TheOne1, you said what I've been thinking. And back injuries are fairly common for hitters, per our ortho sports doc a few years ago when dealing with that with our daughter.

Let's not speculate. "Back injury" can be anything. It's like saying "leg injury". Is it joint, bone, nerve, muscular, etc??? We don't know and all are very different and could range from minor to more serious.

Even though she couldn't go, the fact that she tested it out yesterday suggests (hopefully) it's probably not structural and something less serious like a tweaked muscle. Ever lifted something wrong and pulled a lower back muscle? Did it make you wince when moving around for a while? Yes. Did it cause you life long neurological debilitation? No. No it didn't.

Let's just see how things go and not speculate Stowers year away just yet.

I posted in the other forum but will post here from now on:

My thoughts regarding yesterday's match:

- I like Musgrove more as a setter and I'd like to see us run a 5-1.
- Fitch was outstanding today. She had a couple of bad passes early but I thought overall she did a really good job on serve receive and her offense is solid. (There is room for improvement here but she had a lot of great digs and passes)
- Morris played well but I really don't love her serving. She really doesn't wind up and smash the ball but she is effortless and effective.
- Ring has GREAT energy and will get better as she gets more comfortable. She has hit a LOT of balls long in the first 2 matches.
- I really expected Castle to be a lot better. She has been basically non-existent in the first two matches. She is obviously skilled but she has a ways to go.
- Sharp is MB 1 in my opinion, both offensively and defensively. She didn't have a very good day either but much better than Castle.
- We have to block A LOT better.
- Gabi Rodriguez is probably our best overall player already (aside from Stowers). She is REALLY good!
- Need more Addi Applegate but our setter rotation is keeping her off the floor.

Stowers is going to make everyone better and solve a lot of problems but we have to get her right and not rush her back!

PS - Favor was incredible for SMU today. She was a wall on the other side of the court!

Didn't get to see the match, just read the threads from this weekend. Hearing the team seemed disjointed was somewhat disappointing, if not surprising. Hearing a few people talk about energy levels is surprising; that should never happen, certainly not at this level. Was that a general takeaway for people that watched? I would expect JM to view that pretty harshly if true. They may not be the most talented, at this point in the season anyways. Lack of energy/effort should never be a possibility.

I agree Flu. Also agree with Wicked's thoughts. Always appreciate some of the shared insights.

I didn't really get the sense of low energy or effort. But more frustration than we are used to from an Aggie team. Last year, you can literally feel the positive energy emanating from our side of the court even during tough times.

What I didn't see from our team last year that I'm seeing from this year's team is what I call a "negative celebration". When a team isn't doing well but a player does something great to earn a point and yells out a "Let's go!", the energy is actually negative showing frustration with the player herself or with the team. When we saw last year's team do something similar, it always felt like an uplifting moment for the team.

Moments from last year that you may remember with the TV cameras on a player are Hudson and Choboy. Negative celebration.

(edited original comment to be more clear)

flintdragon, thanks for the response. Something people commented on in a roundabout way is Louisville and SMU were pretty good - what's your take? Are these two teams that might be in the final eight come year-end? If that's the case it's a tough start to the season for a new team trying to gel and also missing a critical piece in Stowers to both contribute and stabilize the team when times get rocky.

Absolutely possible. Starting the year against two (essentially) top 10 teams with an entire new starting lineup is a BIG ask.