KY match was incredible! Huge victory.
Never saw a come from behind win like that.
First victory ever over Ky at their place.

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We are good and have issues just like every other team does...we just beat a Top 15 team who will likely have a strong RPI at season's end

That said...they are not a top 15 team in my opinion

When we are on we are a Top 15 team and could host, when off we are regulated to a first round date in Austin

A future RPI has a predictive record of 11-7 for us in the SEC based upon PABLO current rankings.

If we go 11-7 in the SEC I will see that as a massive conference failure this season

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Hey Wicked! So, right now we're 7-2 in the SEC, with the following matches upcoming:

UT, Mizz, UGA, Miss, State, Kent., FL, Mizz, and Ark.

Extremes are 7-11, or 16-2. In order to go 11-7 - per your post above - we'd have to go 4-5 in these 9 remaining games.

Of course, anything's possible, but I'm not seeing that as the most probably outcome. Realistically, I'm thinking we will win either 5 or 6 of our remaining matches, ending either 12-6 or 13-5.

What would you think of either of those records, given that, earlier, you had considered 11-7 to be a massive conference failure this season? Are your expectations higher than my projections? Should I have more optimism about our chances of winning, maybe, 7, 8 or all 9 of our games remaining?

I appreciate your knowledge on this board, thanks, carry on, and Gig 'em.

Before the season I would have had us lose both to Florida, split with Kentucky and lose a match or two somewhere on the road someone like Arkansas, Missouri, or Alabama leaving us at about 13-5. With the injuries to Lowak who had some of her best stats of her career this season and Aiple out for a bit and the loss at home to Arkansas I wasn't sure how we would do...

We didn't play well against Arkansas at home and South Carolina on road but managed to win in five at Columbia.

It is all about how we pass...We looked horrid for about 40 points against Kentucky...most of the second set ending and the third set beginning. That is why our hitting percentage was less than Kentucky because of that run. The great thing about it is we came back in the third set. Hit well and Kentucky was unable to terminate down the stretch...that was a combination of our defense but their miscues as well. Sullivan went on a serving run, targeting their libero (Ashley Dusek, from Texas) and it had good and bad results. The bad was she passed the ball really well and gave Kentucky the options to attack but yet they couldn't terminate.

This was the first time we had a tight SET and came away winning all three sets...if we had done the same against Arkansas at home last month in set three we win that one as well. That is what I have been hoping for all season long and it finally happened.

That was a great win, conference and otherwise for RPI, and as long as we come out strong against an improved Tennessee team we are in good shape. I think we are better than Missouri and those matches both home and away are potential wins and RPI boosters as the RPI loves Missouri right now.

Hitting percentage usually in a balanced schedule can also be the way conference standings look as well. This is a bit deceiving in that we have probably the toughest SEC conference schedule playing the top four other teams potentially twice. We lead the conference in hitting percentage going into this weekend and somewhat in the middle for defensive hitting percentage but that is based upon the Florida match quite a bit.

With the sweep of Tennessee at Tennessee we are in the last 5 matches 5-0 and 15-1 in sets played including a 3-1 victory at #20 Kentucky who likely will be seeded for NCAA tourney. Missouri at home next Wednesday and the three very winnable matches in Georgia, Miss State and Ole Miss before hitting a tough gauntlet to end the SEC season.

This is what I see in our future....

If we can continue on our hot streak coming home against Kentucky and Florida we could take one maybe both of those matches. In order to do so we have to have the following:

1. Passing or if someone slips up in this area a DS that can come in and pass nails.

2. Ability to be ahead and stay ahead when one team gets to 20 in a set. We showed that we can do it in Lexington

3. Have our hitters face a 1 on 1 blocking situation on the pins...in order to do that we need solid passing as every team we play will have to commit on Sullivan and Babers in the middle. This leaves players like Reasor and McGee options to hit with power and have a solid hitting percentage.

4. Serve more aggressively in certain situations, such as Florida match when Allahasan was on the front row.

I am curious as to what our future RPI will look like after the win against Kentucky at Kentucky. We really need Iowa to win some matches. They are a solid team but winless in conference so far and thought that they would get about 6-7 wins this year in the rugged Big 10 but may hope for 3. Minnesota continues to run the gauntlet in the BIG 10 as well will help. Interesting that we beat the first place team but lost to the last place team.

Come support the Aggies on Wednesday against an improved via transfers Missouri squad

Thanks Wicked, for the solid write-up with all the good information. I love to watch all Aggie sports, but I am no more than an observer for volleyball and soccer. You are doing a great job of telling me what to look for.

