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Post by eyeroll2021 on Oct 21, 2024 9:06:04 GMT -5
I get that so much change occurs during a volleyball season such as players being hot/cold, different lineups/combinations, etc. So, we start the season in a 5-1 offense, and Devin Kahahawai is not a starter. We switch to a 6-2 offense, and Devin is added to the starting lineup where she has played very well. In today's game thread and this one, I see one or two Texas posters asking we return to a 5-1 offense with Carlson setting and Devin over Reagan as the starting Opposite. A few matches ago, Reagan was the pin hitter with the highest hitting percentage; she's had two (or three?) off matches in a row now, while Devin is finding her groove. Do folks really think we should revert back to a 5-1 offense at this point in the season? I mean, I get that there were struggles in today's match by Swindle and Rutherford; but, dang, changing the offense because of one match? a 6-2 will not win us a national championship. a consistent setter with good location, a great serve, and now a pretty solid connection with all hitters needs to be on the floor at all times and that is Averi. i understand the blocking weakness, but teams have made FF’s with shorter blocks. i think it wouldnt do any harm to at least revert to a 5-1 for an entire match & see where it gets us. averi won us the wisco match as the starting setter — why not try it again? Just a reminder that before 2022, we lost 3 national championships in a row in part because of short setters getting abused on the block. Twice with Chloe Collins, once with Jhenna Gabriel. Also, can we relax a little bit - yes the first set collapse against Georgia was utterly shambolic and traumatic. But we won the remaining sets -19 -20 -18 on a day when Madi and Reagan both struggled. That's dominant. Two matches ago (vs. Kentucky), Rutherford hit .438 and Swindle had 17 assists vs. Carlson at 9. There are ebbs and flows, not everyone is hot every match. The strength of the 6-2 is that we can have 1 or 2 starters have an off day and still put out a win
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Post by mln59 on Oct 21, 2024 9:22:44 GMT -5
a 6-2 will not win us a national championship. a consistent setter with good location, a great serve, and now a pretty solid connection with all hitters needs to be on the floor at all times and that is Averi. i understand the blocking weakness, but teams have made FF’s with shorter blocks. i think it wouldnt do any harm to at least revert to a 5-1 for an entire match & see where it gets us. averi won us the wisco match as the starting setter — why not try it again? Just a reminder that before 2022, we lost 3 national championships in a row in part because of short setters getting abused on the block. Twice with Chloe Collins, once with Jhenna Gabriel. Also, can we relax a little bit - yes the first set collapse against Georgia was utterly shambolic and traumatic. But we won the remaining sets -19 -20 -18 on a day when Madi and Reagan both struggled. That's dominant. Two matches ago (vs. Kentucky), Rutherford hit .438 and Swindle had 17 assists vs. Carlson at 9. There are ebbs and flows, not everyone is hot every match. The strength of the 6-2 is that we can have 1 or 2 starters have an off day and still put out a win bonus points for "shambolic"
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Post by horns1 on Oct 21, 2024 9:28:16 GMT -5
a 6-2 will not win us a national championship. a consistent setter with good location, a great serve, and now a pretty solid connection with all hitters needs to be on the floor at all times and that is Averi. i understand the blocking weakness, but teams have made FF’s with shorter blocks. i think it wouldnt do any harm to at least revert to a 5-1 for an entire match & see where it gets us. averi won us the wisco match as the starting setter — why not try it again? Just a reminder that before 2022, we lost 3 national championships in a row in part because of short setters getting abused on the block. Twice with Chloe Collins, once with Jhenna Gabriel. Since Jerritt arrived at Texas, he has been infatuated with the "tall" setter. He signed 6'2 Jenny Andrew right away, but she was beaten out a year later by the 5'10 Michelle Moriarty who ended up being a 4-year starter at Texas. (NOTE: I didn't know Andrew was the Associate Head Coach at Houston). In 2008, we had 5'10 true freshman Michelle Kocher guide Texas to its first Final Four under Jerritt. I was really surprised Jerritt signed Chloe Collins based on her lack of height; I think the plan was for her to be part of a 6-2 offense with 6'2 Nicole Dalton, but injuries to Dalton prevented that other than one season (2014?). Jerritt has forever wanted to have 3 attackers in the front row all match. Hannah Allison was listed at 5'11 and she helped win the title in 2012. Surprisingly, Jerritt passe on 6'1 Stephanie Aiple from nearby Round Rock who came from a Longhorn family. I believe her relative posted on here that they were told by the staff that Texas was not planning to sign a setter that recruiting class; Aiple went to A&M where she was named SEC POY one season. That was one of our staff's bigger misses, IMO. We all know that 6'2 Ashley Shook didn't have success at Texas and was beaten out by the 5'8 Jhenna Gabriel. Saige was listed at 6'0 and probably one of the most physical setters we've had at Texas. And, last season the 6'3 freshman, Ella Swindle finally gave Elliott his first national title with a "tall" setter. All that history just to say I don't know how "tall" the setter has to be to win a national title; perhaps it's more about blocking technique and the 5'11 Averi Carlson isn't strong with that skill. Nebraska's Bergen Reilly is 6'1, but I'm not sure how good of a blocker she is; but, she's very good at everything else.
