bierce

That was a disaster. Texas won the first two sets, but lost the match. Teams were tied 15 all in the fourth set, but Miami outscored us 25-14 the rest of the way. Miami is undefeated so far this year, having beaten IU 3-1 last night, but this match was just awful. Texas hit just .176 for the match and just .034 over the last two sets. Swindle hit 1.000 by getting her one dump to fall in, but no other Texas player hit better than .300 (Ames 6 kills, 3 errors in 10 swings). Texas either hit into blockers or hit long the last set and a half. Skinner finished hitting just .103 (20 kills, 14 errors in 58 swings) and Wenaas .152. Meanwhile, Texas had 0 blocks over the last two sets. Once again, Carlson was the primary setter early in the match, and we won two of the three sets in which she was the primary setter. Swindle was used quite a bit as the setter in the fourth set. Carlson was the setter in the fifth set. Elliott knows the game and his players 1000 times better than I do, but I just don't get why he wanted to change setters after we won the natty with Swindle as a freshman.

Notre Dame is always overrated. It just threw away its cakewalk into the playoffs. If it loses even one more game now, it should be eliminated from consideration.

Something to ponder around 11:00 pm on 1/20/25, not now.

This is just a casual observation, but I think we're better than they are.

There may be the desire to run an offense that rotates setters in the back row so we can have three strong attackers on the front row nearly all the time. When Lauenstein starts playing, it's hard to see how we have room for Skinner, Wenaas, Rutherford, Singletary, Ames, and Lauenstein if we have setters who rotate onto the front line.

She doesn't seem to be hurt. I don't know if Carlson getting the most PT is due to Elliott wanting her to get in sync with the hitters or Elliott having decided Carlson is a better option as setter, but I thought the addition of Carlson to a team that just won the title with a freshman setter was a little odd. Carlson has shown an ability to make sets from really awkward positions, and that is a big plus in her favor. Carlson's one handed set tonight to Singletary in the middle from a near overpass was a thing of beauty, but Swindle has a year of working with our hitters, and she has huge value as a setter with plus height, blocking skills, and ability to make the dump when the defense is napping, so I don't really get the rationale for replacing her. Having two reliable setters is better than having just one, but I'm not sold on the idea that Carlson deserves the majority of PT. She is a great player, but so is Swindle.

Carlson and the hitters seem to be getting more on track. Second set slow start was mostly due to poor service returns. IU hit only .074 on the match. Texas was credited with only 5 blocks, but there were plenty of IU swings that wound up back on IU's side of the net. I don't know why Lauenstein hasn't played yet, but it's not like we exactly need her right now. Rutherford had her best match for us so far, and we got several kills from Skinner and Wenaas hitting opposite as well as from Singletary and Ames on the slide.

Glad to help. Absolutely love the sport.

IU hit from middle position went wide. Match. Singletary and Rutherford combined for 17 kills in 24 swings. That's an incredible stat. Texas defense held IU to .074 hitting thanks to deflections by the blockers and great digs by the back row. Nice way to bounce back from the loss to Minnesota.

Wenaas block went out of bounds. Kahahawai had a deflection and a decent swing that point. Next point, Kahahawai got the kill. I have to feel for her having to wait another year for a chance to contribute in a big way. She got blocked on the next point. 24-21 Texas. Skinner flubbed service return. 24-22.

IU kill leader has only 6 kills so far.

Carlson makes it three in a row. 21-19 Texas. Skinner crushed it hitting opposite side. 22-19. Wenaas with strong kill from strong side. 23-19. timeout IU. That was a long point with a couple of good digs by Texas.

Halter goofed the return, saved by someone and Rutherford rolled it to a spot where it fell in. Then IU hit one that might have gone long, but Wenaas got a hand on it. 19-17. rutherford with a smash off the face of the IU libero. 20-17. Service error. 20-18. IU responds with the same. 21-18.

Long review. Point Texas. Ball was out. Swindle serving into net. 18-16.

BTW, IU presents another of the many bald NCAA volleyball coaches.

IU service error folklwed by IU kill. Then a long point with alot of stuff endinng with IU throw shot out of bounds. IU challenge. 18-15 Texas subject to challenge.

IU serve long. 16-13. Texas had that one after IU overpuassed and Swindle sent it back, but back line wasn't ready for the quick freeball to back line. 16-14.

Rutherford off block lands in. 13-11. Skinner went way long. 13-12. IU serve into net. 14-12. Akana serving. Great dig by Halter. Kill by Skinner. 15-12. Another great dig by Halter, but Texas swing returned, and IU gets dink to drop. 15-13.

Skinner served into the net. 11-10 Great dig by Swindle led to Wenaas kill with 2 hand push. IU kill. 12-11 Texas.

halter serving but no run this time. IU kill down line. 8 all SKinner back row hit goes into the net. 9-8 IU IU way long. 9 all Ames, Rutherford, Wenaas now on front line. IU can't return serve. 10-9 Texas. Bad pass led to set over the net for easy kill by Rutherford. Assist IU. 11-9. Timeout IU.

Singletary dink on slide. 6-5. Singletary/Swindle block. 6-6. Wenaas solo block ruled out. 7-6 IU Skinner nuke from back row. 7-7. IU goes wide 8-7 Texas.

IU ace. Wenaas sprayed it. 5-1. Singletary dink middle picke up but overpassed and Skinner put it down. 5-2. Skinner dink. 5-3. Not best set by Swindle. Halter with another as6-4. sist with over the head bump set to Skinner. 5-4. IU off block out of bounds.

IU with a back row kill. 1-0 IU IU with kill off block. Texas has yet to get a real swing. 2-0. IU ace. Another bad start. 3-0. Rutherford off block. 3-1. Swindle setting. IU dink off block. 4-1.

Halter has 6 assists. Whoa.

Finished the set with a 15-5 run. Texas hitting .429 for the match. IU hitting -.023.