Seems to be a lot of interest in the upcoming volleyball season.

New coach will usually do that. Look at football

As much as I respected and liked the Corbelies, a change was needed. Coach Bird brings a new style of play and a fresher approach to the game. I think we will be improved.

rugger74 said:

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As much as I respected and liked the Corbelies, a change was needed. Coach Bird brings a new style of play and a fresher approach to the game. I think we will be improved.

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It will be interesting. The coaching staff will interject a new culture to the program. As for improved this year these will be all of the Corbelli's recruits playing into a new system. Will we be better depends on your definition. I think our record will be better but we had the number one strength of schedule last year so our record was a bit misleading. Lose an outside hitter best middle and libero from last years team. I think we might not be as good this year on the court but in the win loss column probably better. I hope we gel quickly with new staff and we improve at a good rate as the season progresses which we didn't do at all last season

A&M added Ashley Dusek, three-time SEC Libero of the Year, as a volunteer coach.

I've always liked the Libero mentality and think that's an impressive accomplishment.

https://volleymob.com/texas-am-tabs-ashley-dusek-as-volunteer-assistant/

What happened to Camryn Kotlarz? I noticed she is no longer on the roster but appears to still be in school?

classof2019 said:

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What happened to Camryn Kotlarz? I noticed she is no longer on the roster but appears to still be in school?

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She was released from the team in the spring.

I would think wins and losses should improve just by not playing as brutal a schedule.

natvet said:

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classof2019 said:

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What happened to Camryn Kotlarz? I noticed she is no longer on the roster but appears to still be in school?

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She was released from the team in the spring.

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Whats the backstory on this? 6'4" hitter who sat our her sr year to come to A&M early getting cut? Seems really odd

classof2019 said:

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natvet said:

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classof2019 said:

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What happened to Camryn Kotlarz? I noticed she is no longer on the roster but appears to still be in school?

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She was released from the team in the spring.

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Whats the backstory on this? 6'4" hitter who sat our her sr year to come to A&M early getting cut? Seems really odd

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She sat out her senior year from an ankle injury/surgery(I think). Did not recover well? Perhaps the new coaches wanted to go a different way.

Curious as to why Samantha Sanders didn't play today. Just saw stats online and didn't see anything from her. Is she injured?

Transfer from Houston who sat out last year played a bit

Didn't really switch up the lineups as much as you would in a scrimmage/exhibition match.

It seemed like both coaches would make changes toward the end of sets and that would not be done if winning was all that mattered. More along the lines of subtle things that would continue the match longer for more playing time while still getting the girls on the court to play hard.

It is early in the season in a match that ultimately doesn't matter but I saw a lot of last years team issues still there which is to be expected with the personnel being the recruits of the old coach

russaggie said:

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Curious as to why Samantha Sanders didn't play today. Just saw stats online and didn't see anything from her. Is she injured?

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not sure if it was her, but there was a tall girl who looked to me kind of like her roster pic sitting courtside with the yell leaders wearing an injury boot.

not sure if it was her, but there was a tall girl who looked to me kind of like her roster pic sitting courtside with the yell leaders wearing an injury boot.
That was Stephanie Aiple.
Samantha did not play.

natvet said:

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not sure if it was her, but there was a tall girl who looked to me kind of like her roster pic sitting courtside with the yell leaders wearing an injury boot.
That was Stephanie Aiple.
Samantha did not play.

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thanks. I should watch more but I tend to focus on wbb and then soccer for the women.

natvet said:

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not sure if it was her, but there was a tall girl who looked to me kind of like her roster pic sitting courtside with the yell leaders wearing an injury boot.
That was Stephanie Aiple.
Samantha did not play.

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Any indication as to why she did not play? She seemed to have a decent year last year. I realize there's a different staff, but was wondering if there are specifics.

russaggie said:

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natvet said:

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not sure if it was her, but there was a tall girl who looked to me kind of like her roster pic sitting courtside with the yell leaders wearing an injury boot.
That was Stephanie Aiple.
Samantha did not play.

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Any indication as to why she did not play? She seemed to have a decent year last year. I realize there's a different staff, but was wondering if there are specifics.

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I do no know the coaches reasons, but her replacement at the opposite hitter(right side) is 6' 3" and is a better blocker because of that size.

Morgan Davis played a bit in the middle and also RS last year depending on Reasor and Blake's injuries. Sanders played some on the right and quite a bit on the outside when McGee was out in concussion protocol.
This team the way it is set up will be dependent upon passing and getting Hans some 1 on 1 attack opportunities by holding the middle blocker in system or moving Hans around which I would like to see more of. I wish I had gotten to see some more of the freshman setter this past exhibition match

Supposedly we have a top 100 recruit coming next year that many believe should be a top 50. We need two of those per year along with a diamond in the rough to make some noise on the SEC and national stage

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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Last night 3-0 Pepperdine !

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This morning, 3-0!

Two wins over Pepperdine ?

Plus a win over Nicholls 3-0 !

A five set loss to Missouri State ends the tourney although by set I think TAMU won the tourney however I would chalk this up as a loss this weekend.

