Started a new thread. The other seemed more to do with keeping a talley of wins over Baylor since they attempted to hostage our conference move than about the match with Baylor.

Wicked Good Ag

Thoughts on Baylor match?

Baylor defense is above average and the offense is below average. They will play a lot of 4-5 sets matches but for the Aggies I was glad to see us build and keep momentum in the fourth set and especially the fifth set. Our defense was really good wednesday night and we distributed the ball a little bit better however the slide attack timing looked a bit off, and one of the most difficult things is to defend behind the setter, need improvement in that play set. Sawatsky did great on dumps to deep corners that were effective and got one with a push two hand deceptive one early but tried it too many times, she had a lot of attacks it seemed and although effective will have teams in future be more prepared to defend those. Offensively I think the Aggies need to force the middle a bit more so we get better match ups on the pins. Sawatsky and Black are top 3 in their positions within the Big 12 and if Kelly Murphy at Florida is a senior then Sawatsky will likely be the best setter in the SEC next year. Pendergrast made some amazing plays and is getting much better reading offenses within our blocking scheme.

Kansas State is much improved and will be a good test saturday against a likely smaller crowd with football in DFW. I figured it would be a 4-5 team race for the 3-6 spots in conference with K St being one of them. Oklahoma has gotten a leg up by beating Texas and Kansas is good although 0-3 by playing the toughest teams already. I told a friend early in season that the first three games of the conference season would be the forshadowing for the season. Tough four set loss at Missouri and win in five against Baylor points to this next one being critical. 2-1 going into Texas and Oklahoma is important.

Thanks for your post. I'll have to say, I'm not as optimistic as you. Although I was encouraged by the 5 set win (not many last year), Baylor was not a very good team. They lost 19,15,18 against K-state, but to their credit they did take a set off OK in Waco.

As you stated earlier, we need a solution at OH2. Mellinger is hitting a respectible .231 overall, but in the 4 hardest matches (3 losses and the one 5 set win)she is hitting .114. I think this is going to be an issue as we face a very tough conference schedule ahead.

The solution to OH2 position does not unfortunately reside on the roster IMO

paging drumbeat...

I would like them to see them try Katsmo on the left. I know it may leave a void on the right, but Katsmo has been lights out this year and hasn't dropped off significatly against the better opponents. At a minimum it gets her more swings and in a close match, 1 or 2 points here and there may make a difference.

No way in hell Sawatzky is a top 3 setter in the big whatever conference. I know she got a lot of accolades as all conference freshman last year, but right now I'd gladly trade her for Cook, Kreklow, and Barker, and probably Landwehr as well. Sawatzky is a nice option because she is big, she is left handed, and a decent blocker, but her set location and her setting choices leaves quite a bit to be desired. Also the fact that Lindsey Miller is hitting so poorly even against weak opponents says a lot about the quality of setting, because Miller showed in her freshman season she has the talent to be an all-conference player. Miller is a prototypical middle, with good footwork, very good lateral movement, and good size and athleticism, but the fact that she is not a more powerful attacker, especially with the quality of our passing is very much of a waste in my opinion.

I haven't seen much of this year's team in person, but I know that with Pendergast, Mellinger, and Black as the primary receivers our passing should be one of our strengths and it is sad to see that we aren't effectively getting the ball to our middle attackers in an position for them to be successful. I don't know enough about hendrickson to know whether she could be a successful middle, but if this team is going to be any good and if Mellinger is going to hold the OH2 spot than we have to build our team around good passing and defense and the offense we give up with mellinger to have better passing should mean we can get more offense out of quick plays to the middles and the right sides, but so far it hasn't materialized.

Db,
I like your analysis, but I would have to disagree about the quick plays in the middle. Miller doesn't run much in front of the setter. I would say 90% of her offense is the slide behind the setter. I don't know if that is by coaching design, but we sure don't seem to run as much in front of the setters for our middles as other teams do.

As for setters, I would take Donahue and Barker only over Sawatsky. Cook plays for her dad at Nebraska now in the Big 10 or whatever. Barker is a senior so that is a moot point for the next two years. And as for the middle, I have said that we have plenty of opportunities to run middle but we don't. Most of our middle sets in front of the setter are to Black coming from back row. We should try to force the middle more period regardless of back or in front of setter. Two things that both Okalhoma and ISU do better than most teams is set the middle from extremely awkward angles and they are very effective with that. Even when pass is there we dont run the middle, which will be our problem in the second half of conference. I have made mention of the fact that we made some changes that have not really improved our offensive production but so far it has not effected our defense like I thought it would. We are too far into the season to make wholesale changes if we WIN tonight. Lose and we are staring down a 1-4 start. I have wanted a opportunity to see Hendricksen on outside and move Minnerly back to middle but it hasn't happened.

