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Post by hopefuldawg on Sept 15, 2024 20:26:22 GMT -5
There's no might to it. If this team plays like they did today, Baylor will win. lol there is 0 chance Baylor thumps them Yeah, Baylor isn't putting the kind of pressure on Texas that Stanford just did lol
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Post by Stargazer on Sept 15, 2024 20:36:07 GMT -5
Texas fans, when was the last time the Horns were ranked outside of the top 10? I believe I found the answer and it’s Week 4 of the 2010 season 😳 The Horns fell to Stanford 0-3 and Florida 2-3 at the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic in Gainesville, and then were swept by Texas A&M in College Station for their Big 12 opener. They bounced back with a sweep over Baylor in Austin, but the Horns began Week 4 ranked #12 They re-entered the top 10 in Week 8 of the 2010 season and have remained there ever since
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Post by anastasia1 on Sept 15, 2024 20:39:38 GMT -5
well i just watched the game…
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Post by utvballfan on Sept 15, 2024 20:52:18 GMT -5
Well I'm glass-half-full today. I liked things I saw today.
Ella was doing Ella things: getting everybody stoked (see set 3!), pulling the team together. Of course it's still a work in progress with all the change.
Ayden hit .500. And I really liked the energy and athleticism from Whitney; with her experience she could really contribute to the team with her play and maturity.
Also we matched them in blocking. There were flashes of really gritty play and patches of strong serving.
Look, Stanford is 7-0 and played out of their brains today. Fine.
Mari and Ayden need to be battle hardened in more matches. You don't replace the talent and experience of Asjia and Bella overnight.
Don't forget we beat a good Wisconsin team, could have beat Minnesota.
It'll come.
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Post by horns1 on Sept 15, 2024 21:03:48 GMT -5
We lost 5th senior starters in Asja, Bella, Molly, and Carissa; you didn't expect a fall off? That's half the lineup. We were very fortunate to bring in Rutherford, Whitney, and Carlson. But, not bringing in an experienced transfer middle blocker is the biggest head scratcher, followed by not bringing in an experienced transfer DS. Young (raw) talent is great to have; but, it's very inexperienced and can't hold a candle to 5th year seniors. I never said I didn't expect a fall-off. Of course a team in early September isn't going to look as good as the previous team in December. But in 2023 we were replacing the setter, libero, and go-to outside—not just key positions, but important leaders on the court. Because of that, I expected last season to have a lot of growing pains. That's what I meant by work-in-progress. Based on who was returning this year—starting setter, libero, both OHs, and another primary passer in Akana—and the extra practice the team got on the European trip, I thought things would look cleaner to start the season. Not Championshion level by any means, but I don't think it's unreasonable that I expected less of a mess at the beginning.
I may be in the minority, but I'm okay with not getting a 5th year middle. If we got one, we'd have the same problem next year, but we'd also have inexperienced starting pins. Ames already does so many of the little things right—things that made a player like Bella Bergmark such an asset to the team. And Singletary is going to be such a force. Both of them need reps, and unfortunately they had to face some experienced setters in Shaffmaster and Miner to start the season.
But yeah, I'm with you on the DS. My guess is it was a harder sell once Halter balled out in the Final Four. Barnes transferred when there wasn't a proven libero, so she got to compete for the role. I feel like anyone who transferred in this year would be coming in expecting to be a DS. We didn't play well to start the 2023 season, remember? And, that was with all those 5th year seniors. Yes, Asjia was injured. But, losing to Long Beach and getting swept at home by Stanford was more of a "mess" to me than this season. I think some posters expected this team to just pick up where the 2023 squad ended with 3 incredible post-season matches even though we have 4 senior starters to replace. So, starting out slow this season doesn't seem so unexpected to me considering we started out slow last season, and we are so much younger at MB this season.
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Post by anastasia1 on Sept 15, 2024 21:23:16 GMT -5
i say give the set 3 lineup a chance it was working
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Post by asdf27 on Sept 15, 2024 21:47:09 GMT -5
i say give the set 3 lineup a chance it was working the end of set 3 you saw a little glimpse into the fight and energy this team could bring. It’s a matter of finding that from first serve and sustaining that throughout the entire match. I also think JE needs to really see that hey if a player is struggling sub them out, don’t wait until the score is too far out of reach to make a change. There came a point in the first or even the second I don’t know where hitters were struggling and the broadcast had a view of the Texas bench and I thought, “so we are going to leave all these good players capable of gaining momentum on the bench while the starters are struggling? okay” JE has too much experience to not have subbed in at least someone early on
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Post by hookem24 on Sept 15, 2024 21:56:26 GMT -5
id like to see averi start on wednesday — the supposed strengths ella brings to the table dont outweigh the location issues and we saw that today.