We out hit out dug had more aces blocks and kills and a greater hitting percentage against an inferior team but still lost. The one other category that we won against them was playing tight and trying not to lose rather than trying to win

I saw a lot of positives and I think the players are in the correct positions with the middle position being between say three players for two spots. But the same problems that plagued last year team seem to still be there although some bright spots. I expected a lot of what I saw last year with a roster that was pretty much the same. What I was hoping for is to see a culture change and system change but I saw a team that can play as a front runner but not a come from behind team. We had a lead in set four 19-17 and gave up 8 straight points to lose. In set five we are ahead and give up 6 straight points to lose. Set two we let them take a lead and come back but can't close it out. Those are things we need to work on before SEC play starts. The same Missouri State team lost to Alabama 3-1 and Alabama was in the bottom tier last season

I hope the team can get a new identity under the coaching staff quickly because the first three matches of SEC play will likely be against teams that will be fighting for 3-7th in the SEC

"The same Missouri State team lost to Alabama 3-1 and Alabama was in the bottom tier last season"

Boy that does not bode well for the conference season!

Looks like the same problems of not being able to finish a game/match as we had last year.

What is it? Lack of leadership on the team? No killer instinct? It seems like, when the going gets tough nobody gets going. Or is it just a lack of talent that will have to be corrected over time? After all we were demolished by Ohio state and penn state already this year, which is understandable. That is a talent issue. But to lose at home to Missouri state, that's another matter.

Didn't really want to create a new thread on this but just an interesting side note.

John Corbelli is now coaching for our local club boys team. Their daughter is already a coach in the same club.

https://www.austinsportscenter.com/home/news/2018/09/07/john-corbelli-to-coach-for-ajv-boys

Not looking forward to conference play. We aren't as good as last year IMO. Losing to Missouri State was bad enough but then to lose to Oklahoma twice this weekend shows a lot. Fully expected to be 10-2 after preseason slate. 7-5 with teams below us last year beating teams we lost against

7-5, with wins over cupcakes. Gonna be a long year, not sold on the new staff.
The good news is the SEC is a weak conference.

Both ole miss and Tennessee who have been in the bottom while we were at the top both have beaten Ohio State who demolished us.

We can't close. I am all for giving new staff a chance but I see the same problems as last season. I will reserve judgment for when Bird gets her players in mayo program but I will say that I did expect a culture change and that is not seen from the eye of VB fans

Leadership is lacking on the floor it seems. No one look fiery on the court

They are attacking from back row better this year. However other than Hans they really don't have anyone that can kill the ball.

These coaches are way in over their heads. It's going to be a long season.

I don't know if they are over their heads but what is the change they can make. The Corbelli's for years won with defense and passing this dedicated on ball control. The team lost its way for a couple of years at the same time we scheduled way too much and lost all Americans early before expected. But we were also stagnant in that we were solid fringe top 25 program but other than the year we won the SEC was a perennial second round and done

Even the year we were great we got a VERY underseeded Hawaii team who played the best volleyball for a week and half which coincided with their trip to Reed. I could see a change might be necessary but expected them to have one more year. I think the Corbelli staff had changed recruiting for height but we don't have freak athletes like some top programs. Bird may recruit those type of players and then we will see how it goes. But regardless I am behind this team program and staff but honestly expected no lower than 9-3 at this point probably 10-2. Only LSU has looked worse than what was expected of them similar to ours. The SEC has gotten better but still as a collective group have some WTF matches and more this season that I ever expected

Week 4 predictive RPI came out today. We are 10th in a 13 team conference at 68th overall. Now this is not the end all be all but it expects us to finish 16-14 overall for the season.

What troubles me also is the following state of Texas programs are ahead of us in this predictive RPI

6 Texas
17 Baylor
35 Texas Tech
37 Rice
41 Texas State
58 SFA
67 Houston
68 Texas A&M

While this is not the best measuring stick at all it is scary even to be close to some of those programs
We should easily be the second program in Texas and we are not. I am not saying this is on current coaching staff or the old staff but whatever combination of factors it is troubles me as a VB fan. It is not like we don't have height. We are probably the tallest we have ever been on the roster in regards to front row players

Is there a good source of recruiting news? How have we been recruiting the last 4-5 years? There is so much talent in Texas coming out of high school, it's hard to believe we are in the situation we are in.

Generally speaking under the Corbelli staff recently we would get a top 30 recruit and maybe a fringe top 100-150 per year.

Our last three top 30s were
Stephanie Aiple
Kaitlyn Blake
Hollan Hans

In 2017 we got three I think in top 100 but all of them were in the 90s or so with Conner Patterson and Davis I think
Not sure of where the 2018 group entered in terms of rankings but one was cut I heard
For 2019 we have two. One in the 90s who is probably close to top 50. She is the sister of Morgan Davis out of Florida. We also got a top 20 girl who was a Bird recruit I believe not a Corbelli recruit.

Like I have said before give the new staff time to get system and players into program
Regardless of any rankings to have so many programs above us in Texas is ridiculous in a VB hotbed. And most of those programs did it with recruiting well below us with exception of Texas of course and maybe Baylor the last two years.