so raw - late, hitting errors, etc. 

Not getting a DS means backrow Jenna. Her first contact on serve receive is abysmal. She’s being asked to do 2x as much as last year with playing back row rotations and serving

Madi looks uninterested in the sport of volleyball. Like she’s ready to go off to film her next commercial

this team has a huge leadership void. 

[LonghornSean 3998]

Troubling signs but it’s still early.

Let’s hope SEC play lights a fire in the team.

[Steven Avery 19]

Recruited too many chiefs(transfers) and not enough Indians …Elliot got greedy and ruined the team chemistry when you didn’t even need to

[TexasDPT 297]

18 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Ironically, not going out and getting a MB and a DS are two of the biggest problems. 

MBs are so raw - late, hitting errors, etc. 

Not getting a DS means backrow Jenna. Her first contact on serve receive is abysmal. She’s being asked to do 2x as much as last year with playing back row rotations and serving

Madi looks uninterested in the sport of volleyball. Like she’s ready to go off to film her next commercial

this team has a huge leadership void. 

Agree with Jenna’s passing and back row play. She’s just too inconsistent each match.

I actually liked the 3rd set lineup.

But Akana should be Whitney’s DS and play middle back, and Devin should be playing 6 rotations at Opposite. Devin showed she passes well enough on serve receive even when she was being targeted. She would need to improve her right-back defense.

[PhillyD 1257]

Can someone who knows more about volleyball and how rotations work help me out?  I don't understand why Jenna is not subbed out when she's on the back row.  What would be giving up if she were subbed out?  Are they trying to develop her into something?  I'm just not seeing the advantage unless we would be worse without her back there.  If that's the case, can someone explain to me like I'm an idiot why we would be worse off if she were subbed out?

[TexasDPT 297]

1 hour ago, PhillyD said:

Can someone who knows more about volleyball and how rotations work help me out?  I don't understand why Jenna is not subbed out when she's on the back row.  What would be giving up if she were subbed out?  Are they trying to develop her into something?  I'm just not seeing the advantage unless we would be worse without her back there.  If that's the case, can someone explain to me like I'm an idiot why we would be worse off if she were subbed out?

For the past two seasons, Texas has had an elite backrow with three “Littles” (2022: Fleck, Akana, Halter and 2023: Halter, Akana, Barnes). This season, Wenaas has been playing backrow, which has been hurting the team in my opinion. Yes, she is digging up balls defensively, but her backrow play is also putting the team out-of-system in transition. She also has been in serve-receive all 6 rotations, and teams are targeting her because her overall play is notoriously known to break down in high-pressure situations.

I believe the staff have been giving Jenna the starting spot based on her performance in the National Title run last season. But that was more of an aberration than the norm. 

They finally pulled the trigger and played Lauenstein on the front row because Jenna wasn't producing. Unfortunately, Jenna is now DSing for her in the back row, which really doesn't solve the team's need. . . . ball control!

But to answer your question, there is NO reason to have Jenna in the back row. Her ball control/defense is mid and there's no reason to utilize her back row attack because it's not effective. 

Obviously, we are not privy to what goes on in practice, but there are two other DS (defensive specialists) options (Freshmen Emerick and Ramirez) that they are not wanting to utilize. Either Jenna is outplaying them in practice or the coaching staff are being loyal to her in her Sr year. 

[ClubWhatever 12144]

Burn it down.  

[Js1 85338]

Ranked 8th

[Js1 85338]

20 hours ago, TexasDPT said:

They finally pulled the trigger and played Lauenstein on the front row because Jenna wasn't producing. Unfortunately, Jenna is now DSing for her in the back row, which really doesn't solve the team's need. . . . ball control!

 

Yeah, the 3rd set substitutes were basically "Devin will play passing opposite, Whitney will play front row and Jenna will DS for Whitney" 

Meanwhile, former KSU Libero Mackenzie Morris is a DS for Oregon - we should have pushed way harder for her.  She's from Dallas, for goodness sake!  And was willing to DS at Oregon when she was the starting libero at KSU. 

[gsoda3 3262]

Ayden Ames is making mental errors even freshmen shouldn't be making. on defense alone there's identifying the front row setter, setting up off your block... all three sets. Those are easily corrected.  Then there's the harder stuff like recognizing where the sets are going and physically closing out.  I didn't pay attention to her too much on offense but nothing glaring stood out to me there.  I think she just needs confidence and reps with Ella.

[Js1 85338]

3 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

Ayden Ames is making mental errors even freshmen shouldn't be making. on defense alone there's identifying the front row setter, setting up off your block... all three sets. Those are easily corrected.  Then there's the harder stuff like recognizing where the sets are going and physically closing out.  I didn't pay attention to her too much on offense but nothing glaring stood out to me there.  I think she just needs confidence and reps with Ella.

There’s a reason Texas prefers to RS their middle blockers so they can learn collegiate blocking for a year. Really screwed up not landing Blackwell or Goetzinger - not sure if we went after Goetzinger, but she had a Madi and Rutherford connection and would have been a huge addition in the middle so Ames could RS