Adam Lane Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 AUSTIN, Texas – The two-time reigning National Champion Texas Volleyball is the preseason favorite for the 2024 SEC volleyball season, according to the SEC Preseason Coaches Poll. The Longhorns, who will play their inaugural season in the SEC, are preseason conference favorites for the 14th consecutive year. Since 2011, Texas has lost a total of 11 conference matches for a record of 199-11 (.948), which included three perfect records of 16-0 (2013, 2017 and 2020). The Longhorns won their seventh-straight Big 12 Championship in 2023 and won the program's fifth National Championship. The Longhorns landed four players on the Preseason Volleyball All-SEC Team, the most in the league. Madisen Skinner, Emma Halter, Ella Swindle and Reagan Rutherford were the Texas honorees Skinner, a former two-time All-SEC selection at Kentucky, was the 2023 Big 12 Player of the Year and AVCA Southwest Region Player of the Year. She as named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player after leading Texas to it's second-consecutive national title. Rutherford, who is also a former two-time All-SEC selection at Kentucky, was named a third team AVCA All-American in 2023 after averaging 3.47 kills per set with a .315 hitting percentage and 1.53 digs per set. Halter was the Longhorns libero as a sophomore in 2023 and averaged 3.87 digs per set as well as 1.24 assists per set and the second-most aces on the team with 38. She capped her season by being named to the Final Four All-Tournament team. Swindle became just the third true freshman setter to lead her team to a national title and the first since 2016. She averaged 9.54 assists per set, 1.99 digs per set and 0.81 blocks per set and was named to the Final Four All-Tournament team. 2024 SEC Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll (First-Place Votes in Parentheses) School Points 1. Texas (14) 196 2. Florida (1) 174 3. Kentucky 173 4. Georgia 148 5. Tennessee 144 6. Missouri 127 7. Texas A&M 117 8. Arkansas 109 9. LSU 82 10. Auburn 77 11. Oklahoma 73 12. Ole Miss 49 South Carolina 49 14. Mississippi State 42 15. Alabama 15 2024 Volleyball Preseason All-SEC Team Hannah Hogue, Arkansas, S Madison Scheer, Auburn, OH Sophie Fischer, Georgia, MB Kennedy Martin, Florida, OH/RS Alexis Stucky, Florida, S Eleanor Beavin, Kentucky, L Brooklyn DeLeye, Kentucky, OH Emma Grome, Kentucky, S Jurnee Robinson, LSU, OH Sasha Ratliff, Ole Miss, MB Jordan Iliff, Missouri, RS Caroline Kerr, Tennessee, S Emma Halter, Texas, L Reagan Rutherford, Texas, OPP Madisen Skinner, Texas, OH Ella Swindle, Texas, S Ifenna Cos Okpalla, Texas A&M, MB Logan Lednicky, Texas A&M, OP 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 Going to be ALOT more difficult to Three-peat! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 Not at all surprised to see unanimity from the opposing coaches about Texas being the team to beat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 (edited) 1 hour ago, Adam Lane said: Going to be ALOT more difficult to Three-peat! Difficult maybe, but more difficult? I don't think so. Last year we had to replace our top hitter (Eggleston), SKT (our setter), and Fleck (our All-American libero). While O'Neal was nothing short of an absolute goddess at middle blocker and a serving demon to boot, Swindle now has another year of working with Skinner, Wenaas, Singletary, and our other returnees, and we have added an incredible amount of talent with Rutherford (a left-handed hitting opposite who brings a lot more power hitting than Phillips ever did), Ames (a terrific looking combination of middle blocker and opposite hitter), Lauenstein (a very good hitter for Nebraska who sat out last year), and Carlson (a setter who was the Big 12 Freshman of Year for Baylor in 2022). We're so deep that Kahahawai is still buried in the rotation. Singletary, Swindle, and Halter should all be a year better. Preseason #1 all the way. That doesn't guarantee even a final four appearance, but we look stronger going into this August than we did last year. Edited July 11 by bierce 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 11 Author Share Posted July 11 1 minute ago, bierce said: Difficult maybe, but more difficult? I don't think so. Last year we had to replace our top hitter (Eggleston), SKT (our setter), and Fleck (our All-American libero). While O'Neal was nothing short of an absolute goddess at middle blocker and a serving demon to boot, Swindle now has another year of working with Skinner, Wenaas, Singletary, and our other returnees, and we have added an incredible amount of talent with Rutherford (a left-handed hitting opposite who brings a lot more power hitting than Phillips ever did), Ames (a terrific looking combination of middle blocker and opposite hitter), Lauenstein (a very good hitter for Nebraska who sat out last year), and Carlson (a setter who was the Big 12 Freshman of Year for Baylor in 2022). We're so deep that Kahahawai is still buried in the rotation. Singletary, Swindle, and Halter should all be a year better. Preseason #1 all the way. That doesn't guarantee even a final four appearance, but we look stronger going into this August than we did last year. Was referring to the level of competition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Adam Lane said: Was referring to the level of competition. Well, if Nebraska spent the entire spring and summer learning how to return a serve . . . But if you are referring to the conference title, then sure, SEC is way more loaded than the Big 12 was. Edited July 11 by bierce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 11 Author Share Posted July 11 3 minutes ago, bierce said: Well, if Nebraska spent the entire spring and summer learning how to return a serve . . . But if you are referring to the conference title, then sure, SEC is way more loaded than the Big 12 was. I was, as that was the focus of the thread. SEC preseason poll. 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Adam Lane said: I was, as that was the focus of the thread. SEC preseason poll. 