Nice win tonight ladies, despite late run by piggies

Yes, it was a good win. They came out and dominated sets one and two. I bet Corbelli wishes that the break between sets two and three wasn't so long yesterday. Came out flat in set three and Clark Bibbs and another player (not Hays) played well. Settled down in set four and took control midway and extended the lead in set four just after the halfway point of the set.

Observations:
Babers has put together a few weeks now with stats equal to or better than Sullivan....really good thing to see as Sullivan hasn't really dropped off but rather Babers has continued to get more options and made the most of them. It also helps that she starts the sets in the front row, likely to block the better attack options of the opponents but has made her way offensively as well. A solid match Sunday against Mizzu could get her a player of the week award in the SEC.

Serve receive still breaks down and we made a change I think in set three with Arenas for Labhart in Right back for defense. not enough data in one match to see if that is the way to go in the future but unfortunately Labhart has led the team in serve receive errors for most of the recent matches despite only passing three of the six rotations so a change is likely needed. I think Wilhelm could do as well but understand the need to save her as the option at outside for likely Lowak if trouble occurs. Regardless I would like to see Reasor serve for her rotation. Her serve gets a team out of system a lot which the way are blocking is going will really help us in the future. I would like our serve to be offensive a bit more and Reasor gives us that. If she fails early on just go back to regular system, but I would take a Reasor serve over Arenas all the time and over a Labhart serve most of the time but I may have a different philosophy on serving that the game plan dictates.

Up next a Sunday win against Mizzou hopefully and then take on Ole Miss and Miss State away. All three we should win but LSU's loss to Miss State shows we cannot take anything for granted. If Aiple is still nursing a back injury I would try Schenbeck at setter against Miss State early but be prepared to switch out as a loss against a sub 200 RPI can have dire consequences as LSU has shown

One of our better performances in SEC play against Mizzou. Blocked well and passed fairly well for the most part, always seem to start the first part of each set with a bad pass or two. Once again we distributed the ball very well. Babers, Lowak and Hardesty all had double digit kills and Reasor and Sullivan happened to have 6 each as well, I have liked the way Amy Nettles has worked even more being in position to make a defensive play over the past few matches. Sydney Wilhelm finished out all three sets in her last match at Reed. Glad to see the former club kid get the chance at D1 volleyball. For being about 5'7" she can put up a pretty effective block sometimes. Enjoyed watching her this season progress since her freshman year in HS.

As for Mizzou, they have fallen quite a bit this year. Somewhat expected with the loss of 2 All Americans but I expected a better season this year from them. Kan is solid on outside but has trouble getting around a block but Whitney Little was just that this season ....little used. Preseason All SEC likely stat wise isn't even in top 10 of middles in the SEC.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State next week in Mississippi. Ole Miss should be a good match away with them having solid moments this season but likely out of tourney discussion this season. Still shouldn't be overlooked. Miss State playing better ball in the second half of the season but should be a win we can count on (although LSU probably thought the same).

RPI currently in seeding range however the trip to Mississippi this week will likely lower our RPI too much even with a sweep to count on a seed. Excited to see this team in the NCAAs and hopefully if no seed the committee will not send us to Texas three years in a row, but we are likely the only other Texas team to make the tourney with UTSA losing in their conference tourney. SMU has an outside shot as well.

Glad to see all of the former players make a good showing at Reed. The pregnancy pact with former players was in full force it seems, future Aggies for the classes of 2033 thru 2037.

So we made our way across the mighty MISSISSIPPI RIVER and came out unscathed on the other side. First match was against RPI killer Mississippi State. Everyone played that was eligible and glad to see Schenebeck get some reps at setter in sets two and three. Just an infectious personality on the court. Balanced scoring attack once again. No major issues at all. After a Thankgiving feast according to announcers at Shelby Sullivan's grandparents house (maybe on a lake based upon twitter photo...great pic by the way) it was time to take on a solid scappy Ole Miss team. Was worried a bit on Melanie Crow's serving (10 aces in orevious two matches) and she got two more against us but missed a few serves as well. We have had a problem over the season allowing one player to go off on one of us and be late adjusting (Hays for Arkansas at home, Holman for LSU until late in match, O'Conner at Kentucky etc. ). Crow did similar numbers but our effectiveness offensively from the middle and right proved the difference. Kiera McGee did a good job hitting a heavy ball and if her passing/defense gets better and she hits a better OOS ball she will be a force in progress. Amy Nettles had 24 digs in the five set thiller. I think we gave away set three up 23-20 or something like that when my video feed went out and then i get it back and we lost 26-24. This has been a problem closing out sets sometimes over the course of the season.