Your efforts are much appreciated.

Ags move up to #19 in todays rankings.

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Ags move up to #19 in todays rankings.

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That is the RPI rankings.

That is RPI, which is heavily used for seeding (which I think is wrong, PABLO is better). We should drop a bit even if we win the next 4-5 because after Missouri even wins drop us against lower level teams in the RPI. However a guy that does the metrics does a predictive RPI based upon remaining schedule and if we can win at Missouri and take either Florida or Kentucky at home and not drop against the lower level teams we would finish around #14 which could give us a seed possibility especially if we beat Kentucky both home and away.

Missouri...just not sure what to make of this team...no major out of conference wins but a big win against Florida while Florida was reeling. They have a couple of transfers and a solid freshman and Carly Kan, an undersized OH who produces despite her height in all facets of the game. Will be better that last year.

Will update when the new predictive RPI comes out for future matches with a +/- and how it relates to final RPI but most people discussing last week said Stanford and Texas A&M both helped themselves this past weekend in the RPI race

We should have at least 5 top 50 wins come seeding time...MInnesota, Wichita State, Colorado State, Kentucky already and hopefully two against Missouri and another against Kentucky/Florida at home

I still cannot believe that we are in first place in SEC volleyball this late in the year. Incredible!!!

RPI only represents a team's strength of schedule. It is NOT an indicator of the quality of a team. The RPI is one of the factors committees use in determining seeding but is usually the most unreliable predictor of the final seeding.

Actually in VB the RPI has historically been used as the biggest factor in seeding. I don't think it should but until it is not the main one, many schools will game the RPI. I think it was used a bit by the team this year in scheduling teams like Florida A&M hoping a conference champion would help.

I think Minnesota's incredible run has really helped our RPI along with quality wins over Wichita State, Colorado State and recently Kentucky and Missouri. I was unsure of how good Missouri would be other than the big comeback against Florida (down 2 sets and down 11-3 in the third and manage to win in five).

The latest Future predictive RPI has us at #14 in the end if we go 11-5 in conference. We are currently 9-2 in conference and the next three matches should be victories so we head into our tough final stretch like at 12-2. With home games against Kentucky and Florida and road matches against Arkansas and Missouri.

Just think our two losses in conference were losing to a red hot Arkansas team in which we finish out set three we likely win and they went on to beat Florida and we lose to the predictive #3 RPI Florida team just as they get out of their funk.

The greatest thing I have happy about is the last six sets we have WON against the conference frontrunners(Kentucky and Missouri) have been generally two point sets and we won all six...something I would have said we were not capable of earlier in the season. This team has an energy level and wont lose attitude that while still playing well wasn't seen in the first half of the season.

As for the Missouri match...

It was nip and tick the entire match between two evenly matched teams but we were able to stop them down the stretch. Kira Larson a transfer from Nebraska had a really good match for Missouri and their freshman RS Munlyn looked really good as well. They targeted our libero in serve receive after Amy got off to a rocky start and then went after Emily Hardesty after a while but other than the beginning of set three and Amy's rough start we manage to pass decently not great. We went into a funk coming out of the break with our first four or five serve receive passes not even getting into Stephanie Aiple's hands but luckily this happened early and we had time to stage a comeback. If this had happened later in the set it might have had a different outcome simply because we would have been robbed of time.

I think Missouri would be better suited running a 5-1 but it may have been that the second right side was ineffective and Eckenrode to me is the better setter. But they are like 20-3 or something so no reason to change based upon results.

We got blocked a bit more than expected and didn't get near as much blocks ourselves but we didn't hit a lot of balls out of bounds and most of our points in set one and two were from actual kills terminating play.

Kierra McGee had a solid night when in system. She had a few miscues when out of system but looked really good in system. Emily had a good night except for a brief run when she got blocked like three times which is more unusual for her. Aiple had over 15 assists per set which means we were doing a really good job in transition as we didn't pass poorly but didn't pass nails either.

I think this team has a lot of confidence in each other and it is spilling over onto the court especially in the end of sets.

Sunday we play against winless in conference Georgia and would like to see us get some work in with Kaitlyn Blake on both the right side and outside (maybe even middle), especially in serve receive combination plays and hopefully be able to have Kaysie Shebeneck run the offense for a set as well.

Take care of business the next three matches and set ourselves up for a great chance to host or maybe take the conference title.

What a damn fine win last night!

That took grit and guts, and a lot of mental toughness and emotional maturity.