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Post by hookem24 on Oct 21, 2024 11:37:56 GMT -5
a 6-2 will not win us a national championship. a consistent setter with good location, a great serve, and now a pretty solid connection with all hitters needs to be on the floor at all times and that is Averi. i understand the blocking weakness, but teams have made FF’s with shorter blocks. i think it wouldnt do any harm to at least revert to a 5-1 for an entire match & see where it gets us. averi won us the wisco match as the starting setter — why not try it again? You are contradicting yourself as to your objective for the team's ceiling. Lots of teams have made the Final Four with a 2-setter offense, as well. i didnt say FF was our ceiling, but given that getting to the FF is the only way to win the national championship, i would say the point i made still stands. lets not get mixed up in semantics. and of those FF teams with 6-2's which one (in recent years) has won the national championship? or better yet, made the national championship game?
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Post by hookem24 on Oct 21, 2024 11:42:59 GMT -5
a 6-2 will not win us a national championship. a consistent setter with good location, a great serve, and now a pretty solid connection with all hitters needs to be on the floor at all times and that is Averi. i understand the blocking weakness, but teams have made FF’s with shorter blocks. i think it wouldnt do any harm to at least revert to a 5-1 for an entire match & see where it gets us. averi won us the wisco match as the starting setter — why not try it again? Just a reminder that before 2022, we lost 3 national championships in a row in part because of short setters getting abused on the block. Twice with Chloe Collins, once with Jhenna Gabriel. Also, can we relax a little bit - yes the first set collapse against Georgia was utterly shambolic and traumatic. But we won the remaining sets -19 -20 -18 on a day when Madi and Reagan both struggled. That's dominant. Two matches ago (vs. Kentucky), Rutherford hit .438 and Swindle had 17 assists vs. Carlson at 9. There are ebbs and flows, not everyone is hot every match. The strength of the 6-2 is that we can have 1 or 2 starters have an off day and still put out a win chloe collins was 5'6-5'7 and jhenna was 5'8. averi is 5'11. i truly believe had this staff rolled with averi from the start to let her develop connections with hitters, get her blocking groove, and continue to attack on 2, we would be in a different spot right now. im *fine* with the 6-2, but i dont think its our best lineup. i was there to witness both of the chloe collins natty games, i understand what a short block can do. she was barely 5'7.
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Post by hookem24 on Oct 21, 2024 11:45:26 GMT -5
madison lilley (i know, not an apples to apples comparison as she was literally my GOAT for years) was 5'11. it CAN be done.
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Post by basil on Oct 21, 2024 11:58:35 GMT -5
It’s not just about the height, it’s also the physicality
Id wager Averi barely gets up higher than Jhenna did. I think the 6-2 as of right now is letting us leverage the best out of our roster right now, and I’m confident Ella and Reagan will find what they had against Florida and Kentucky. I liked letting Devin and Averi stay in for that half rotation after Devin served so that we had a back row option. Main question is whether we actually use that backrow option
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Post by wvbfan2024 on Oct 21, 2024 11:59:53 GMT -5
Well my original question set off a discussion, that was not my intent. I was asking about giving some of the younger players a few rotations, not an entire set or game. Akana, Wennas, and Skinner will be gone next year, and with the short ramp up to the season, I wondered about the philosophy of not getting them in the game when it seems safe to do so. I have no doubt Rutherford will bounce back. Specifically Emerick/Ramirez and Tompkinson,as they looked great during the spring and summer play. I'm trying to learn more from you guys.
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Post by hookem24 on Oct 21, 2024 12:03:11 GMT -5
if i keep seeing sets like i have from ella all year (mind you, she has one of the highest bad set rates out of all top 50 teams), i will stick with my 5-1 with averi agenda. sorry.