Now on the the NCAA TOURNEY. I think we miss out on hosting and a seed but just barely with an RPI just about 19th without bonuses being applied. We will likely be sent to Austin once again for the third year in a row. I can see them being a three or four seed overall after a five set loss to Florida saturday. Besides behind the service line Florida's Alex Holston had a unbelieveable match.

I see us getting to face SMU IF AND ONLY IF they make the tourney. They are a bubble team. texas will get a AQ from a small conference first round likely. If SMU doesnt mAke it I can see a team such as Utah facing the Aggies in the first round. Maybe a fifth team from the ACC or possibly Arkansas-Little Rock a solid team as well. NCAA Selection show tonight.

Special shout out to the Aggie soccer team. got a chance to go to the game last night. Great job reaching the College Cup.

We got in tu's regional....................again. Play Arizona State.

I thought the selection committee was suppose to take into consideration the performance of team the last few weeks of season. We got screwed by ncaa.

#19 RPI is #19 RPI and no votes in the coach's poll is no votes in the coach's poll.
The average rank of the teams in our season-ending 6 games winning streak was #125.
And that's counting the highest one (Ole Miss at #63) TWICE in the average.
So, yeah, "take into consideration the performance of the team the last few weeks" but so what?
We didn't really do anything to impress.
This is a good young team but not yet up to hosting standards.
Failing that, we go to Austin, over and over.
Fact of life.

How do they get to the next level? Program seems stagnant.

It would seem like they should have some sort of guideline that you don't go to the same location more than twice in a row. Our only other option is to beat them. Hopefully, we can beat ASU. That won't be easy!

We have been the the playoffs 22 times and show a 25-21 record for it. Which translates to a 1-1 record for most of the appearances.

Wicked Good Ag you do an excellent job of reporting on the team. Please do not quit. What are our chances of beating ASU? Anyone out of the West scares me.

There is only 1 senior on this team so making the NCAAs is a good accomplishment. I think the future is bright; there were several freshmen who were huge contributors this year and if they continue to improve we should be able to challenge for a top 16 seed next year.

I think making the NCAA tourney this year was expected after the wins against USC and San Diego on the west coast. The huge issue we were going to have was replacing Sawatsky's offensive ability and her improved set location. Aiple connected with the middles quickly which is our strength. If that connection wasn't there we would have struggled making the tourney. But that said we finished with a top 20 RPI just missing a seed. Expectation until the NCAA changes its travel system will be Austin frequently unless we can get a seed also. Without crunching the numbers from someone who understands the math behind it I would say our loss to UTSA, home match loss against Arkansas and having to play three 200+ RPI teams in conference even winning those hurt. But in the end it is what it is and it was completely expected but a bit unfair three years in a row.

As for the NCAA match with Arizona State I think it is honestly the best matchup in the first round for volleyball besides maybe Duke and Hawaii. The committee didn't do the #19 RPI team a favor in the first round. ASU is a solid team ranked 22nd in the coaches poll and comes from the best volleyball conference in the nation. They will be battle tested over the past seven weeks where we haven't played a team that good since maybe LSU or Kentucky earlier in season. Arizona State has a stud outside in Macey Gardner that we will have trouble stopping. That is their go to girl on the court. We have had trouble stopping a hot hitter but in matches we win and that occurs we establish the dominate out of the middle. I think we should do that as well in this match. Passing will be a premium as always because of this establishment of controlling the middle and right side of the court.

ASU and the Aggies have three common opponents for the season...Ohio (who was likely one of the last three out of the NCAA) , USC and Iowa. We both beat Iowa in three. Against Iowa they barely squeaked by each set and we dominated Iowa in each set. Against Ohio they won in five with liots of close sets. We swept Ohio on their home floor but the sets were close as well. Against USC we beat them in five at USC with three close sets and two blowout sets one for each team. Against USC, ASU beat them in four at USC as well where Macey Gardner went off.

I I think we are playing better with the lineup we have on the court. If we can establish the middle early especially with the slide attack it will create seams and one on one opportunities on the outside. It will be imperative to score when that occurs. Looking forward to a great first round match up, probably the best in the tourney although there will probably be an upset or two this is also a statement match on SEC volleyball. We as a conference didn't fair well in the last tourney and the conference was looked at as a laughingstock last tourney.

Good luck to the Aggies beat the hell outta ASU

Ags go down to #22 ASU. 3-1