Lookin' GOOD!

I'd add good coaching to it. This team has had an extraordinary number of injuries during the early part of conference play and Laurie and John have done a great job in keeping the ship afloat and are not reaping some of the rewards for their hard work. Hope they can carry this through the end of the season.

Easy victory against a Georgia team that is not only raw but severely lacks fundamentals. A senior laden roster the previous year to finish middle of the pack in SEC. The will struggle for the next couple of years.

As for the Aggies side of the net, the sideout percentage is scary. Only one point was scored by Georgia while they were serving thru two and a half sets of volleyball, and that would have been about a 95% sideout percentage maybe more until the "wheel fell off" in the third set by letting them get 6-7 points on serve.

We played mostly set two and three with just our libero and middles that typically start. Our back up setter Kaysie Shebeneck did a great job and our freshman outsides Margaret Connett and Paige Painter each had four kills and hit a combined .300+. You could sense the enthusiasm when Connett got to play after her injury coming into campus. The girls were excited for her to get on the court similar to the Florida A&M match earlier in the year.

Georgia is not a great serving team by any means but they got no aces against us and we had a lot of solid passes in the match. Katelyn Labhart served well playing RB defense.

Stephanie Aiple got setter of the week again and it must have been based upon the solid Missouri performance as she only played 1 set against Georgia for 4 total sets in the week. I think she is the best setter in the conference this season as the Florida setter has not preformed as well as her previous years and Aiple is better than a solid Bergen at Kentucky IMO.

Amy Nettles showed off a jump top spin serve and Labhart served really solid flat hard serves although I would have liked to see Reasor get her old serve in maybe one time. McGee got some back row play as well which should help down the line either when subs are at a premium in a side out match or next season. Blake got a chance to hit RS and during serve receive in the middle once or twice but no outside attacking during the match.

This week we have the Mississippi schools which while on the road we should be favored. The latest RPI projection is if we go 14-4 for conference would give us a #12 overall seed RPI wise and that should allow us to host first and second rounds at Reed. Take care of business on the road this week and get ready for a Kentucky Florida week the following week.

A sweep of Miss State where our middles and RS went off statistically and the come from behind win by Missouri over Kentucky gives the Aggies sole possession of first place with four matches to go...however they are a tough four matches. The three teams immediately behind us in the standings and a return match against Arkansas at Fayetteville who gave us one of our conference defeats.

I major game on Wednesday night at home against Kentucky at 9:00pm (late start)...should be huge

Another 5 set match...another 5 set win. WE are now 6-0 in five set matches.

Florida started off with hot serving, aggressive to put us out of system early on. They kept a comfortable lead throughout the set and we were not able to terminate on the outside. Second set much of the same by giving them two different runs of four or more points, keeping us from getting a run ourselves. I think our outsides only had a few kills in the first two sets, in fact I don't think Emily had a kill up to that point.

We came out in set three and took a lead by the media timeout only to allow Florida a run to even it up and even take a slight lead I think. This is when the tide changed...

Florida seems to be a team this season that loves to be frontrunners and because of that goes on autopilot at times. We took advantage of this by getting a solid run of points ourselves to take the lead and got a couple of things to go our way. An out of rotation call, a reaching over call and service errors by Florida was the difference of three points as we battled pretty much even from midway of the set on. We targeted their outside hitters in serve receive both deep and short and they were not able to stay in system as much as they wanted. If they had stayed in system the only thing that would stop Rhamet Alhassan on the front row was not our defense but rather the connection between her and their setter causing many tips, reaching out for balls rather than swings. Swings might have put the match away for Florida. (On a side note, I don't understand why the backup setter was serving for Alhassan which makes no sense to me as if you replace the starting setter due to injury or set location you can only replace her and lose your best middle and have weird rotation issues. If she had been a great server I can see it but she missed at least three serves before changing to a different serving replacement in set 4 and 5)

After set three I think the momentum changed drastically. Florida allowed a opponent to play with emotion (TAMU) against a team that doesn't play with any (FLORIDA). They look like they go thru the motions, but this years Florida team doesn't have the ability to turn it on at a moments notice and we do. We seem to love to play for each other, every single point that was won was celebrated with emotion. I think this team gets it from Shelby Sullivan but it is found in all of them. Florida doesn't have it.

Katelyn Blake came in for Emily Hardesty and did quite well on the outside, getting 9 kills in limited time. The only issue was possibility of running out of subs with subs for both OH and Reasor on the right in the back row.

