Hottro para Cuatro!

LTK5H

LTK5H

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Don't know that we'll get any professional previews for your Back-to-Back-to-Back Defending SunBelt Conference Champion Texas State Bobcat Volleyball Team, so figured I'd give you a decidedly amateur one.

Couple of caveats, especially if you're related to someone on the team: I watch a fair amount of college VB and have even coached at the youth level (lolz), so I know quite a bit about what I can see in front of me, but I'm not at a level where I can always understand the why. I know when I don't like a rotation or matchup, but I don't necessarily know why it's bad in terms of whether the coach is trying something that isn't working, we're low on subs, etc. I can tell when a player isn't on their game, but not whether it's because she's in a spot she's not usually playing, because someone else is out or the coach is tinkering, etc. I say that to say take my comments with a grain of salt, as I know enough to have a somewhat informed opinion, but certainly not an expert.

At the end of last season, I opined that this program has reached it's potential, and that the goal going forward is to maintain that level. I stand by that - at the conference level, we simply can't get any better than champion, and that's going to be tough to defend. Coastal Carolina with a healthy Anett Nemeth and their talented team of tall Euros is 100% coming for us. At the National Level, making it to the 2nd weekend is going to take a flawless regular season, a P5 upset or two and some seeding luck, so I'll worry about that come December.

The biggest thing Coach Huiet has to do this season is keep everyone focused on playing their best in that specific match. This team has experienced a lot of success over every member's time in SMTX, and when we play poorly vs like or lesser talent, it's usually due to a lackadaisical approach. From a VB standpoint, I think it's a commitment to the basics - we play a very straightforward style with an outstanding setter, so if our serves are in and our passing is on point, we do well. Juggling playing time is going to be key, especially w/ the hitters - there are a LOT of quality OH on this team and only so many reps, especially when we're playing well and sweeping weak teams (the majority of our conf).
 
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LTK5H

LTK5H

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Team Strengths:

Everyone is pretty damn good. No one who has been on this team has ever seen anything less than 24 wins, playing for the conference title, and playing in a national tournament to finish the season. 15 players have 3 SBC Titles and 5 NCAA Tourney matches under their belt - they have known nothing but excellence.
All SunBelt accolades on this team:
Emily DeWalt - 1st Team (3), Setter of the Year (3), Freshman of the Year
Janell Fitzgerald - 1st Team (2), 2nd Team
Tyeranee Scott - 1st Team, 2nd Team
Lauren Teske - 2nd Team

Everyone is experienced. Every team has a player or two that make you scratch your head and ask if this is their 10th year on the squad, but with the free year, this feels more like a pro team from a continuity standpoint. It's not just that they've been here a minute, but that they've been on the floor and leading.
5th year - Brooke Johnson and Tyeranee Scott...and both were starters as freshman!
4th year - Emily DeWalt, Janell Fitzgerald, Jillian Slaughter and Kayla Granato...Emily and Janell were starters from the jump; Jillian and Kayla got starts and/or were in heavy rotation.
3rd year - Caitlan Buettner, Lauren Teske, Tessa Marshall, Courtney Heiser and Kenedi Rutherford
This team is DEEP: 8 players played 100+ sets last season, 10 played in 70+, and 14 played in 30+.

Overall, we have decent size across the board up front and we're deep with it - the offensive players are all right around 6'/6'1" w/ only 2 under, and our S is 5'10" and a willing blocker.
1580

When we swing, we score. Well over half our points come off of kills, and we lead the conference w/ 13.67 kills/set. We hit .234 vs our opponents' .175.
Not surprisingly, we also lead the SBC in assists @ +0.5/set over 2nd, while playing ~50% more sets, and against much better competition.

I wouldn't call our back row defense elite, especially not against the P5 powers that we play. But against everyone that isn't ranked, they were absolute money last year and they all come back this year. Offense starts w/ a clean pass to the setter, so those kills begin on the back row. It's rare to see Emily run ragged, and a lot of that is because of those shorties in the back.

Team Weaknesses:

Size up front. Even though we have a LOT of decent size, we have NO legit tall chicks. This is really only a problem in a handful of matches a year, when we play talented teams that have multiple 6'2"+ players up front (Coastal). This is the #1 place where I think we could advance as a program.

Elite athleticism. We don't have anyone that is truly springy and can get UP. No one that we can confidently/consistently go to from behind the 10' line, or has the hops to be truly swinging down at the net. Janell is the closest to this level, but we could use more bounce overall.

