Ags trail 2-1 after 3 games (30-23, 24-30, 27-30). Led 27-23 in game 3.

Ags drop game 4 23-30.

Tonight was an up and down ride. We showed flashes of downright brilliance, and moments of utter...well...not so brilliant moves.

I have an idea as to where we went wrong tonight, but I don't like it. I don't wanna say it. I wanna be convinced that I'm wrong, as I am so many times. I wanna know that there is somehow something else at fault other than what I think it is. I'm going to do the smart thing and leave at this game was ours for the taking. I'm just too frustrated to make rational thoughts. I invite some of you other guys to do the same.

I have a lot to say. I just don't want the sunshine pumpers to jump my case when I do.

The game was ours for the taking. Just like every other game.

note: no thesaurus was consulted for this post.

What is wrong with our volleyball team? We used to be in the top 15 yearly. Now we can't even stay above .500 in conference. I don't get it.

Maximus

does it start with a C and ends with orbelli?

ditto

Hmm, that's part of it. Still too pissed to really talk about it (I was throwing #@$! around the room when I got home, that's how mad I was).

So i'm new to this site but i'm a big fan of volleyball. I went to the game last night and here's a few of the glaring problems I noticed.

Our passing is sub-par, particularly serve receive of float serves. K-state's 6-3+ russian Natalya Korobkova was absolutely bombing jump serves (when she got them in) and receiving it didn't really give us trouble. When Stacy Spielberg stepped up to serve a relatively easy float serve we had several shanks (it was on her serve that K-state had a 7-0 run to come from behind and win game 3). What made our passing look even worse was the incredible ability of K-state's libero and DS's to put up perfect passes on nearly every ball on a two man serve receive (we generally use three and sometimes even four to receive serve). I can't say if the problem is not recruiting adequate defensive players or lack of coaching and instruciton, but something HAS to be done about our passing.

Our new setter Schevy is an incredible improvement over last year. She has a great set of hands and can easily place the ball where she wants. Because this is still early in her first season with the team, I can understand she isn't quite comfortable setting all the players yet, but there are two big improvements i think we need to work on in regards to setting. The first is increasing the amout of swings taken by the middles (and i understand this is directly in relation to the quality of passing, because a pass 5 feet of the net makes running a middle very difficult) but there were a number of good passes that the setter either tried to dump with not much success or just pushed to the outside. I would suggest that the way our passing is now, we should be running a middle or quick set to the right every time there is a good pass, because the outsides are already taking a ton of swings just from the bad passes. The second big change I think we need is to lower the trajectory of sets to the outside in order to let the outsides beat the other team's middle blocker and have a better chance of getting through the block. The big 12 conference is full of big blockers and no matter how good an outside hitter is she will have a hard time getting kills against a well set double block.

Our team's hitting is fairly strong. We have tons of talent and the middles are exceptionally well coached and trained (i'm sure it helps that the head coach was a middle in her playing days with olympic experience). I'm especially impressed with the development of Jillian Phillips-she has shown flashes of brilliance this season in hitting and blocking and even moves around very well on the roations where she stays in the back row before the libero comes in. I think the outsides really need to work on tooling the block, because as long as we are having to run the outsides on high sets in transition, they will always be going against a well set double (or sometimes even triple) block. The other big problem with hitting (and setting) is the back row hitting. I like having the middle back as an option for the setter, but we can't keep throwing up high sets to the middle back because it allows a triple block to set up every time. Kansas State was especially good at recognizing the back row sets and setting a strong triple block every time. I think we could bring this set a bit lower and further in front of the ten-foot line and let the back middle really jump forward and attack the ball. Both Ammerman and Batis are incredible athletes and have the ablility to go up and get a lower set and it would give them a much better chance for being succesful when hitting out of the back row.

Overall i think there have been a number of improvements in the team this year, but we still have a long way to go in a conerence where the level of play goes up every single year. I would really like to see big improvements in our passing, especially since we are setting the block pretty well now (which should greatly help the back row defensive players). If we can get better passes to the setter it will open up the attack from all across the net. I think we also need to work on mining the Texas High School talent pool more effectively and recruit more top notch players.

give your resume to bill!

you must be Dayton's Coach Horsmon, I am glad your accessing the team you will be inheriting! Gig'em!

you must be Dayton's Coach Horsmon, I am glad your accessing the team you will be inheriting! Gig'em!

Whoop for Jillian!!!! she has had a strong showing this season

Drum - very good, objective without being a banger

Max - you just need to grow up