With a 1-1 week losing at home to RPI #5 Kentucky and winning at #41 MSU our RPI went up to 14 from 17. That is a nice jump and good to be seating in the Top 16 RPI for eventual hosting chances.

Great bounce back win. I don't know if Miss State is a good team but their ranking says they are decent. They haven't lost much but they didn't have a strong pre-conference slate. They did beat Florida though.

We handled them like how a top team should. Nice win!

not surprised at result Sunday. They didn't impress me vs Ol miss on Friday. we did it basically w/o Stowers, so.....

SEC with just four teams in the Top 35.

Pretty top heavy this year.

Edit: This week's RPI futures has the SEC with 4 top 20 teams, and then Florida (43), Auburn (48), Mizzou (49), OU (61), and MSU (62) as teams in the Top 70.

https://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/105067/rpi-futures-2025-week-7

If that holds true it looks like we'll be fortunate to have more than 5 teams make the tourney.

As I watch a LOT more volleyball these days, anyone else as surprised as me how little investment other SEC schools have put into volleyball? Just watching their broadcasts, a lot of gyms and environments are not much better than the D3 programs I've watched when my daughter was playing.

We are lucky to have Morrison spearheading this and probably having an AD from Nebraska has helped.

Not so sure that we have "invested" a lot more into the program

We use a huge arena to play our games in instead of a volleyball specific place like some others do. I would much rather play in something like Gregory then Reed Arena but how big do you make it?


I love the trejectory of our program under Morrison and feel if he stays we will be in the Elite catagory for years to come. This year is because of the senior class and other pieces. What will make us elite after will be all Morrison doing

Looking at our "starting" lineup...it is either transfer portal or one who came in under previous coaching staff with the exception of Applegate. I think Fitch will do well whenever she slides into a starting role because i think the development under the coaching staff is really good...just the development has been transfer portal additions which are necessary for the most part.

Transfer portal is here to stay it may be modified over time but will have to be a part of recruiting for all elite schools

Wicked Good Ag said:

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Not so sure that we have "invested" a lot more into the program

We use a huge arena to play our games in instead of a volleyball specific place like some others do. I would much rather play in something like Gregory then Reed Arena but how big do you make it?

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While I understand where you are coming from with Gregory vs Reed, Gregory is a pitiful venue. The seats are incredibly uncomfortable and GA admission sometimes you aren't even sitting in a seat. The intensity that the fans bring is very good but as a venue, it sucks. I'd much prefer something smaller than Reed like Nebraska's Devaney Center but even they are looking to expand to 10K. But their fans show up and make the atmosphere awesome. If more showed up to Reed, I would have no complaints.

That said, I do feel like with all the high tech video and lighting, the atmosphere in Reed is somewhat manufactured but is a billion times better than most of the other SEC volleyball programs. That's where I'm looking as far as investment. A true attempt in increasing interest in the program.

Honestly I think it's hard for most schools to have crazy environments for volleyball. WI and NE are the standard in terms of selling out but you also have to think those schools dont have much else going for them. Volleyball for those schools is everything. I honestly dont see many SEC schools moving to those types of venues. Kentucky is the more established SEC program before Texas and they dont have a good home arena. I doubt even texas would be able to sell out as much as NE and WI do. One thing I do think needs to change is SEC fight for more big time networks like big 10. So many of the big 10 matches are on fox or fs1 wish we could do abc or something bigger to get sec teams more exposure.

I know the LHN sucked for ESPN, but it was pretty cool having almost all of the Texas softball, baseball, and volleyball matches on that I could DVR and watch sans breaks and on my schedule.

I'd like to see more of the SEC's matches broadcast nationally too, although we have less of a baked in audience than the BIG 10 in the sport and arguably less compelling matches in a given season.

This looks like the place for numbers:

Wicked Good Ag said:

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Not so sure that we have "invested" a lot more into the program

We use a huge arena to play our games in instead of a volleyball specific place like some others do. I would much rather play in something like Gregory then Reed Arena but how big do you make it?


I love the trejectory of our program under Morrison and feel if he stays we will be in the Elite catagory for years to come. This year is because of the senior class and other pieces. What will make us elite after will be all Morrison doing

Looking at our "starting" lineup...it is either transfer portal or one who came in under previous coaching staff with the exception of Applegate. I think Fitch will do well whenever she slides into a starting role because i think the development under the coaching staff is really good...just the development has been transfer portal additions which are necessary for the most part.

Transfer portal is here to stay it may be modified over time but will have to be a part of recruiting for all elite schools

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I think Morrison deserves a lot of credit for developing the current senior class too.

ifena has said in interviews that she was struggling with blocking her freshman year, to the point where she was thinking about quitting volleyball. She gives a lot of credit to Jamie for how well she is blocking.

Also, the 2025 class is really the first class Jamie and staff had a full recruiting cycle to get. In volleyball, the recruits are mostly all committed the summer before their senior year, meaning the 2024 kids were committed to schools before Jamie and staff had their first game as Aggies.

No doubt, there will be a lot to replace for next season. Might take a step back, but I think a step back would be about the equivalent of last year's team.

flintdragon said:

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Wicked Good Ag said:

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Not so sure that we have "invested" a lot more into the program

We use a huge arena to play our games in instead of a volleyball specific place like some others do. I would much rather play in something like Gregory then Reed Arena but how big do you make it?

---

While I understand where you are coming from with Gregory vs Reed, Gregory is a pitiful venue. The seats are incredibly uncomfortable and GA admission sometimes you aren't even sitting in a seat. The intensity that the fans bring is very good but as a venue, it sucks. I'd much prefer something smaller than Reed like Nebraska's Devaney Center but even they are looking to expand to 10K. But their fans show up and make the atmosphere awesome. If more showed up to Reed, I would have no complaints.

That said, I do feel like with all the high tech video and lighting, the atmosphere in Reed is somewhat manufactured but is a billion times better than most of the other SEC volleyball programs. That's where I'm looking as far as investment. A true attempt in increasing interest in the program.

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Attendance has been growing significantly, but the current average of about 4k needs to grow more to fill up Reed.

Still a few years away from filling up Reed and have a game in Kyle.