bierce

Yes and no. O'Neal was a superb talent as a middle blocker both as a blocker and as a hitter, and none of us will ever forget her 5 ace performance against Nebraska. But Singletary was terrific this year. When she had a strong blocker next to her (like Kahahawai, who played very little all year), the lid was on. Singletary unfortunately was not often paired with strong blockers on the front line. As a result, she had 18 solo blocks this year to O'Neal's ten in her final season, but O'Neal had slightly more total blocks per set, because she often had strong blockers beside her in Phillips and Swindle. Singletary didn't have much help in blocking when she was on the floor because Kahahawai played so little. I think we'll be fine next year despite losing a plethora of hitters. Singletary and Ames should be a great duo of middle blockers. Kahahawai hit much more strongly this year than in years past. We'll find a plug in immediately gem in the incoming class of hitters (Spears, Vander Wal, Gaido). Lauenstein may be ready to function again. Byrd should have something to say about who plays. We may not be natty chasing fine, but we'll undoubtedly have a good team again.

It's not that Carlson is a bad setter. She is a very good setter, and we got on rolls this year with her playing full time, it's just . . . why? Swindle was AVCA Southwest region freshman of the year. All region honorable mention. All conference rookie team. Final Four all-tournament team. Third on the team in blocks. Fourth on the team in aces. Second on the team in digs. Had 96 kills. And for that she got benched. That was truly bizarre roster management to me. Service error totals were kind of high, but so what when she brought so much else to our team? We just saw what can happen when the opposing setter is a good attacker. Our blockers were usually unprepared, and if the prepared for the setter attack, then they couldn't shift in time to close with our outside hitter to wall off their outside hitter, leaving us susceptible to cross court shots. We missed that in our offense this year. We missed that badly. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- Elliott is a hall of fame coach, and I'm just a guy who still has hair on his head and has an internet connection. He knows 100x what I do about volleyball. But I will never understand the decision to bring someone in to take over from Swindle, no matter how good a player that someone was.

Singletary and Ames are a very good blocking duo, but they need more help from the outside hitters in blocking. Kahahawai was our only outside hitter who was a plus as a blocker. Wenaas, Skinner, and Rutherford aren't very strong at it. That is another area in which Swindle was hugely valuable last year. She had 92 blocks last year. This year she and Carlson combined for only 27. I just never understood Elliott's decision to bring in another setter instead of another great back line player.

How mechanical does my voice sound?

Ten blocks to two was the biggest difference.

Skinner blocked on the first one. Match. We hit .200. on the match. .024 in the last set.

Wenaas shoves one over to keep us alive. 23-20. Kahahawai set too close. Dink blocked. four match points.

Creighton kill. Singletary block, Carlson back in. Creighton block. 22-18. Wenaas kill weakside. 22-19. Net violation called on Texas. 23-19. Challenge. Kahahawai's left arm got it.

Creighton kill crosscourt. I think we're nearing the end here, but Ames kills one on the slide. 18-14. Swindle finally back in. Long rally ends in near joust, but Creighton knocking it out. 18-15. Wenaas blocked. 19-15. Swindle and hitters not quite in sync. Creighton through block. 20-15. Serve error. 20-16. Creighton swing into the net. 20-17.

Looks just out on review. Confirmed. 17-13.

Kahahawai just killed one. She's out leading percentage hitter among out outside hitters today. Creighton off block wide. Skinner crosscourt called out. 17-13. Texas challenge. Looked good to me.

Creighton on a roll again, thanks to some return errors, including a gaffe by Skinner, and us still not being alert about their setter killing instead of setting. That is 6 on the match for her. 15-12 Creighton We have 2 blocks this match. Both shared by Ames/Kahahawai.

No, fourth set tied at 10 right now.

Creighton kill. set.

Wenaas his wide with no touch. 24-18. Singletary punched one in from middle position. 24-19. Creighton back row hit long. 24-20. Creighton hit wide. 24-21. Timeout Creighton.

Creighton off block. 12-17. We just aren't getting the ball to Singletary and Ames enough. Creighton weakside kill. Skinner can't dig it out. 22-17. Serve error. 22-18. creighton middle hit goes wide but a touch. 23-18

Creighton kill. Skinner middle back swing went wide. 19-17. Creighton off block. 20-17. Been here every set so far.

Creighton setter again with the dump. 16 all. I can't believe we aren't on that yet. Ace. 17-16 Creighton Skinner kill. 17 all

Creighton hit long. Kahahawai is in 14-13. Creighton kill. 14 1ll Kahahawai kill. 15-14 Kahahawi wid from weakside 15 all Skinner rolled one Creighton couldn't pick up. 16-15 Texas

Singletary will serve return and kill from middle. 13-11. Skinner "kill" by making a dig with her shoulder and having it find open floor. then Singletary gets one the traditional way with a middle smash. 13 all

Skinnner serve into net. Looked like a mishit. 10-8. Tight pass saved by Carlson. Middle kill Ames. 10-9. Creighton middle kill. 11-9. Skinner offspeed from back row turned into a kill by Creighton back row. No offspeed there. Wenaas kill. Creighton kill. 13-10.

Creighton kill strongside. 7-5. Skinner through the blockers. 7-6 Halter serve into net. 8-6. Creighton serve long. 8-7 Creighton setter threw down another one. 9-7. Creighton serve long. 9-8.

Skinner back row kill. Creighton dink. 6-2. Singletary middle. 6-3. Skinner kill strongside after rally. 6-4. Creighton way long on slide. 6-5.

Wenaas off tape out of bounds. Skinner kill back row. 1-1. Texas dig goes out of bounds. 2-1 Creighton Akana return goes wild. 3-1. Overpass leads to Creighton kill. 4-1. Singletary blocked. 5-1. Timeout Texas.

Creighton off block middle back row hit. 21-19. Halter dig goes over for a smash by Creighton mb. 22-19. Skinner hit wide. 23-19. Another middle back row smash by Creighton after long rally. 24-19. 25-19 after another long rally. We were playing patty-cake over those last 6 points, getting no good swings. Carlson was setting, btw.