😉 OK, but reg season conference titles would be: Back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back (8-peat). Our last season without at least a tie for regular season conference title was 2016. Edited July 11 by bierce 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 11 Author Share Posted July 11 Sorry, not being clear: Hard to three-eat if you do not survive the conference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Adam Lane said: Sorry, not being clear: Hard to three-eat if you do not survive the conference. Maybe, but Elliott's last team that failed to win the conference title made it to the NC match. Didn't win, but it got there. I won't be surprised if SEC has two 1 seeds in 2024 NCAA tournament. Edited July 11 by bierce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted July 11 Moderators Share Posted July 11 Are the national pre-season rankings out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 11 Author Share Posted July 11 9 minutes ago, bierce said: Maybe, but Elliott's last team that failed to win the conference title made it to the NC match. Didn't win, but it got there. I won't be surprised if SEC has two 1 seeds in 2024 NCAA tournament. Have you seen the schedule yet. It is brutal! In addition to the SEC they have Minny, Wisconsin, Stanford they kept Baylor and they play MaT and ou twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 11 Author Share Posted July 11 1 minute ago, Gerry Hamilton said: Are the national pre-season rankings out? Have not seen them yet....will look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 11 Author Share Posted July 11 (edited) As of now, only AVCA Beach Volleyball preseason is out. Edited July 11 by Adam Lane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 9 minutes ago, Adam Lane said: Have you seen the schedule yet. It is brutal! In addition to the SEC they have Minny, Wisconsin, Stanford they kept Baylor and they play MaT and ou twice. OU is not much of a threat, but we do get Kentucky and Florida, our two top challengers for the conference title, on the road. That's not nice. But we won the title in 2023 by playing as a 2 seed in Palo Alto, beating 3 straight #1 seeds, and doing so while dropping just 2 sets and winning the points 260-205 in those three matches. And this year's team should be better than last year's team, the loss of O'Neal, Bergmark, Phillips, and Barnes notwithstanding. Tough schedule to be sure, but that means we will be well-seasoned for tough competition come NCAA tournament time. I don't think the NCAA will penalize us for having that tough of a schedule. And I hope everyone took my advice and watched some replays of the spring exhibition games. Ames is already a major contributor and will be a huge force before she is done here. Singletary is going to be an excellent middle blocker for us. Wenaas is stronger than she was until the Final Four, even taking swings from the back row, and Skinner looks like a good bet to go back to back POY. We have more weapons on the front line than we have ever had. Our last big left-handed hitter on the front line was, um, who again? Our front line depth is ridiculous. This doesn't guarantee anything. We've had some greatly talented teams in the past that were poor at handling a serve, but I like our chances this year very much, thank you. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 If you haven't seen the spring match against Texas State from 2/29/24, it is available on youtube. Singletary and Ames show quite well in that match. We should be fine in the middle this year despite replacing O'Neal and Bergmark. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatdude2 Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Burton Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 Whatever team has Maddie Skinner is not going to lose very often. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 11 Author Share Posted July 11 55 minutes ago, Bobby Burton said: Whatever team has Maddie Skinner is not going to lose very often. True that!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 (edited) The team toured Europe this summer, and appears to have gone 5-0-1 in exhibition matches with the results of a seventh match not given. The tie was 3-3 against the Hungarian National Team. https://www.si.com/college/texas/news/texas-volleyball-wraps-up-european-tour-ahead-of-24-25-season-01hz9pb54aad?utm_source=RSS This is the first I have heard about the tour. I'd love if anyone can provide more details on the matches. Edited July 12 by bierce grammar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Lane Posted July 12 Author Share Posted July 12 (edited) 20 minutes ago, bierce said: The team toured Europe this summer, and appears to have gone 5-0-1 in exhibition matches with the results of a seventh match not given. The tie was 3-3 against the Hungarian National Team. https://www.si.com/college/texas/news/texas-volleyball-wraps-up-european-tour-ahead-of-24-25-season-01hz9pb54aad?utm_source=RSS This is the first I have heard about the tour. I'd love if anyone can provide more details on the matches. I saw some pics out there, but, I do not recall where. Edited July 12 by Adam Lane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southpaw Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 (edited) 29 minutes ago, bierce said: The team toured Europe this summer, and appears to have gone 5-0-1 in exhibition matches with the results of a seventh match not given. The tie was 3-3 against the Hungarian National Team. https://www.si.com/college/texas/news/texas-volleyball-wraps-up-european-tour-ahead-of-24-25-season-01hz9pb54aad?utm_source=RSS This is the first I have heard about the tour. I'd love if anyone can provide more details on the matches. Here's a link to the first match in Istanbul. There are a few others out there as well. There's a thread on another site that has some of the info. You were on that site at one time, but your last login was in March. If you're interested in that, DM me and I'll send the link. https://m.youtube.com/watch?embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.on3.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0NTA2LDE2NDk5LDI4NjY0LDE2NDUwMw&feature=emb_share&v=5WggH7ZNZnM Edited July 12 by southpaw 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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