Good luck tonight, beat the hell outta KSU

[This message has been edited by Wicked Good Ag (edited 10/1/2011 3:46p).]

In my mind the slide to either middle is still a first tempo attack that requires a very good pass, similar to a front quick. Miller is more effective on the slide like you said and it has the added bonus of opening up the middle for setter attacks and back row attacks. Either way we have to start using our Middles more, especially Miller to take some pressure off of Black and Mellinger.

DB,
I agree we need to use our middles more. Other than the MO match, our serve receive has been good, so we should have that option.

WGA,
They tried Hendrickson at OH last year in some early tournaments. She wasn't as consistent as she is at middle. She seems to me to have more of a middle arm swing (IMHO).

DB & WGA,

Any predictions against Texas. Texas is young, but very good. I don't know that we will get an upset like we did last year, especially in Austin.

Looks like match is on FSN -SW

[This message has been edited by TAMU123 (edited 10/4/2011 12:28p).]

I'm really happy to get to watch the match on TV.

Unfortunately I don't think we have a very good chance against Texas. Their ball control is atrocious but they are so big and physical that they will easily hit over most of our blockers. Oklahoma and Iowa State gave them tough matches on the road, but they are much scrappier on defense than we are. And our outsides will get completely shut down trying to hit against Texas's blockers unless they really focus on tooling the block instead of trying to hit over or around it.

We can probably take one set but I don't see us winning the match, especially in Austin.

Why does it say that we've lost 13 straight to Texas in the description? Didn't we split with them last year?

DB,
I would have to agree. I don't give us much of a shot either. I would guess Texas in 3.

Watching now. Not looking good for the good girls.

These service errors are KILLING US

About what I expected. Although Texas is so tall and athletic and can hit over the block, but they really didn't need to in the first 2 sets. We were slow to close and the splits were there to exploit.

Our strong suit of passing and defense was not our strong suit tonight. We looked average, but some of that was probably to the credit of Texas.

I think its time for Mellinger to go back to libero where she can be effective. You can tell she is frustrated. OH is not where she needs to playing.

Bigger Taller Stronger Faster...the vertical attack angle that t.u. hits at is not something our defense either first line or back row was prepared for. Bell moved to the middle was unexpected and likely wasnt game planned for. Kastmo got some good kills on the right and Miller looked good in final two sets. Our team is based upon a ball control defensive mindset however we played a team build on power and short points not long rallies. The only way to beat them was to block more effectively and serve aggressively. We did block better in set three but the attack angle couldnt be overcome. Serving we missed too many and I couldnt tell based upon video how aggressive they were serving but they had to keep Texas OOS and looked to target Yogi. Mellanger unfortunately had no kills in a three set match and Black was shut down early before coming on late. This is a very predictable loss and we should compete better at home against them. As for Texas,Eckerman and Bell are unreal. Texas should be competing and WINNING national titles in 2013 and 2014 and maybe even 2012.

Hendricksen at OH last year was done in some tourneys...production was as good or better than OH 2 this year and I love Mellanger. Just gives abetter attack angle and BLOCK against Right side hitters and helping front the middle attack. We had a lot of 1 on 1 hitting against us from Texas and I dont think Allison's setting looked as deceptive as to not get a double block. Hendricksen still needs work laterally to close the block.

It is the lineup we are going with and I am getting behind it just wish I had seen her on at OH 2 at some point. Production needs to increase or funnel the ball to the right half of court more.

My thoughts on the Texas Match:

Katsmo and Miller looked good, Black looked just OK. For a player with her level of experience she should know better than to go up and try to hit into the meat of the block, especially on very tight sets. She has the power and athleticism to be effective at this level but her decision making is questionable at best and her array of shots does not seem to have improved at all since she came to college station.

Mellinger at outside is a waste. She is probably the best overall serve receive player we have. If we are going to continue using her as an outside, there is no reason she shouldn't be in the serve receive pattern all the way around. Last night when she was in the front row they were either having Sarah Grace or Kastmo take her place in serve receive. But going along with that thought I really think she needs to move back to Libero. If we are really that short on offensive talent on the bench, then I would suggest allowing Pendergast to play outside/rightside and move Mellinger back to Libero. Pendergast was a dynamic hitter in High school and even hit once for Nebraska when they had some players ill and serving suspensions. She has incredibly impressive hops and a fast arm swing.

Pendergast was not impressive as a libero to me. She covers the court well with her speed, and makes some good digs, but her serve receive is pretty bad for a starting Libero.

