UT Volleyball Season Opener

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UTVballfan

100+ Posts
The volleyball opener tonight rocked! Seeing the big crowd and seeing the new team come out all pumped up was a great kick off for the new season.

Not to dwell in the past or anything, but losing by two at the end of the 5th set last year was tough. Like, Rascal Flatts tough: “What hurts the most, is being so close, …”

It would have been easy for the team to lay around disheartened, eating “Chocolate Therapy” ice cream by the gallon, or re-creating “Man vs. Food” episodes at Juan in a Million.

But maybe Salima gave them the Ricky Bobby speech. You know, “Here’s what you need to do. You don't need to think. You need to do. You need to go out there, and you need to rev your engine!”

And if so, it worked, ‘cause they bounced back fast, and in fact, showed up in better shape than ever. It worked on Jerritt, too, ‘cause he got off the Ben & Jerry’s “Chubby Hubby,” and could even get his own Subway diet commercial now.

So, yeah, no whiners allowed, and everyone was lean and mean. Amber was killing it on the left and Sha’Dare was too out on the right, and they both doubled up. Rachael and Jen were towering in the middle, and freaked out the Frogs hitters. Juliann was scorching the earth and cracking mountains, as usual, and really ripping her serve, and out back, Sydney did the black jersey proud.

I really like the new players. This frosh Hannah Allison came out and set one of the best teams in the country like it was no biggie. I love the story about how she’s from Arkansas, not exactly known for volleyball, and made up her mind not to just be the best player there, but one of the best anywhere. What a phenomenal attitude and I thought she played very well tonight.

Lauren Dickson is a great add. I last saw her play in San Marcos, where she helped take the Chaps to state finals a couple times, and oh yeah, won it all in 2004.

(Speaking of which, a bunch of the Horns have taken down state championships, not only in volleyball, but basketball and high jump too! All of these girls have snagged trophy bling.)

Haley Cameron looks like she’ll be a monster at the net – overall we can have a great blocking team. I’m looking forward to seeing Ashley Bannister and Sarah Palmer play.

I’m really gonna miss watching Destinee, Ashley and Heather. Destinee we’ll see in the Olympics, and I hope Ashley is still playing somewhere. But looking forward, it’s easy to get excited about the Longhorns this year!
 
Yes, definitely a good way to start off the season and great to see Sha'Dare and Amber both with double-doubles, and Juliann with double-digit kills and 7 service aces. I liked Jerritt's post match comments about getting other squad members more looks in today's matches, including Jen Doris. I think it's important to use Saturday's two contests to see where others, such as Dickson, are at and what they are capable of....it's only two weeks until Stanford and either Penn State or Florida! One thing I think Lauren brings to the squad is maturity, and a good all-around game (led VA in aces and second in digs her junior season, in addition to being the Kill leader); there is obviously no replacing Destinee and Ashley but hopefully Lauren's presence and experience will help make for a smoother transition. The other thing that will be key this season is confidence, in particular in close contests or against top opponents like the Cardinal and Nittany Lions; this is where we'll see how we've adapted to the loss of such dominating personnel. I think this squad has the talent to beat anyone as long as they believe they can, and play without fear.
 
Keep the updates coming for those of us outside of Austin. The Texas Sports site is great but these kind of posts are awesome. Thanks!!!!
 
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UTVBF, welcome back to hornfans!! Last season, great as it was, really lacked something without your commentary on the matches!

Anybody know what's up with the absence of the Longhorn Volleyball Band? Budget cutbacks in the music department, perhaps?

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I would guess the reason they are not there is that school hasn't officially started yet but you are right it's not the same without them.
 
I don't really know what to think about the game tonight. Lots of really weird errors which I'm going to put down to fatigue. Ashley Bannister came in & had some really nice kills. She keeps improving & she might be challenging for a starting position later in the season. I would of liked to have seen both Julie Olschwanger & Sarah Palmer get some minutes. Does anyone know if they got to play in the 2nd game? Overall, a good tournament but still lots of things to work on.

BTW, it was nice to see Bailey sneak in there for awhile. She was moving pretty well for just having had surgery yesterday.
 
I don't think it was fatigue as much as it was Hannah not being able to connect with her hitters from not-so-crisp passing. She's also still trying to find her rhythm with her hitters, especially the quick sets to the MBs and the back sets to McNeal. UH's serving was also creating a lot of out-of-system balls that the Horns were not taking which led to a lot of UH transition points. As a freshman setter, she does a lot of things well... she just needs to be able to set better balls even when the passing breaks down because we don't have a terminating hitter like Hooker anymore who she can just chuck high balls up to and get a kill.

Faucette did a good job at playing that role in the third set, but then again she was going up a pretty small block. She'll have more difficulty doing that when they start going up against bigger opponents.

Bannister came in for Roberson in the third set and produced some kills. I like that she hits more aggressively than Roberson even when there's a double block in front of her. I think Roberson's overall game is better than Bannister's but we need another proficient left side attacker since Faucette is in the backrow and her pipe hitting is fairly inconsistent.