The service line. This one is somewhat of a tough one to include, because we're a pretty conservative serving program, and always have been. Very few jump serves and the philosophy has always been to get it over the net and keep it inside the lines. So we aren't going to have a ton of aces, but I'd love to see the errors drop, especially from our most egregious players. That said, you live and die w/ aggression at the line, so our #1 and #2 in errors were also #3 and #2 in aces.
 
LTK5H

LTK5H

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Thoughts on the players:

Emily DeWalt - Our best player and the heart of the team. More than anyone else, as she goes, we go. True 6 rotation player, one of our best servers and she's got elite hands, with an incredibly creative feel for offense. Simply head and shoulders above the rest of the conference. Love her fire. Feel like she has a tendency to get bored at times, and when she's not engaged, can get sloppy. Think she could be in the mix for an All American slot if she wants it.

Janell Fitzgerald - About as automatic as it comes at the pin. Absolutely love her on the slide. Strong on defense up front as well. Would love to see her improve her passing and stay on the court all 6 rotations. Think she's that level of player.

Tyeranee Scott - Always in the right spot. Her discipline on defense is outstanding. To be as dominant inside as she is at only 6' tall is incredible - over the past 4 years, she's the shortest All-SBC MB. She's not only anchoring that defense, but is effective offensively as well w/ a career 2 kills/set and was 2nd on the team w/ 325 kills last year.

Caitlan Buettner - Unsung hero of 2020. She isn't flashy, doesn't jump out of the gym, and doesn't rack up the accolades, but she very quietly put up 270 kills, good for 2nd on the team in kills/set w/ 2.6. She cleans up her attack just *this much* and her numbers will skyrocket (hitting percentage is only .180)

Lauren Teske - Possibly our most complete player? Our best back line offensive player, and that's not a backhanded compliment. Led the team w/ 511 serves received, and only the DS had better results (of the high volume #s). She led the hitters w/ 261 digs, while also handling business up front w/ 2 kills/set, and at the line as well w/ 21 aces, second only to Brooke Johnson. Gotta cut down the service errors and clean up her attack - she's on the floor so much that just reducing her errors by 25% would put so many more points on the board.

Jillian Slaughter - Maybe a bit unlucky to be in Tyeranee's shadow at MB, but she is rock solid. 2nd in blocks the last 2 seasons and 5th on the team in Points/set and Kills/set (of the 100+ sets played) last season.

Kayla Granado / Brooke Johnson / Michelle Foster - our 3 headed back row defense is pretty damn incredible, and honestly almost interchangeable. All 3 are in the top 5 of digs, serves received, and service aces. Brooke and Michelle are likely our best servers (I wish they listed better service stats and not just aces and errors), as they are the only players w/ a positive ace:error ratio. Probably the group that I thought stepped up the most last year - I was really impressed w/ them in 2020 (not so much in 2019).

Courtney Heiser - Courtney is my pick for breakout player this season. Well over 50% of her sets played came in the final month of the season, and she played a bunch when it mattered: 4 sets and 12 kills in the Baylor upset; 4 sets and 8 kills in the 1st round NCAA Tourney match.

Jada Gardner - Much like football, getting a grad transfer from a P5 is exciting, and the B1G is easily the best VB conference. She's 6'1" and was a big part of the Maryland team: 2nd in kills, 3rd in points, 4th in blocks.

Tessa Marshall - I'm not sure what Tessa isn't doing to get more PT, because she hits at a very high percentage (0.327) and gets her blocks when she's out there (0.63/set). Just real tough to get time behind Tyeranee and Jillian.
 
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LTK5H

LTK5H

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No real surprises in the preseason SBC Coaches Poll or preseason All-SBC picks.

TXST and Coastal picked to take their respective divisions.

Emily, Janell & Tyeranee on All-SBC

Emily picked for Setter of Year (duh)

Janell picked for Offensive POY

That last one is interesting because I had expected Coastal’s Annett Nemeth to be back like everyone else, and she is the reigning POY. Looks like she’s moved on and isn’t even on their roster (she was a JR last year).

txstatebobcats.com

Bobcats picked to win West Division, three featured on All-Sun Belt Preseason Team - Texas State Athletics

The Texas State volleyball team sits atop the West Division in the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Preseason awards announced by the league office Tuesday afternoon.
txstatebobcats.com txstatebobcats.com
 
LTK5H

LTK5H

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Texas State, Trio Of Bobcats Receive Preseason Recognition

Drew King
Sports Editor
@drewking0222
dking@sanmarcosrecord.com
Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Texas State landed three players on the 2021 Preseason All-Sun Belt Team, as announced by the conference on Wednesday.

