The volleyball page has the following text included in the article at http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/081210aaa.html.

The Aggies, picked to finish seventh in the conference in 2010 according to a preseason vote of the league's head coaches, return seven players - including two starters plus the libero - from last year's team that tied for fourth in the Big 12 with an 11-9 record and went 20-11 overall and ranked No. 21 in the final AVCA coaches poll after advancing to the NCAA Regional semifinals.

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I find this unacceptable. The fact that the program has reached this level of irrelevance is embarrassing.

not good enough

Let's hold the horses here...they'd obviously be picked to finish low considering the class they just graduated. Give them a few weeks before we string them up by their toenails, lest we start to pretend like preseason polls and awards mean anything.

Goblu - I agree and disagree with you.

I agree the preseason polls aren't that meaningful.

But given that they are one very public prediction of success - being picked 7th is not very good. So we lost some good seniors. I guess the prediction says we don't have promising replacements and a ho-hum incoming class.

That's a problem.

Poor planning by the recruiting staff.

I mean, I see what you're saying. But again, I promise you that the coaches hardly put any time into voting on these polls. By the time Conference play starts, there's plenty of other game tape/scouting/information available on these teams to properly prepare...it would be a waste of the coaches' time to take any more than a passing glance at the other teams' rosters. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that these things are more often filled out by the SID than the actual coach.

With that in mind, we're only returning 2 starters. We lost 3 players who are now playing professionally. 6 out of the 15 players on the roster are freshmen. If you were looking at those numbers, would you have put them any higher? Still doesn't mean a thing in the real world. They had a great senior class, which more than anything means that we just don't KNOW what to expect from the freshmen, sophmores, and juniors who will be stepping into those positions.

I'm not giving them a free pass because they're going to be a young team. All I'm saying is at least let the team get to campus before we declare the season a failure.

[This message has been edited by gobluwolverine (edited 8/16/2010 6:02p).]

Young team and they've had some tough breaks with some recruits that were supposed to make a BIG impact. The Corbellis are good coaches and have had some extremely tough luck over the last few years. We've had a good team, but have not had been able to recruit the same level of athletic talent that schools like Texas and Penn State are able to get. I know that this is not exactly what we want, but they are getting better. Having a new setter is going to take some transitioning, but from what I have seen - our middles and opposites have been playing pretty well. If those are going to our big attacks, we NEED to be absolutely insane serve receive. I haven't seen that yet, but if Kelsey Black and someone else can step up and really play well at outside hitter, we are going to be able to make some noise. Our system is not the problem, but it does hurt us that we are basically starting all over again.

We put all of our chips in the basket for this past season and that seems to be the case all over again. It would have been nice if we had red-shirted Jola so she could spend one year as the setter, but it is what it is. This is a rebuilding year, no doubt about it.

Interesting comments so far, but the program is what it is. I agree, the preseason poll is not a scientific poll but simply a report of how the coaches in the Big 12 think the teams' abilities will play out this season, given all teams are healthy, etc. That being said, being considered the 7th best program in the Big 12 by your peers is hardly a vote of confidence to this program. After all aren't we "Buidling Champions"?

As for recruiting, to say that we are not "ABLE" to recruit the athletes that Texas and Penn State are recruiting could not be further from the truth. Texas A&M is just as ABLE to recruit them, the fact is we are not ATTEMPTING to recruit the players that others are recruiting. If you followed the talent in Junior Olympic ranks in USAV (in Texas and beyond) you would see that the talent is going elsewhere when A&M is not even considering them. Either we are not identifying the right talent or we are not pursuing the right talent. What are are recruiting is not keeping up with the progress other schools are making and we are now being surpassed by teams that were perenially in the back of the pack in terms of Big 12 coaches' opinions.

I don't see how our current direction is getting Texas A&M to that level of excellence necessary to compete and it looks like the Big 12 coaches think so, too.

Why don't you pessimists wait for the season to start before jumping off the bridge?

Jim, I don't think you understand. I never once said I want the program to fail. I'm not jumping off any bridge. In fact, just the opposite is true. I want this program to become relevant again. It's just that the current administration is not taking the program in that direction.

I think what Jim is trying to point out is that the Ags just made it to the sweet 16. They WERE relevant last year.

You put a question mark after unacceptable, as though you were asking the opinions of others. It sounds like a lot of us don't believe that being picked 7th in a meaningless preseason poll is NOT unacceptable.

If you were to ask "If the Aggies finish 7th at the end of the season, is this unacceptable?" then you might get a different response. But for now, we're still one of the 16 or so best teams in the country from last year.

Heck, the coaches (around the Big 12) probably don't even know how good their own teams will be yet, and how well the freshman are going to fit in, and how well the sophormores and juniors are going to step in for the graduating seniors. Yet we expect to take their word as law for how good the other 11 teams are going to be?