A few more things I didn't understand at all:

All three sets we started Mellinger in the position next to the setter in the lineup (known as OH1, whereas Black started in the OH2 spot, meaning she is two places away from the setter). The reason that is important is because the OH1 will always have two rotation in the front row with the setter and the OH2 will only have one. Clearly Black is the better attacked than Mellinger, so it would make much more sense that when the setter is front row and there are only two front row hitting options you would want it to be Black twice and Mellinger only once.

Another interesting move was how to handle Katsmo. She is admittedly very slow on defense, especially trying to cover tips over the block, so it makes sense to bring in a DS for her. She also had 4 service errors, so by bringing in a DS you can have someone else serve in that postion. However, Katsmo is a very good back row attacker so sometimes it seems worth it to leave her in the back row and have another attacking option. The thing I didn't understand is that when we did leave her in to play the back row, she never got set. That is a poor job by the setter and the coaching staff, especially since she was the only one of the three pin hitters to have a good night last night.

Our serving was not very effective against a Texas team that has shown repeatedly that serve receive is their biggest weakness. Both Iowa State and Oklahoma were able to put a lot of service pressure on Texas, but we did not do that very well. We only tallied two aces to go along with ten service errors. One thing that really disappointed me is that we don't have Pendergast or Black jump serving (Black attempted one and made an error and never tried any more after that) Black and Pendergast are the two most dynamic athletes on our roster. They both can fly and both have very fast and heavy arm swings. That is the prototype for an effective jump server. It is a higher risk/higher reward serve, but when you are playing a team with the athletes that Texas has you have to really serve tough to have a chance to stay in the game, and its much more acceptable to get service errors on jump top-spin serves than standing float serves. The girls who are float-serving should not be making errors at all, because its much easier to serve a tough float serve without risking an error. Remember last year when Black was one of the top aces/set in the conference because of her dynamic jump serve?

I agree Mellinger needs to go back to libero, but you can't put a 5'6" Pendergast at OH. She was an effective high school hitter, but the Big 12 is not high school. Mellinger learned that. She was a good hitter in the preseason when we were playing low level competition, but has been totally ineffective against Big 12 competition.

I agree Pendergast was terrible against Texas especially in serve receive early. Perhaps it was nerves or just a bad game but most of her passes were 1's or overpasses.

This is my first post but I have been following the Aggies and like everyone has stated, something needs to be done about OH2. Has Roberto even been tried outside yet?
Personally, I don't know why they don't just throw Ringel back out if her a Mellinger are doing about the same on OH2. However, Ringel at least got a few kills when she was put into the Texas game. Also, Corbelli has even said before that Ringel "was one of the best left-side blockers they've ever had." Mellinger is a huge loss for the stability of the backrow. Ringel's defense was also stellar and she led in serve receive for a while last year. There's just a lot to gain defensively, I believe.Pendergast could easily take Sarah Grace's spot and the dig count would rise in that position, as well. Opinions? Please don't destroy me, I'm a newbie lol

I remember hearing something about Roberto having had a shoulder injury, so that could explain why she hasn't been tried at OH at all, just in back row only situations.

All your other suggestions seem to make sense. No idea why other people haven't been given a shot since the production is so poor.

Looks like coach listened to everyone for the last 2 sets against KU. I wonder if she will stick with this line-up for practice this week and try it out against OU.

I heard the same thing about Roberto, some sort of shoulder injury. I think she had issues before the season started. Not sure if she came in with injury or hurt during summer workouts.

I also noticed they moved Mellinger to libero the last 2 sets of the Kansas match. Hopefully this will be a permanent move, as she has hit negative in the last 3 matches and is hitting .039 in conference. I also agree that she stabilizes the defense when she is back in the libero spot. I think you put Ringel back at OH2 and start her, but if she is off in a particular match, give some of the other folks a chance. I think the OH2 position at this point needs to be run by committee, keep changing until you find someone with a hot hand for that match. It’s not like you are presently getting any production out of that spot.


[This message has been edited by TAMU123 (edited 10/10/2011 3:34p).]

As for serving aggressively, too many coaches compare aces to errors to determine how effective then serving was. I disagree. It should be a combination of OOS and Aces. If we ace them only one time for every three errors we have but get them OOS on first ball contact 8-9 times as well as the ace it will gladly take it. The problem is we miss serves that are not aggressive so the next person takes some off. I would have Mellanger as libero serve for Miller. Black jump serve every time. Henricksen send it from deep. Pendergrast serve for Kastmo and play right side defense because watching her at Clear Creek I thought she hit pretty well from back row even for her height so she can be an OOS option without the libero shirt on. If Ringel plays OH2 she will serve and play across the board. Put Kinley in if you are just wanted to not have a serve error.

