I'm interested to know what folks are expecting from our volleyball squad this year. Will we start the season ranked? Where should we fall in the conference? Are we a young or veteran team this year?

Thanks to anyone that could contribute some info.

Oh for crying out loud! Somebody's got to have something. Anything?

Hell just make something up. I won't know any better.

Patience is needed. We should be very good - can't give you details. Goto aggie athletics.com

and look at our recruits. Jones was all big12 and might make all-american.

we'll probably be ranked in the 16-25 range. I'ld look for a tie for second or third place finish in the Big 12. I think we can win it, but overcoming tu and NU will be tough.
I agree with BigJim on Jones. I dont know if she will make AA this year, but has a definate shot at it. If she plays like last year anything less the AA honorable mention will be disappointing.

Ok its official, I had way to much time on my hands last year.

Ummm....
Laura Jones was an AA 2nd Team last year.
http://www.avca.org/collegiate/DIawards/DIAA04.asp
I was disappointed that Munsch was 3rd team - she did a fabulous job of OH and MH - and had awesome defense too. She will dearly be missed this year!

Back to Laura - assuming she applies herself, I would expect to see her at 2nd team AA again.

We typically have a pretty good class coming in and to not be in the top 25 would be a disappointment. As the season wears on and the team establishes itself, they will move up the ladder. So, I agree with the prior poster.

We have quite a few seniors this year - they should provide some pretty good leadership. Glad to have Kendra back for another season!!

I expect us to start in the high teens, low twenties like Icecream said. I think we've got a good chance to move up from there as the season continues. My biggest concern is the loss of Melissa offensively. Somebody has to step up and become a good 2nd option. Laura can't do it herself. I think Kendra is a great 3rd option, but I think she's much more of a defensive presence at the net.

I would be looking at Christi Hahn to step up and try to fill Melissa's shoes. I thought last year that she was on track to become a big time player for us, but the injury seemed to derail her a bit. Hopefully she comes back fully recovered and moves into that roll.

sorry got Melissa and Laura backwards.

Nebraska is loaded. The only foreseeable way they don't walk to the conference title and Final Four is if there are significant personality issues among the key players. You can bet that Cook has been around far too long to let this opportunity slip through his grasp and will not let that happen.

UT has some really great (and really TALL) players and will be extremely tough even without Mira Topic to take every third swing. But everyone knows Jerritt has difficulty motivating his girls to work together as a team (here's a hint: redfaced verbal beatings aren't always the best tool for long-term development), and serve receive is their perennial weakness. Basically, they are the opposite of our ladies in character and spirit.

While we should be able to hold on to 3rd in the conference (and of course we'll whoop t.u. at Rollie just like last year when we shut Mira down so hard that Elliott subbed her - a potential national Player of the Year - out for a few rotations), getting 2nd in the BigXII is going to be a tough fight and making the regional final is a long shot. Of course, the tournament committee does weird things with seedings and brackets, so the AVCA ranking is often a very poor predictor of postseason results.

We have had some great in-state recruits for the last several years (and given the limited environment of B/CS, it's hard to attract and keep top players from the West Coast) so if these girls live up to their potential -- paging Kelsey Bryant -- we could finish stronger than the preseason poll which usually heavily favors the previous year's Elite Eight and the PAC10.

A reasonable overall prediction would be hovering between 14-25 in the AVCA, receiving the Corbellis' annual (and deserved) tournament bid, making it past the first two rounds, and then being eliminated in the regional semis. The good thing is that hosting our regional will give us a big advantage both in crowd support and in the closed-doors bracket committee, which has more than once been accused of slightly skewing the brackets so as to increase home team attendance at the Regionals.

Good luck and gig 'em.



[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 7/25/2005 3:31p).]

[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 7/25/2005 3:33p).]

We've got 5 of 6 starters back (right??). Why isn't a Final Four a reasonable goal?

Because Munsch was such a stud. I think they'll struggle a bit early as they look for a replacement.

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"When I look to this lion it looks arrogant, it is aggressive, it is powerful. He is proud of being a Chelsea lion." -- José Mourinho

seriously, munsch pretty much owned the floor... i expect meghan kainz to come out as a solid player for us this year... she was very consistent last year as a freshman..

even though i live in austin and was very good friends with 4 of the starting 5 of westlake high schools girls bball team (which lost to duncanville in the final four in 03 our senior year), i dont know much about bryant other than her sister meg was known as Meg the Giant (sounds like Bryant)...

kelly stanton seemed like she could be ok near the end of the year.

and OF COURSE, we have Courtney McCrocklin back to her usual eye candy self!



[This message has been edited by AgSoccer2007 (edited 8/16/2005 6:18p).]

anyone know if this young ladie is attractive? looks like there is definite potential from the aggieathletics roster photo...

quote:

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We've got 5 of 6 starters back (right??). Why isn't a Final Four a reasonable goal?

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It's a reasonable goal, but not a reasonable expectation. We have a young team [yes there are returning starters but I wouldn't call them seasoned veterans at the FF level] and no clear stat leaders other than Laura. Laura is a very dynamic player with a heavy arm, but Munsch's core of both court defense and net offense was the stabilizing force on the team the last few years.

We've got four very up-in-the-air conference matches - tu and Missouri - which could go down in the L column. Two losses to Nebraska are a certainty -- were you watching the NACWAA last weekend? Nebraska yawned their way through a shutout of two highly ranked teams. They will sit at #1 all year barring some unforeseen disaster or an undefeated Pac-10 season for Washington.

I'm not saying we can't make it; I've heard very good things about Kelsey's high school/juniors success. But a FF berth would require a breakout postseason from several players at the same time, against top competition with seasoned tournament veterans having their own breakout performances.

I hope it happens!

Gig'em!




[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 8/31/2005 5:00p).]

Have our girls ever lost a post season game at home? Since we're hosting the third and fourth rounds (and pushing for the first and second) getting pretty far in the post season isn't unreasonable. I'm really hoping we pull second in the Big XII, too. I really think we can. But it's still early to be making these predictions.

Depends on whether or not we get stuck in USC's bracket AGAIN.

Being in USC's Regional in 2003 was punishment for having too many losses in the season. If we had managed a top-14 seed (instead of 16), I think we had the possibility to beat any of the other teams that year up to the Final Four. But SoCal was monstrous and unstoppable that year, so we went down in three games.

This year, USC is still tough but there are plenty of weaknesses and the match would be anybody's to win. So, for 2005 at least, it would be better to be in a USC bracket than one with Washington, Penn State, or Nebraska. Fear them now, and in December add Stanford to that list once their superstar freshmen get the experience of a grueling Pac-10 season.

[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 9/1/2005 1:18p).]