Senior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald was selected as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year after averaging a career-high 3.58 kills per set last season. Emily DeWalt, the league’s reigning three-time Setter of the Year, was predicted to win the award for a fourth consecutive time as a senior. The two players were joined on the preseason all-conference team by fifth-year senior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott. All three Bobcats were recognized on the 2020-21 All-Sun Belt First Team last season.

“I love that Emily, Janell and Tyeranee (have) been recognized as some of the top players in the conference again this season,” head coach Sean Huiet said in a statement. “We know that the preseason awards are nice in terms of the conference respecting your level of play, but we also know that a lot of the voting is based on what you did last season. This team is special in that they do not care who gets the recognition, they just want to leave their legacy as a group.”

Texas State was also predicted to win the league’s West Division in the 2021 Sun Belt Preseason Coaches poll, receiving 69 points and 11 first-place votes. The team was followed in the division by UT Arlington in second place with 55 points, Arkansas State in third with 48 points and one first-place vote, Louisiana in fourth with 35 points, Little Rock in fifth with 27 points and Louisiana-Monroe in sixth with 18 points.

Coastal Carolina was picked to win the East Division in the poll with 71 points and 11 first-place votes. The Chanticleers were followed by Troy in second place with 59 points and one first-place vote, Georgia Southern in third with 36 points, Appalachian State in fourth with 32 points, South Alabama in fifth with 28 points and Georgia State in sixth with 26 points.

The Bobcats were not ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Women’s Division I Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll that was released on Monday, but they did receive 11 points — the same number as Kansas. No other Sun Belt team received votes in the poll.

“It is nice to have the respect from the other coaches in the conference, but with that also comes a target,” Huiet stated. “This group is ready for the challenge and our team is mentally locked in right now that they are more concerned with where we want to be in December. The coaching staff is very excited with how we have started this fall camp both physically and mentally.”

The maroon and gold will play in an exhibition match at No. 23 Rice on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Houston. Texas State officially begins the 2021 season with a doubleheader against No. 3 Kentucky at 10:30 a.m. and Cincinnati at 7 p.m. on Aug. 27 in Dayton, Ohio.
 
LTK5H

LTK5H

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Same, and it's easy to get bent out of shape when you see them, but the reality is that a service error is no different than an attack error and sending a spike wide or long, or a receiving error that goes sideways. There's also the reality that the other team is going to get their fair share as well. What really kills me is the 1st serve service error. When your team flips the court and gets serve back, only to give it right back w/ a service error...just takes the air out of the room. Get 2 serves in and points won before getting aggressive and risky, so at least you're ahead on the scoreboard during your time at the line.
 
geezer

geezer

Active member
Service error gives you NO chance to score and gives opponent an unearned point.
I would like to see a study done on wins VS losses where there are no service errors.
Vernon McDonald and I both argued with KC over this.
Of course, she always gave your analysis.
 
LTK5H

LTK5H

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geezer said:
Service error gives you NO chance to score and gives opponent an unearned point.
Click to expand...
Agreed, but the net value is the same as any other point. Even on a first serve error, all you have really done is wipe the last 2 points off the board, and the other team is serving again - no loss, no gain, for either team points wise.

What you've really done is lost opportunity to advance the score. Scoring 5pts to their 4 ends up being a comfortable win, so the micro-goal has to be serving at least 2x w/ each rotation. This is particularly true w/ the girls who can really bring it - if they miss that first one, we lose our shot at a run and staying in a favorable rotation w/ a good server at the line.

To me, the emotional let down or momentum killing is worse than the single point. If the other team has a little run going and you clip it w/ a nice rally ending w/ an emotional block, and everyone's fired up...then the serve is drilled into the net and you give it right back to them, that's a body blow.
 
LTK5H

LTK5H

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Last year I did some pre-game breakdowns like x does for hoops and baseball, and El Gato does for football. I know it's really only 3 of us posting in here, but seems like there's lurkers based on the view numbers. Are those helpful at all to y'all? Should I continue doing them this year?
 
LTK5H

LTK5H

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Couple of thoughts as we change gears and head into conference play...
LTK5H said:
OOC Opponents. If we go 7-4 against that slate, I'd be thrilled.
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Didn't have UTEP and Tarleton on the schedule, but I would have had us at 9-4 instead of 4-9. We were never going to beat UK, UT, tOSU, but there were 6 winnable matches that currently sit on the right side of our ledger, and that's super disappointing.