If it makes you guys feel any better, we received the 5th most votes out of the Big 12 teams in the AVCA poll, which makes them 29th in the nation.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 8/20/2010 5:57p).]

There may be pessimists jumping off the bridge before THIS season starts. I wouldn't know.

But there are realists who have spent five years talking about the visible slide towards the bottom half of the Big12. And forget about national relevance, last year doesn't provide it. Congratulations, after several years of getting bounced early or not even qualifying, we managed to barely escape the subregional and make it as far as Baylor, who played better against tougher opponents in the first weekend. Even Florida State was one match away from being in the final four. Baylor and Florida State are not suddenly "relevant" on the national volleyball scene. They had what was for them a really good year. The last time we were a serious threat to go deep in the postseason, Saddam Hussein was still ruling Iraq and no one outside of south Chicago had even heard of Barack Obama.

We are now equivalent to Baylor. Let that sink in for a while.......

One sweet 16 every four years is NOT acceptable.

My basic expectation is that we make the NCAA's and win the first match every year. We should easily be able to be one of the top 32 teams in the country every year (Based on our geographical location, access to top recruits, and national standing in academics and athletics across the board). Volleyball isn't like Women's Basketball where there are a ton of good teams with access to good talent. Most of the east coast is very limited in terms of recruiting and you will see they tend to get a lot of their top players from Texas and the West Coast.

Nebraska and Texas have some good program history to build from, but we shouldn't be getting beat for recruits and beat on the court by schools like Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor, etc..., not to mention schools like Northern Iowa or Creighton.

I'm really proud of what the girls did last year, especially the seniors who I feel got robbed out of getting into the NCAA's the year before. They had something to prove, and they did a good job considering where they came from. However, I and most of the other serious volleyball fans have higher expectations for this program and I don't think they will be addressed until something somewhere along the line gets changed. The Corbellis and wonderful people and they both know a ton about volleyball but right now they are not getting the job done. I'm not sure how that can be fixed, but I want to see it happen and the way our recruiting has gone for the last four years I'd say we are at least three years away from making any more noise in the NCAAs.

Year in and year out BigJim jumps anyone that is critical of the Aggie volleyball program, even though everyone has had a right to be upset that we are not nearly as competitive as we once were. I think the previous statement of thinking since we made it to the Sweet 16 that must mean we are one of the top 16 teams in the nation as of last year is completely wrong. I was pleasantly surprised by how we ended the season, but it was because we were carried by two extremely talented seniors in Ammerman and Batis.

I think the pre-season ranking of 7th in the conference is right on target with the way our program has been headed. I think everyone can notice that when you lose your top hitters your going to struggle and adjust. Do I think we will be better than 7th in conference, I think so and sure hope so...but I still stand, as I have for many years now, with my opinion that we need a change in our volleyball department.

I've missed drumbeat, always providing excellent prospective on our volleyball team. But I have to agree, though I'm really disappointed that the program has fallen this much, with the way things are, 7th seems about right. But it's how you finish, not how you start, proven by the great run the ladies had last season.

First serve this season is in about an hour and a half, and I'm pumped. Black's got plenty of power (and some serious hops....), but needs to improve her accuracy from last year. We've got some great middles who have plenty of confidence now, hopefully we're not dead last again in blocks per game. And apparently the fish are really good (?), can't wait to see what they bring to the table.

Interesting thread. 7th in the league is not good enough and we should be good every year.

You guys really need to think about how amazing the big 12 is... While we should be better... Being 5th or 6th would actually be a solid year

After having seen the first three matches of the season, I think we will likely be happy to finish 7th in the Big 12.

Particularly in the first two sets of the LSU match, much of the time our play looked more like a HS freshman PE class with many service and attack errors and many points lost on being into or over the net.

I'm not sure whether it is inexperience on the part of our fish setters or just the way our offense is designed/coached, but we consistently set to the left side where we had it blocked down our throats all afternoon.

25-9 in the first set vs. LSU?

Embarrassing.

It's only been 3 games, and the problem of the team is obvious already: too much dependence on Black. She's the only one who consistently hits with both precision and power, so that makes the attacks extremely predictable. Also, most of the points that LSU scores in the first set were just bone-headed moves made simply by not paying attention (very slow reaction time, touching the net, etc). Team is still extremely young, but most of the mistakes were unacceptable. Good test against LSU, especially the 3rd set when they played very well. Still, it was humiliating to watch the team play so poorly.

If Corbelli has a really disastrous season this year, which right now looks likely, would her job still be safe? That would make 4 out of 5 years without an NCAA tourney appearance. I don't think that is building champions.

quote:

---

"They have a lot of athletes and a lot of experience together," Corbelli said about LSU. "We are still building that part this season, and we have nowhere to go but up.

