I was thinking about our schedule this weekend and I might be really off base here, but I wandered if we find ourselves in the position of being a sort of "unhappy medium". That is to say that some of the major programs do not want us on the schedule because we are potentially good enough to take a match from them, but we might also struggle later in the season and thus we can become a "bad loss".

I could be totally off and maybe nobody at that level thinks about matches like that, but it was a possibility in my mind.

TLDR: just keep winning the matches in front of us and BTHOtexasstate

I did not think we looked that great overall and looked pretty pedestrian in the first set and that is beginning 3 matches in to be a somewhat troubling trend. We need to improve especially our starts quickly before we play Wisconsin and tu.

Look at college volleyball as a whole in the early season. No one was looked great necessarily. We are 3 matches in, but this team has the potential to make a strong run before the 2025 recruits step on campus

Everyone is playing early and nec=ver the greatest VB

But that first serve challenge with those teams in Milwaukee are playing at a way higher level than us right now


Iron sharpens iron while we play plastic

I have only been able to watch sparingly. Any thoughts on whether we should expect increased production over last year from our two outsides? That has been the biggest question mark for me. After watching Maddie at Katy for four years, I fully expected the setting to stabilize, which is great to hear that it has.

Seems like the low difficulty of the play schedule this year is on purpose as coach rebuilds the program. There has been a bad trend in recent years of limping into the 2nd half of the season. I think Morrison has alluded to the teams wearing out. Increasing team chemistry is top priority while adding key pieces each year to eventually start fielding a full team of high talent.

I think defensively we still have work to do. We need to have quality digs in order to counter attack effectively. I could be wrong but my observation is we want to feed Lednicky but a lot of her touches come from difficult sets which contributes to her hitting errors or just tip overs.

Hellmeuth is going to be high error high reward. She has a unique swing, but she brings intangibles to the table which we haven't had in the past. Humphrey will be a stabilizing force, strong arm, good IQ, boot ball control. Both have great attitudes and fit the culture. That will be the biggest difference.

Casual observer here, Monday's game against CC was the first of the season I've watched. Why/how did Waak beat our Manning for the setter position? From what I recall Manning's settings capabilities (from watching last year) seemed more accurate than Waak's (from watching Monday).

Regarding schedule, I thought it was interesting to hear Morrison talk about how he dislikes the current RPI system because it discourages playing difficult non-con games. He specifically said that had an impact on our relatively easy early season schedule. Probably for the top team this is less of a concern since they will get the benefit of the doubt come tourney time, but when you are an up and comer (possible bubble team) I suppose you have to be more strategic in your scheduling. I don't really know how it all works...just thought it was interesting since you mentioned it. With all the new faces, I don't mind a few cupcakes to work the kinks out. Wisky will be a good test to see where we really are.

Orome said:

---

Casual observer here, Monday's game against CC was the first of the season I've watched. Why/how did Waak beat our Manning for the setter position? From what I recall Manning's settings capabilities (from watching last year) seemed more accurate than Waak's (from watching Monday).

---

Ran a 6-2 system last year. This year a 5-1. If that is the way going forward then whoever has the better connection with middles and Lednicky should run the offense.

I thought Waak got better over the course of the match but the first 20 or so points of the first set the set location wasn't good.

As for schedule last year we played a ton of teams that won their conference or participated in the NCAA the year before. I don't see that out of the teams this year but maybe I hadn't looked closely enough to our opponents but Wisconsin IMO is the only measuring stick pre conference that will tell us anything

Wicked Good Ag said:

---

As Swollen Thumb said our first contact is much better...first time in a long time that i havent said to begin the year passing is our main issue from the very beginning


I think we look a bit better than last year at this time but i also realize we havent played anyone with a pulse yet

If we want to be a player in VB one of the biggest hurdles in post season play is now gone...we wont be sent to Austin to lose a 3-1 match in the second round but the schedule doesnt look like a team that is proving itself at all

While we play the South Alabama, TAMU CC, and McNeeses the top schools are [laying other top 10 teams

---

The problem is RPI. Jamie doesn't like it because it is easily manipulated. But we are going to take advantage until it changes.

