No. 1 Volleyball vs No. 3 Wisconsin — Game Thread — Texas WINS 3-1

[GoHorns1]

Great set

[bierce]

Ok, a few things to note:

Passing and setting was kind of ragged through the first third of that set, but it cleaned up pretty nicely after that.  We had several serving errors, always a no-no.

Rutherford on the weak side can make a big difference.  There's no underestimating the value of strong left handed hitter on the otherwise known as opposite side.

Wenaas looks a little stronger than she did early last year, but she's still a bit of a question mark on her ability to consistently get past a blocker.

Skinner already looks in form to go back to back POY.  Halter is a witch.

[bierce]

I am always amused by the high frequency of baldness among volleyball coaches.

[bierce]

Singletary on the slide.  She and Ames will make losing O'Neal a lot easier to take.

But two service errors already this set.  4-3 Texas.

Singletary with the block.  I love her game.

[bierce]

Wenaas with back to back kills.  First came after offspeed was put back and second swing fell in after getting blocked.  Second was untouched smash to center back.

Now a third straight with a cross court smash, but then she gets blocked on her fourth attack.  8-5 Texas. 

Skinner blocked on back row hit.  8-6

[bierce]

Halter with a dig, saved by Skinner near back stands.  UW sent next swing long.  9-6 Texas.

UW back row kill. 9-7

Wenaas weakside dink picked up, but UW hits into the pole.  10-7.

UW slide kill. 10-8 Texas.

[bierce]

What should be our best rotation of Singletary, Skinner, and Rutherford on the front row was wasted by a service error. 

[bierce]

Skinner getting sets too tight and having to dink.  Finally got a swing but sent crosscourt wide.  4-0 run for UW.  12-11 UW

Edited September 1, 2024 by bierce

[bierce]

Skinner had to dink again, but Singletary got the block on UW swing.  Franklin responded with dink of her own that fell in.  So did her serve off the tape.  15-13 UW

Too many sets right at the net.  Wenaas had to dink.  16-13 UW.  But Singletary was given some room and killed the slide.  16-14

[bierce]

Our hitters and Carlson are not in sync. 

[bierce]

But we still climbed back to tie it at 16.  Lots of dinks by Texas in the last few points.  Not many worked, but UW had some hitting errors, and we got a couple of good swings in there.

But I stand by what I said--Carlson and our hitters aren't making a smooth connection right now.

[bierce]

Our last two points are from UW net violations.  18 all. 

UW hit long.  19-18 Texas.

UW can't clear net with overly aggressive swing by front line player who should have sent a free ball.  20-18 Texas.

Long rally with few attacks by Texas.  ends in Texas in net.  20-19.

UW through Ames, Wenaas block. 20 all

Ace.  21-20 UW.

Edited September 1, 2024 by bierce

[bierce]

Wenaas makes up for net violation with strong swing and kill weakside.

UW responds with center smash from Smrek.  23-21 UW

[bierce]

Another dink from Skinner, but UW can't recover.  23-22 UW

ANOTHER dink from Skinner, but UW can't recover, and we get a block from Singletary and Rutherford.  23 all.

These dinks are driving me crazy, even if UW is having a hard time getting them to setter and hitter and over the net right now.

[bierce]

Franklin smash.  24-23 UW

This time we had to send a dink from the weakside, UW got the hit over, and we couldn't handle it.

25-23 UW.

We hit .167 that set.  Way, way too many times we couldn't get a decent swing.

[Blake Munroe]

Some mental mistakes on that second set cost them imo. 

1-1 through first two. 

[bierce]

"We got to be a little more clear in our attacking."  Elliott on the first two sets.

[bierce]

Rutherford with the cross court kill to start the third set.

UW cross court after a long rally with UW recoverng from a couple of blocks. 

Then skinner hit one so cross court that it didn't clear the net. 

Rutherford cross court.  2 all

[bierce]

Singletary on the slide.  UW block went out.  3-2 Texas.

Singletary, Skinner block.  4-2

Singletary with another slide off block after she stuffed a UW attack but UW recovered and sent free ball to Texas.  5-2 Texas, timeout UW

[bierce]

Our blockers are doing a great job early this set.  Everything UW hits is going back at it. 

[bierce]

Carlson's sets are again being a bit of a problem. 

[bierce]

No doubt about that one.  Huge bomb from Singletary hitting middle.

[bierce]

Ames block wiped out by net violation.  10-8 Texas.

[bierce]

We're up 11-8 this set thanks to blocking and defense.  Our offense is clunking along with offspeed stuff from strong side, weak side, ,and back row.

But Rutherford just got a power swing and kill.  12-8. 

[bierce]

Rutherford off block and cross court out of bounds into the press.  Serve long.  13-9 Texas.