(09-14-2022 07:39 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  If anyone wants to watch some truly elite volleyball, ESPN is airing a rare regular season match #3 Louisville vs. hosting #10 Kentucky right now. They're currently tied 1-1 with the 3rd set tied at 21-21.

Louisville had match point at 24-23 in Set 4, but a service error gave UK life, and they closed out the set 24-26 to force a 5th set, which Louisville took command of late to win 15-11.

Great match. Host Kentucky got all the calls from the SEC refs, but Louisville was clearly just a little bit better. Both had excellent all-around games-- serve, blocking, attacking, setting and back line defense. What separates the truly elite from Rice is our sub-par service game and average at best blocking ability. However, this year I do think we have an elite back line defense which should only continue to improve given it features two freshmen, along with McCardell. Most important, we need to get our offense in better sync, and we can't keep giving the inefficient Maruska the most attack opportunities.