Ok, we’re 14-4 overall and 3-2 in conference. I know it’s a bit early to be making predictions, but here are a few options that I think would be best case scenarios for the Aggies. There are a lot of variations on what could happen, but I think this is the sweet spot of possible outcomes.

Scenario 1) 21-8 overall and 10-6 in conference.
Double losses to Texas & Iowa State, a split with Oklahoma and Missouri and sweeps against everyone else. - I’m going to assume in all my scenarios that we lose against Texas & Iowa State. From what I’ve seen, we don’t have the firepower to compete with either of these teams. On the remaining games, I think expecting only 1 remaining loss outside Texas and Iowa State will be too much to ask, especially with 2 matches remaining against Oklahoma and one against Missouri. You may say that 2 of those 3 are at home, but even if you hold home court, you still have to win out against everyone else. With this team, this would be a dream season, but I think this is highly unlikely.

Scenario 2) 20-9 overall and 9-7 in conference
Double losses to Texas, Iowa State and Oklahoma, a split with Missouri and sweeps against everyone else. - I think this is getting closer to reality. I think we get win at home against Missouri, but winning out against everyone else is going to be tough.

Scenario 3) 19-10 and 8-8 in conference
Double losses to Texas, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Missouri and sweeps against everyone else or one win from the remaining 3 matches with Oklahoma and Missouri and one loss against the remaining field. - I f I were laying money on this, this is where I would probably put my bet, although scenario 4 is probably just has just as good of odds.

Scenario 4) 18-11 and 7-9 in conference
Double losses to Texas, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Missouri and one loss against everyone else or one win from the remaining 3 matches with Oklahoma and Missouri and two loss against the remaining field. - Although, I’ll go with number 3 above, this is a pretty solid pick.

So here’s the million dollar question. Assume these are the 4 possibilities. Which of these 4 if any get you into the tournament? Remember, no wins against Texas or Iowa State, means no quality wins unless you beat Oklahoma.

I would like to hear what eveyone thinks. Maybe I'm way off on my 4 options. If so, give me you thoughts. I'm curious what everyone thinks it will take to get into the tourney. We played a pretty weak non-conference schedule. How does this play into the tourney picture?

[This message has been edited by TAMU123 (edited 10/10/2011 11:46p).]

Posted on the Oklahoma game thread that we played well after the break and got a win we really needed. As for predictions, I think we have the capability of being 10-6 in conference but look at 9-7 as a likely ending and then the committee will have to look and see if our non conference record and strength of schedule is good enough. A 4th in conference shuold get us in and tied for third should definately get us in. Beating Oklahoma gives us a minimum of a split against one of the top 4 in conference but Oklahoma has that win over Texas that could be the difference between our two teams in the end unless we can find a way to get a split against Texas Iowa State or sweep Oklahoma we should get fourth. I think this team wont lose a match that it should win on paper compared to last year when after beating Texas we went to Kansas and lost I see this team winning those type of matches.

Prediction 9-7 50%

Chance to be 10-6 30%

Chance to be 11-5 10%

Chance to be 8-8 10%

I didn't think we would beat OK, so I was more in the 8-8 camp. After the game last night I am probably moving more towards the 9-7 mark. Miller's performance last night covered up for some glaring issues eleswhere, so I'm still not 100% sold, but I'm hopefully optimistic.

WGA,
Question, why did they put the OH2 in two rotations with the setter on the front row and only 2 hitters? I would have thought you would want Black in that position. Maybe it is because Black is so effective from the back row attack.

Just trying to understand the logic. I'm sure there is a good reason. Helk it worked, so there probably is.

By definition the OH2 is the player who only has one rotation in front with the setter and the OH1 is the player who has two rotations in front with the setter. I'm guessing you are wondering why Black wasn't lined up as OH1 in a certain match (I'm not sure if this is how she is always lined up or it was just a one time thing) There are several other considerations in making the line up. The OH1 usually hits half a rotation from the right side and the OH2 does not. Also when you have a passing right side (or in our case a DS for right side that is used in serve receive) it has an effect on how you line up so maybe Black was put in her position for her defense and passing rather than just making the decision based on offense.

Thanks DB,
Yes in the Oklahoma match, at least in the last couple of sets when I noticed, Black was in the OH2 slot. I thought it was interesting, because we were not setting our OH1 slot (very very little) and so in two rotations, our only front row hitter besides setter became the MB1 in one roation and MB2 in the other.

I didn't get to watch the oklahoma match at all. Did Katsmo stay in the back row for attacking or did they bring in a DS for her?