Julie, Haley, and Sarah didn't play in this match. I believe Sarah is recovering from an injury. Lauren Dickson was used a serving specialist for Roberson/Bannister and played backrow for Bannister. It will be interesting to see if Palmer earns the nod over her when she's healthy since she's known for her defense and is also able to hit from the pipe.

We saw a lot of good things from this tournament, but floor defense (picking up tips and slides) and blocking need to improve as well as the transition game... and of course, serve/receive to open up attacking options. Adams needs to be set more! She hits well in front of the setter and can use her vertical to hit lots of different angles.

I'd like to see the hitters aggressively attacking the block more. I was getting tired of seeing a bunch of roll shots and half-powered tentative shots away from the block that were being gobbled up by the defense. And hopefully as the season progresses, Faucette will get her timing down hitting from the pipe to add another viable attack option. Her jump top spin serve is looking good especially when she puts some heat on it.
 
By the way, I loved how the crowd would yell "BOOOOOOM" when Faucette would go up for an attack. I actually think it makes her hit the ball harder!
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The band will be at the next match. Most of the v ball band is also in LHB marching band and they just got back last week and are still getting things sorted a little.....Rice game etc. The atmosphere in Gregory is tops and even better with the band.
 
What happen to M.Kocher the other setter from last year. Is she hurt. I did not see her in any of the highlights
 
Kocher is not hurt. She just hasn't had any playing opportunity because Hannah is a very talented freshman setter who can do things she cannot.

Elliot has been pretty consistent in putting the best players on the court regardless of seniority.

Texas is also running a 5-1 now. I believe that they were going to run a 6-2 before Webster's injury, in which case Kocher would have been utilized as a backrow setter. But they do not have the personnel to do so at this point.
 
It's amazing how fortunate we've been to have such high caliber setters on the squad, and often several at the same time. I recall Jenny Andrews, who was a top recruit and considered one of the country's premier setters, being replaced in the lineup by Michelle Moriarty, who was apparently even better. And then we had Engle and Kocher at the same time, with Kocher doing most of the setting her freshman season (and being named Big12 Freshman of the Year!) and last year Engle was the primary setter, with Kocher a pretty active back-up. And I guess as good as Kocher is, Allison is apparently talented enough to have secured the starting position. We're very lucky to have both of these young women on the squad.
 
Can't believe the coach didn't play Kocher in at least in some of the runaway matches. These kids work really hard in the weight room and at practice. They deserve a chance to play! Come on coach, help to keep the whole team motivated.
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I cant wait to see them play on TV. Especially with a freshman setter. She must be really good.I seen a couple of the highlights of the game. And I like where she sets the ball. She is a little quicker too.
 
When she first committed to Texas, I figured the plan would be for Hannah to redshirt and start seeing limited playing time next year. Not having heard anything from practices, I was surprised to see her starting the opening match. Not only that, she kicked off the season serving on the first play of the first match (and served a 4-0 run before TCU managed a kill on the fifth point).

We should expect Hannah to need some time to iron out the rough spots as a setter at this level, but she sets herself apart in other ways. I was impressed with her serving, thought she looked good on digs, and was surprised to see her pull off some solo blocks...so I checked the stats. I found that through three matches (nine sets), Hannah has already exceeded the service ace and solo block totals Michelle K. posted over 118 sets her entire freshman year. Michelle might hold the edge based purely on setting and meshing with the hitters, but Hannah provides a more impressive complete package.

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Texas down 2 sets. So far I am disappointed that the veterans are not giving a lot. And that may be because the passing is not good. Hopefully we can come out the 3 rd set and play better.
 
Well, when your starting libero gets hidden in the backrow during serve/receive, you know your team has passing problems. Yogi was replaced by freshman Sarah Palmer in the third set, who played a little better, but it wasn't enough. Add in the fact that even with good passes, freshman setter Hannah Allison was having connection problems with her hitters, especially the middles, is a disaster awaiting to happen.... a three game sweep on your own home court.

Texas will go through a lot growing pains this season as Elliot tinkers with the rotation to find the strongest line-up.

And dont' be too surprised with future losses for this squad...they play #23 LBSU tomorrow and then head to Gainesville to play Stanford and the winner of the Florida/Penn State match next weekend.

But playing these top caliber teams early in the season should pay dividends come tournament time.
 
All good points, texasdpt. I guess we're finally seeing the impact of losing Hooker, Engle and Hooker in one fell swoop. Not really surprising to lose to a squad the caliber of Illinois this eary on, but perhaps a little unexpected to be swept so convincingly, and at home no less. But definitely a wake-up call and an oppotunity to work on deficiencies that may not have been as obvious, or were largely compenstated for when you had Destinee and Ashley in the lineup. We'll see how they respond vs. Long Beach State tonight, but much more interesting will be to see how they do against Stanford and either Penn State or Florida next week.
 
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