We play teams that we can win but should provide us with a bit of a challenge. But also, the teams we play should do well in conference play and give us an RPI boost at the end of the season.

We will get to playing top 10 teams soon enough with Wisconsin Sept 21 and tu Sept 27.

Quote:

---

Unranked SMU pulled off a stunning upset against No. 2 Nebraska on Tuesday night, sweeping the Huskers 25-23, 25-21, 25-18 in front of a record-breaking crowd of 6,773 at Moody Coliseum. The victory marked Nebraska's first loss of the season and their first defeat against an unranked team since 2017.

---

Wisconsin is already 0-3 and playing at Baylor and #21 TCU this week (B10 schools - beware the protestants of Texas). They better get their crap together in a hurry or wait until conference play starts.

Gap said:

---

Quote:

---

Unranked SMU pulled off a stunning upset against No. 2 Nebraska on Tuesday night, sweeping the Huskers 25-23, 25-21, 25-18 in front of a record-breaking crowd of 6,773 at Moody Coliseum. The victory marked Nebraska's first loss of the season and their first defeat against an unranked team since 2017.

---

---

The broadcasters said SMU has 7 5th year seniors. They looked athletic and played very well. Nebraska's OH and OPP hitters were stuffed over and over and what got through were dug up. Even the shanked digs seem to at the least go back over the net. I thought Nebraska's middles were doing very well so I don't know why they didn't set them more.

Nebraska's serve receive had major issues. They had communications miscues several times with girls getting in each other's way. Not used to seeing that from a team of that caliber.

I don't know anything about SMU's coach but they seem to be on the right track as far as recruiting the right players using transfer portal to jump start the program. They are also in the hotbed of Texas volleyball. I would say they are maybe a year or two ahead of the Aggie program, at least to my eyes.

Interesting…..serve receive killed them in the championship game last year also.

Wicked Good Ag said:

---

Player stats are on the big scoreboard now above the court

---

Ok, well we sit in the north end of the court, so we can't see the big scoreboard.

Article in the Batt this morning:

https://thebatt.com/sports/aggies-aim-to-stay-unbeaten-in-fish-camp-match-against-bobcats/

GAME DAY!!!!!

Matchup:
TEXAS A&M (3-0) vs texas state (3-1)
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Reed Arena

Howdy y'all! It's game day in Aggieland and our ladies are set to take on Texas State in a match that I expect to be fun and thrilling as Reed is rocking! If you haven't been paying attention, Morrison and crew have been out lobbying to get everyone to Reed tonight! I love the effort to #PACKREED home court advantage can be beneficial in this sport!

Texas State is coming off their first at large tournament selection last season and entering their 5th year of a coach that is 97-38! They have a solid program down in San Marcos! They return nearly everyone from that squad including Sun Belt Conference defensive player of the year in Middle Jade Defraeye, as well as hitter Samantha Wunsch, setter Ryann Torres, and Libero Alyssa Ortega! Aside from Defraeye who hails from France, there is only one other non Texan on their roster!! They have a well rounded team and have victories over Houston Christian, Texas Southern, and UTSA and got swept by Rice!! I think we can easily sweep this one but we have to play mentally sharp and pick them a part with our versatility!

https://instagr.am/p/C_lAxgnupaU

As posted in the graphic, it's fish camp night! So expect it to get rowdy!!! Things I wanna see tonight is our serve being sharper and more efficient! I wanna see us continue to setting the middles, and I wanna see some great blocking at the net!!

I suppose someone just hit "post" 30 minutes too early?





Edit: looks like they deleted it.

SMH need to lock in

Anyone at the game wanna share what the atmosphere is like

Energy is palpable through my tv screen! Student section is packed!!!!

First play is a hammer from Logan Lednicky

Perkins with the kill and a new hair color

LEDNICKY ACE

Aggies with a great start and great energy

BLOCK PARTY GOING ON IN REED

DEFENSE IS ON POINT

10-5 Aggies to start the match