For Texas what I saw in the first weekend was a lot of confusion. People love to point to UT's 17 service errors against Long Beach State, but honestly those were immaterial regarding the outcome. A bigger problem were soft serves in the last two sets that Long Beach completely crushed for points.
Too much of Swindle trying for first contact when she should have allowed a teammate to get it. Too much of players stepping into Swindle's space to set on second contact. A chinese fire drill for possession after possession. Passing wasn't the problem as much as terrible execution after that, and a woeful transition game which has always been a program strength, if not THE strength.
Personally I didn't think it was possible they'd be able to clean it up for Minnesota, but they did. Plenty of room to improve in all areas, but at least they looked like they'd played together in Maturi Pavilion, whereas in the Walter Pyramid they looked like they got together for a pickup game.
The block looks very solid to maybe really good. This shouldn't be surprising except that Texas got off to such a rough start in that category last year. This year it looks like a team strength out of the gate, which is nice.
It's hard to tell how good Texas serving is this year. It looked great against Minnesota, but that's because they relentlessly targeted Landfair to great effect, and Minnesota failed to make any real adjustments. Stanford won't have the same issue.
IMO Texas has some issues at the pins. I don't want to exaggerate things. As fans we've been spoiled by uber elite left pins for years. I think Skinner has the athleticism and potential to get there, but IMO she's not quite there just yet. I think she was helped by being the second pin behind Eggleston last year. As the go to pin she's just not in the same league. I mean, who is, right? But if Texas is going to have their best chance to head to the Final Four again and defend their crown, Skinner has another level to reach this year. Wenaas has played well as a shotty pin. She can crank it when she gets a great set, but she loves to take something off to put the ball where they ain't.
Phillips is Phillips. She's very reliable, and Elliott knows what he's going to get when he has her on the court. She's a great team leader, and that diminishes if she's on the bench. But I can't help but wonder what Texas would look like for the post season if Kahahawai was able to take that spot at some point this year. Don't know if it will happen or not. She did nothing to lose her job against Minnesota, and that was pretty stiff competition, so we'll see how she fares versus Cardinal.
O'Neal looks fabulous. I hope to see her incorporated even more as the season goes on. So happy the ankle injury didn't take her out of the lineup for too long. Well worth a loss to Long Beach if it means she was able to fully recover and it's not a lingering issue for the rest of the season.
ay2013 likes to talk about how she wouldn't have made a difference in that match, pointing to the 15 point differential, but one set was won by 9 points. The other two sets were 3 point differences a piece. Talking about the match as a 15 point differential is misleading. I'm not saying O'Neal's presence would have meant a Texas victory. There were serious issues evident against both LBSU and LMU that she couldn't have fixed. But I'm not as easily persuaded that she couldn't have been the difference, either.
In any case, win against Stanford and that loss to Long Beach matters a lot less.
Bergmark, Phillips, and Singletary have all been the 2nd middle blocker. Bergmark has it while O'Neal is healthy, but Elliott values Phillips being on the floor so much, it wouldn't surprise me if she loses her job if Kahahawai is inserted more at the right pin. Not saying I agree, but I wouldn't be surprised by it. Bergmark looks good as a second middle blocker in both defense and attack. Just needs more opportunities.
Singletary is obviously the odd player out. Doubt she sees much time the rest of the season unless someone gets hurt. She played some early and had some success in blocking, but it's clear to me Elliott prefers both Bergmark and Phillips over her.
In the backcourt Halter is the star. I consider her the best player at her position compared to her peers in college volleyball of any one on the roster. I think she's highly underrated at this point, but I feel comfortable in saying that won't be the case next year. I will say I think she's going to make an all american list, even if it's 3rd team. There are so many talented liberos in college volleyball right now. Heck, the Big 12 alone has some players I consider burgeoning superstars. But I don't think Halter has to take a back seat to any of them. Players like Rodriguez, Scott, Oglivie et al all deserve the recognition ahead of Halter, but come next year I bet she's mentioned as one of the best in the country in preseason. She's truly phenomenal and everything you could ask for as a libero. Against Minnesota she passed a 2.77! with 27 attempts! And that wasn't because the Gophers were targeted her. She's just a flat out thief, including 4 year starting libero Barnes as the victim. She's taken Fleck's attitude last year to heart. If the ball crosses the net to the Texas side, it's Halter's ball is her attitude. Love love love her.
Speaking of Barnes, she didn't get to campus until the summer, after using the spring to finish her courses and graduate from A&M CC while playing beach in the spring semester. It shows. But I feel like things are starting to come together for her. She's been good on the service line, if not great. We have success as a team when she's there. I think her effectiveness there can still improve as the season goes along. To me she's the primary back row player after Halter.
Akana looks terrific as well. Still looking for her to up her game at the service line. I'm also used to seeing her cover more balls last year than she has this year. That seemed to be a strength for her last season. I've been a little disappointed with Texas overall in that category in the early going. But that's easily something that can improve over the course of the year.
Finally we have Swindle. I love Swindle. I think she's going to leave a huge mark at Texas during her four year. She has a great block. A wicked serve that's only going to get better. She's tall. She moves well for a tall player. She shows great effort. She obviously wants to set the middle. There are timing and location issues, but to be honest, that's pretty normal for a Texas setter. Even SKT struggled in the early going last year. Texas runs a bit of a funky offense compared to what setters are used to when they get to campus, and the only solution is reps and more reps. You can see Swindle still feeling her way through things, but Minnesota was a big step up. No more lunging for first contact when a teammate was in a better position. No more teammates stealing second contact from her in an effort to help, when they need to learn to trust Swindle more. I also think Swindle doesn't have the pin attacks Texas had last year, especially Honey Badger Eggleston, who was as good at turning chicken sh1t possessions into chicken salad as anyone in the country.
Overall really excited for the matchup and to see how each team does. This isn't going to make or break either team's season, but with both squads coming into this match with a loss, it creates a little more urgency than would be there if they were both undefeated.
Oh, and another thing. Minor worries - not serious mind you, but they exist - regarding extra distraction and extra pressure with the national championship gala tonight, the banner being hung prior to the match on Sunday, and the big recruiting weekend (only committed recruits). The early morning tip is more of an issue for Stanford coming from the west coast than Texas, but it's still something that both teams will need to adjust to.
Also, I won't be able to catch the match live, much to my chagrin. I'll have to depend on DVR - just like I did for Minnesota - to catch this one. I'll check for scores at different times when I'm able to, but it won't be until later in the afternoon that I'll actually be able to watch. Such is life.
Any thoughts?
