When was the last time A&M fielded such a terrible volleyball team? I know they're young. I've tried to be supportive and very patient throughout the season. But I'm not seeing ANY improvment AT ALL. What the heck is going on here? Is there a light at the end of this tunnel?

ok young maybe, average, even not living up to expectations but they ARE NOT terrible

terrible would be them losing in 3 games every match. but they are taking teams to 5 matches pretty often. it was thought that corbeli would possibly be gone after last season, but the girls got it together late and made the post season. now it wouldn't surprise me if she was gone after this year. but i really do think that BB will give her atleast another year or 2 to get these girls back as contenders in the big 12.

I bet Corbelli gets another year to see if these youngsters can develop. Based on the articles before the season, she acted like she had some kids that were really coachable, with great attitudes. When she starts talking about them needing to play with more energy now, that scares me a lot. Why did they lose their energy? I hope they don't get down on themselves.

LC won't be permitted to squander a second year's worth of development for our excellent freshmen. LC = lame duck.

I don't see this team being significantly better next year. Really sucks that it had to get to this point. Best to cut bait and move on.

Someone on another thread said:

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This squad has five freshman in several rotations. With this freshman class (the best recruiting class in A&M history)getting all this valuable experience, the best is truly "yet to come." The Ags will be a national power within the next two years.

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I could see this group gaining experience and getting to the 15-20 range in 2008, but "a national power"? Not unless we get further help in the next two years.

I would take exception to the statement that this is the best recruiting class in school history. First of all, the #4 rank came from Volleyball Magazine, who I would not consider as authoritative on the high school/club scene as John Tawa's prepvolleyball.com, who put us at a much more realistic 11.

Still, taking that vbmag rank into account, this is certainly the highest ranked class we've had according to the people who compile lists, but there's no one in this class who is as ready to go as former student-athletes like Tara Pulaski, Brandi Mount, Melissa Munsch, Laura Jones, and Jenna Moscovic. Those were all players who themselves would put a freshman class in the top 20. But the shine has come off our program and we apparently can't get (or for some reason don't pursue) that level of athlete any more.

So this year instead of one or two top players, we brought in an entire starting roster of good but still relatively mid-level girls. VBmag basically just looked at the the quantity and said to themselves, "With that many players who are on our top 100 list, there's a strong potential there".

And there's nothing wrong with that. But the expectations need to come back to reality. I think in two years this group will be back to fighting for 3-5 place in the Big 12, but it's not like everyone else is standing still. Nebraska and Texas are long done with 2007 recruiting (Texas freshmen will be the #2 outside hitter and the #1 middle in the country, and they're also on the short list for the #1 outside hitter who is expected to announce and sign her NLI next week) and both schools are already lining up the 2008 class also. By the time our freshman gain experience, freshman at Nebraska and Texas will be equally experienced PLUS have two more classes of top 10 recruits.

wannaggie,

how do you know so much about collegiate volleyball, were u a player or a coach at one time, anyways ur input on here is always greatly appreciated.

does laura corbelli = mark johnson?

i dont mean that as a slight to coach corbelli. she, like johnson, has been a great ambassador for A&M athletics, not to mention a helluva coach, but you wonder if a change is just needed to prevent the program from becoming "stagnant".

it was obvious when johnson was let go that the team was on a downward spiral and needed a change. and while it might be premature to say that about volleyball, you have to think $Bill will be weighing his options after the conclusion of the season.

but for the time being, i have confidence in coach corbelli.

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does laura corbelli = mark johnson?

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MJ's teams won SWC and Big 12 titles. He got us the hardware and earned his time here.

I'll just say I've been around for awhile.

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MJ's teams won SWC and Big 12 titles. He got us the hardware and earned his time here.

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Laura's record is more impressive than MJ's.. Just walk in G. Rollie and look up at the banners.. Not sure where you are going with that..

Unless I'm mistaken, none of LC's banners has "Champion" on them. I think that was the point of the comparison to MJ.

I dunno, but she sure has had more post season success.

Quantity, meet quality.