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Post by storyteller on Sept 15, 2024 22:34:34 GMT -5
I never said I didn't expect a fall-off. Of course a team in early September isn't going to look as good as the previous team in December. But in 2023 we were replacing the setter, libero, and go-to outside—not just key positions, but important leaders on the court. Because of that, I expected last season to have a lot of growing pains. That's what I meant by work-in-progress. Based on who was returning this year—starting setter, libero, both OHs, and another primary passer in Akana—and the extra practice the team got on the European trip, I thought things would look cleaner to start the season. Not Championshion level by any means, but I don't think it's unreasonable that I expected less of a mess at the beginning.
I may be in the minority, but I'm okay with not getting a 5th year middle. If we got one, we'd have the same problem next year, but we'd also have inexperienced starting pins. Ames already does so many of the little things right—things that made a player like Bella Bergmark such an asset to the team. And Singletary is going to be such a force. Both of them need reps, and unfortunately they had to face some experienced setters in Shaffmaster and Miner to start the season.
But yeah, I'm with you on the DS. My guess is it was a harder sell once Halter balled out in the Final Four. Barnes transferred when there wasn't a proven libero, so she got to compete for the role. I feel like anyone who transferred in this year would be coming in expecting to be a DS. We didn't play well to start the 2023 season, remember? And, that was with all those 5th year seniors. Yes, Asjia was injured. But, losing to Long Beach and getting swept at home by Stanford was more of a "mess" to me than this season. I think some posters expected this team to just pick up where the 2023 squad ended with 3 incredible post-season matches even though we have 4 senior starters to replace. So, starting out slow this season doesn't seem so unexpected to me considering we started out slow last season, and we are so much younger at MB this season. I also think the team looks better now than they did at this point last season. I'm not down on them whatsoever, just the opposite! That's why my original post was expressing my excitement about some changes we saw today, not lamenting the results so far. I definitely didn't expect them to pick up where they left off in 2023. I'm not even sure the 2023 team could if they had to play another game last December. That 3-game run was nothing short of iconic, and I don't know if we'll see something like that again. But I do have high hopes for this 2024 team!
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Post by widdledumpling on Sept 15, 2024 23:02:59 GMT -5
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Post by nederlander on Sept 15, 2024 23:37:17 GMT -5
It was inevitable that Lauenstein would replace Wenaas in the front row if she wasn’t redshirting. I think that change should stick. If Wenaas isn’t attacking out of the back row, I’d like to see Carlson get a shot at DS and serving specialist. The team could really use her serve. Those two changes would give the team at lest four excellent servers in Akana, Halter, Lauenstein, and Carlson. But what do I know.
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Post by Longhorn20 on Sept 15, 2024 23:44:13 GMT -5
It was inevitable that Lauenstein would replace Wenaas in the front row if she wasn’t redshirting. I think that change should stick. If Wenaas isn’t attacking out of the back row, I’d like to see Carlson get a shot at DS and serving specialist. The team could really use her serve. Those two changes would give the team at lest four excellent servers in Akana, Halter, Lauenstein, and Carlson. But what do I know. Except one of Akana or Carlson would be instead of Lauenstein
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Post by tristen on Sept 16, 2024 0:05:57 GMT -5
Maybe sub in Parra…she might be able to help especially from the back row..oops nvm
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Post by dl3ww on Sept 16, 2024 3:32:11 GMT -5
id like to see averi start on wednesday — the supposed strengths ella brings to the table dont outweigh the location issues and we saw that today. Have we been watching the same Carlson? Both setters have been iffy with the location, one of them just can set our best hitter better than the other.. (it also looks like Swindle connects with Reagan better too)
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Post by andrewwmic on Sept 16, 2024 6:37:59 GMT -5
Maybe sub in Parra…she might be able to help especially from the back row..oops nvm Back row? She may be leading the team in the front row at this point…
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