---

well i would hope so. because who could bear to watch the alternative?

Hate to sound like a broken record, and I promise I won't give them a pass on play like this all season, but it was their first intercollegiate matches with a big influx of freshmen. They're still discovering their roles, their leaders, etc.

It definitely wasn't good play, but I still don't think the ship is sunk.

What sounds like a broken record is Corbelli's statements of "we have nowhere to go but up". I understand we have an extremely young team, but for several years she just relies on the excuse that our team is inexperienced and will only grow stronger as a team. We have the talent and actual height this year, but when will we finally have a team that plays together and strong right at the beginning of the season too, instead of late season surges.

Making the NCAA tournament and reaching the Sweet Sixteen last year saved Corbelli's job. I do agree that they got snubbed big time in '08, but still, in the end, they still didn't reach the tourney. And I do agree with blackflame in that I'm tired of the excuses. Miller and Kastmo have a year's worth of experience, and not to mention, played very well their first years. They haven't done much in the first 3 games, mainly because of how predictable the offense is with Black doing most of the hitting.

[This message has been edited by texaggie2011 (edited 8/29/2010 2:51p).]

Our volleyball program is a total head-scratcher to me. If it were any other program, Byrne would have made a change three years ago. Why this program is allowed to simply wallow in irrelevance while the remainder of our athletics (other than football) has become somewhat of a juggernaut, is beyond me.

I guess it took seeing it on the court this past weekend to understand what has been a "work in progress"...or would that be a "work in regress". To give you a bit of perspective, LSU only returned 2 from last year's starting crew. Do those of you looking through maroon-colored glasses while drinking your maroon koolaid STILL think A&M's program is relevant and we are recruiting properly?

It is what it is, and that is a program in decline.

Did anyone else see the AVCA showcase with Nebraska and Iowa State? It is likely that the Big 12 season is going to be hard to watch. The direction of this program for the last 5+ years has us down to a level that will take years to crawl out of.

[This message has been edited by whoop87 (edited 8/30/2010 7:34p).]

LC is a beneficiary of the AD's financial problems. She was all but out the door two years ago, but BB couldn't close the deal with the new coach due to money.

BB has bigger issues dominating his concerns than living with crap programs in volleyball and womens' tennis.

Who was the new coach, supposedly?

I'd love to know that as well...

As far as problems with the team, I'll try and keep this short.

What I saw at last weekend's tournament is a real lack of quality setting. The passing in the LSU game was not good which makes the setters job nearly impossible, but the passing against pacific was actually pretty good overall, and yet our setters were unable to put up consistent sets. Even the sets to Kelsey Black are not good, but here athleticism allows her to adjust. Unfortunately she doesn't have the hops and reach like Ammerman the last few years to go over and around big blockers, like what she continually faced against LSU. If you can't have good passing and setting to vary your offense your outsides will invariably go up against two blockers more often than not and we don't have anyone on this roster who can consistently put the ball away against two Big 12 sized blockers.

One thing that did stand out to me in her limited playing time was that Elise Hendrickson, the transfer from Arizona seems to have the combination of ball control and hitting ability that we need. I can't imagine why she isn't starting as she looks to be a better terminator than Ringel and a better all around player than Kastmo. I'd really like to see Kastmo back in the middle, where she did fairly well last year. As a Right Side her approach and arm swing are too slow which allows the defense to be perfectly set up every time which caused her to get block or dug or hit out much more frequently than she should have.

That's all I'm gonna say for now. I really hope this team can win some games this year against decent competition but this roster looks to be seriously lacking in Big 12 type talent.

Providing a name at this point serves noone's best interests. I don't think anyone would have regarded it as a "world class" hire, but it would have injected a lot of interest and enthusiasm into a program that was flat on its back.

Let's hope someone that can inject enthusiasm in this program is still available after this season.

quote:

---

Providing a name at this point serves noone's best interests.

---

OK, but it doesn't hurt anything either, and it satiates my curiosity. If you're not willing to give me a name, it kind of makes me question how legitimate this rumor was. What are you worried about?

quote:

---

I don't think anyone would have regarded it as a "world class" hire, but it would have injected a lot of interest and enthusiasm into a program that was flat on its back.

---

Well why don't you tell us and allow us to make that decision.

Because he was probably asked not to, and he has integrity. I want to know as well, but I respect his decision not to tell.

Beyond that, looked good against SHSU. Obviously, we were expected to pound them. But pounding awful teams into the ground is a lot more encouraging than being in a competitive match with an awful team. Hopefully it's a confidence booster for the Freshman and they rally off of it, but we'll see.