Obviously Emily's injury is the single biggest thing to point at, but the roster has been both shortchanged and crowded at the same time, and certainly unsettled. The individual play hasn't been up to par either - players make plays and scheme or lineup doesn't affect passing or blocking or setting or awareness. More than anything, serve receive and passing has to be better - much better. It's absolutely killing us, especially since we don't have a 3x All Conference S to erase mistakes. Defensive awareness has been equally brutal. The inability to recognize a dink is coming instead of a hard driven ball has cost us more points than I can count, and w/ the experience on this squad, it's a mystery how that keeps happening.

Speaking of hard driven balls: that's the base measure of whether we're getting the job done in that 3 touch span. Does the ball go over on a true swing, or are we sending free balls or weak, easily returnable half-swings over the net? Because we have been poor in our passing game, that's affecting our setting, which is affecting our hitting. Everything is connected, and when we see more hard driven balls go over the net, we're going to see more wins.

I'm counting Emily out for the year until shown otherwise. Shoulders are like turf toe and hamstrings - they just don't get better with use.
Apparently Brooke was out w/ Covid protocols, and those will likely continue to bite us this season (not her, just in general).
No idea why Jillian was out, but it's nice to have her back on the floor.

This team is definitely not last year's team, and they're going to have to figure out how they want to play on the fly. The 6-2 is clearly a work in progress, but they've looked more comfortable running it with some matches under them. I actually think the additional action/movement of the 6-2 helps focus the players. I also really like the clearly defined roles and rotation - it's much less subjective/coach preference, which has to help keep feelings in check when we're as deep as we are.

From the outside, it looks like there's some real chemistry issues, and I don't say that to mean the girls don't like each other by any stretch - I have no clue about that. I just think all teams are a living organism, and every team has a shelf life where that mix of people and personalities can optimally mesh. Changing who and where and how much everyone is playing can be pretty jarring as well, and we've been all over the place so far trying to figure out what's going to work. Hopefully we've reset that with the change in offense and settling of the lineup, and can move forward.

Adding Jada was going to screw someone out of time, and that has turned out to be Janell, which has to be a bit of a tough pill to swallow for a 2x All Conference hitter who's been starting since she stepped on campus. It seems like SH has settled on them splitting the RS spot and the 6-2 really keeps their time even. Offensively, I think they're pretty even and effective, but Jada's got to work on her blocking as the RS is matched up against the opposing OH, and she's got to set that edge better.

OH looks like it's settled somewhat w/ Caitlan locked in and Lauren/Courtney splitting time opposite her. All 3 have to be better w/ their swings, but they haven't been seeing the same quality sets they are used to. Still, .147/.187/.099 from what should be our strongest offensive position isn't where we need it to be.

Offensively, MB has really suffered w/ Emily out. Setting the middle isn't the same as setting outside at all - it just requires so much more touch and timing, and we've got to get that squared away. Again, that's really affected by the passing as you can't set middle if you're chasing and bumping. Really like what we've seen from Tessa so far, and Jillian has given us a nice spark and bigger presence in the middle, but there are only so many rotations. What I wouldn't give for one of them to be 6'3"....

Having Brooke here for a 5th season has been a godsend. IMO, she's the better setter and more confident in her abilities. I'd love to see Ryann set overhead more, but I don't think she's adjusting to the poor passing quickly enough or confident enough in herself so she's bumping way too much. She's got to figure out how to set the middle too, as that's been a real problem. Overall, it seems like our sets are slower developing and we're hitting into more double blocks than past years.

The conference schedule seems to set up nicely for us as we transition:
We open w/ Troy, who is solid and should challenge us, but we've never lost to them and now is not the time to break that trend.
ULL doesn't look to be what they've been in year's past. Played a very weak schedule and still have some losses to programs they shouldn't have.
8 matches in conf to get squared away before playing Coastal here in about a month. That's our real measuring stick.
I'll continue to believe Coastal is the only team that should be able to take a W from us until I see otherwise. No one in this conference has played anywhere near as tough a schedule as we have - like, orders of magnitude difference between the talent we've seen vs what they've seen.

While this season hasn't gone the way any of us thought it would, the reality is conference play is what gets us to where we want to be: a conference tournament championship and trip to the NCAAs. All of that is still on the table, and there is zero reason to think this team can't be playing for that title come Dec.
 
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