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Post by eotexas5 on Oct 21, 2024 12:03:23 GMT -5
a 6-2 will not win us a national championship. a consistent setter with good location, a great serve, and now a pretty solid connection with all hitters needs to be on the floor at all times and that is Averi. i understand the blocking weakness, but teams have made FF’s with shorter blocks. i think it wouldnt do any harm to at least revert to a 5-1 for an entire match & see where it gets us. averi won us the wisco match as the starting setter — why not try it again? Just a reminder that before 2022, we lost 3 national championships in a row in part because of short setters getting abused on the block. Twice with Chloe Collins, once with Jhenna Gabriel. Also, can we relax a little bit - yes the first set collapse against Georgia was utterly shambolic and traumatic. But we won the remaining sets -19 -20 -18 on a day when Madi and Reagan both struggled. That's dominant. Two matches ago (vs. Kentucky), Rutherford hit .438 and Swindle had 17 assists vs. Carlson at 9. There are ebbs and flows, not everyone is hot every match. The strength of the 6-2 is that we can have 1 or 2 starters have an off day and still put out a win To be fair, Collins beat that almost exact same Nebraska team one year later in the national semifinals. Hot take: if that 2015 match isn't in Omaha, I suspect the outcome might've been different. Just my opinion though
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Post by hookem24 on Oct 21, 2024 12:04:30 GMT -5
Just a reminder that before 2022, we lost 3 national championships in a row in part because of short setters getting abused on the block. Twice with Chloe Collins, once with Jhenna Gabriel. Also, can we relax a little bit - yes the first set collapse against Georgia was utterly shambolic and traumatic. But we won the remaining sets -19 -20 -18 on a day when Madi and Reagan both struggled. That's dominant. Two matches ago (vs. Kentucky), Rutherford hit .438 and Swindle had 17 assists vs. Carlson at 9. There are ebbs and flows, not everyone is hot every match. The strength of the 6-2 is that we can have 1 or 2 starters have an off day and still put out a win To be fair, Collins beat that almost exact same Nebraska team one year later in the national semifinals. Hot take: if that 2015 match isn't in Omaha, I suspect the outcome might've been different. Just my opinion though i almost said this but didnt -- thank you lol
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Post by horns1 on Oct 21, 2024 12:05:55 GMT -5
You are contradicting yourself as to your objective for the team's ceiling. Lots of teams have made the Final Four with a 2-setter offense, as well. I didnt say FF was our ceiling, but given that getting to the FF is the only way to win the national championship, i would say the point i made still stands. lets not get mixed up in semantics. and of those FF teams with 6-2's which one (in recent years) has won the national championship? or better yet, made the national championship game? You stated that "a 6-2 offense will not win us a national championship". So, that means reaching the Final Four, or being national runner up is our ceiling according to you.
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Post by storyteller on Oct 21, 2024 12:06:31 GMT -5
Hot take: if that 2015 match isn't in Omaha, I suspect the outcome might've been different. Just my opinion though We share this opinion
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Post by eyeroll2021 on Oct 21, 2024 12:37:55 GMT -5
I didnt say FF was our ceiling, but given that getting to the FF is the only way to win the national championship, i would say the point i made still stands. lets not get mixed up in semantics. and of those FF teams with 6-2's which one (in recent years) has won the national championship? or better yet, made the national championship game? You stated that "a 6-2 offense will not win us a national championship". So, that means reaching the Final Four, or being national runner up is our ceiling according to you. I will just also point out that a 6-2 offense made the Final Four last year. Between Texas and Louisville, it's likely to happen again this year.
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Post by horns1 on Oct 21, 2024 12:43:54 GMT -5
It is definitely entertaining to see so many posters with different opinions on our offense, starters, subs, etc. Most seem to change their opinions with every match and sometimes every set.
Had we not switched to the 6-2, we'd never have seen Devin blossom before our eyes. Our young, inexperienced middles are also benefiting from this change, IMO. Even though Rutherford has been off the last 2 matches, I don't think the 6-2 has been a negative for any of our players' individual results since the match at Baylor. Our overall team blocking also seems to have progressed.
According to Jerritt, the 6-2 was not practiced until a couple of days after we lost at Stanford; so, around September 16. That means barely a month of practice time compared to August and half of September practicing a 5-1 offense. To read posters wanting to ditch the 6-2 and go back to 5-1 just seems so premature; I'm honestly not sure what's triggering it as the overall results since mid-September speak for themselves.
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