I had a feeling it was over when we got to the fifth set...we have won all of ours they have yet to win a fifth set this season. They are now 0-5 and we are 6-0....with the stats for the season showing Florida leading us in most statistical catagories, the small sample size shows they don't have the mental makeup that our team does this season. It was definitely over after Alex Holston their All American from last year was blocked twice in a row by Kiara McGee after the changeover.

This was a good win against a solid RPI team that should gives us a solid seed and hosting for the first two rounds of the NCAA tourney...a far cry from match 1 of the season where our passing made us look like we were in for a long season.

Beat a good Missouri team on the road Wednesday to win 13 in a row and the SEC title is ours outright.

LOVE this team.

I want to add that the crowds we have had for the final two regular season matches have been outstanding. We have played really well at home, and lately on the road as well. But the crowd has been there especially on the student side the last two matches. Hope to see even a bigger crowd for the matches we are likely hosting in early December for first and second rounds

Jazzmin Babers named national player of the week by the AVCA

Is there any chance we will host NCAA 1st / 2nd round games?

Stephanie Aiple named SEC Player of the Year

Coach Corbelli named SEC Coach of the Year

We will likely be the number 8 seed overall...host first two rounds is a given

Thank you WGA.

The girls have played like champions down the stretch. Congratulations to them and coach LC for her first career conference title.

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How's it looking this year? Are we are top 16 team? We have everyone back basically. Will be tough starting tomorrow against Stanford.

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Going to answer my own question. Yes. Yes we are a top 16 team.

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NOT Good

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Lolz

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NOT Good

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Lolz

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I love how people come on to the board and find one statement and reply.

The question asked was how we looked against Stanford...my response was not good...likely one of our worst outings of the season to begin play with the at the time #2 team in the nation...but don't let facts get in the way of being able to say something to a thread you haven't read all season long

In the final RPI we are 6th with bonuses. We are 7-4 against the top 25 more than any team that isn't in the Big 10 or PAC 12. I would not be surprised to have a final seed of anywhere from 4-9 based upon RPI and last 10 matches (10-0).

While I would have loved to see Kaitlyn Blake gets some more reps on the pins against Arkansas Emily Hardesty had one of her better hitting matches and we won two more tight sets going into the tourney

I predict TAMU -CC, TCU and an out of state team for the sub regional held in College Station.

Great run. I thought a 14-4 record in conference would have been our high point losing Lowak but they exceeded everyone's expectations besides maybe their own

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Time for a new v ball coach, seems since I was enrolled the team has been very meh....we need some new energy!

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Just thought I would ttt this! Noticed it on page one of the thread....

Are we hosting? If so when?

As in a post above I predicted TAMU-CC, TCU and a out of state school. I was correct however Hawaii would have been my last thought of the out of state schools

The matches are slated for 4:30 and 6:30 on Friday. We play the later match following Hawaii and TCU.

The TAMU-CC match is interesting. They are an auto qualifier as winner of their conference. We played them last year at home and beat them in four, not able to close out the one close set. I think they will push us in a set or two but I think we sweep


We are the #10 overall seed, a bit lower than expected....I am not saying that we are or are not the #10 team in the nation however our body of work, RPI, wins against Top 25, Top 50 and last 10 matches had us more along a #5-8 seed. Regardless we are seeded which is a testament to this team this year...I got to watch late last night the videos from various teams reactions...ours was more of a Corbelli interview about the excitement of being seeded abd LC stated as much as this season is about the team rather than coaching although I think they have done an excellent job sidestepping various injuries and putting players in position to succeed.

The actual draw....I don't think the committee did us any favors, and I feel hosed a bit. We got a tough draw. Hawaii in the coaches poll is #5 overall at last poll however their RPI is nothing great but their record is. They will be very tough with a solid RS attack. They are 26-1 with their lone loss to UCLA.

We have three common opponents

Florida...we split with them losing 0-3, winning 3-2 they beat them 3-1 in Hawaii
Iowa...we lost 1-3 they beat Iowa in Hawaii 3-1
Wichita State we beat 3-0 they beat 3-1 in Hawaii

We can beat this team, I would put nothing past us this season. If we were to advance a likely #7 seed defending national champ Penn State will be waiting in the Sweet 16 but before we even think about that we need to concentrate on the weekend at hand.

and I wouldn't count out TCU beating Hawaii either as they are capable after beating Texas 3-0 earlier in the season at home

Wish the team luck and keep the remarkable run continuing

Congratulations to Coach Corbellli and the team!