Owl 69/70/75
Just an old rugby coach
Posts: 80,655
Joined: Sep 2005
Reputation: 3192
I Root For: RiceBathChelsea
Location: Montgomery, TX
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RE: Rice Women's Volleyball - NCAA Round 2 vs A&M
We're getting there. We're not there yet, but a win in post-season was a heck of a big step along the way. Keep it up.
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12-07-2019 08:48 AM |
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allerretour
Bench Warmer
Posts: 184
Joined: Nov 2008
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I Root For: rice, naturally
Location: Non, rien loué
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RE: Rice Women's Volleyball - NCAA Round 2 vs A&M
Fun match to watch, but we were on our heels the entire night.
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12-07-2019 09:23 AM |
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OldOwl
1st String
Posts: 2,315
Joined: Oct 2011
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I Root For: Rice Owls
Location:
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RE: Rice Women's Volleyball - NCAA Round 2 vs A&M
Why hosting is so important at this stage. We would have won at home. (12-07-2019 08:48 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: We're getting there. We're not there yet, but a win in post-season was a heck of a big step along the way. Keep it up.
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12-07-2019 10:01 AM |
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waltgreenberg
Legend
Posts: 33,146
Joined: Feb 2006
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I Root For: Rice Owls
Location: Chicago
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RE: Rice Women's Volleyball - NCAA Round 2 vs A&M
(12-06-2019 10:17 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote: Reflecting on the loss(as someone who’s watched maybe four games this season)-A bit weird that we retain probably our two best players (Anota and Lennon) but lose most of our supporting cast (sans Graham).
Not sure what to expect next year.
Cunningham will be a big loss, BUT we have one of the nation's top libero recruits coming in. Most teams don't have two interchangeable setters, so while Adria was certainly a major contributor, her departure will simply mean more playing time for Graham. Grace Morgan, however, will be tough to replace as our other inside blocker. No disrespect, but I don't view the loss of Tabitha Brown having any impact. In fact, I think we'll be better if one of our incoming recruits is a quality defensive specialist. Tabitha had a huge game against UT, but IMO did not have a particularly strong season. As a defensive specialist, she was average at best, and I think that's stretching it. Lee Ann and Nicole were our two best defensive players. And Tabitha's servicing game was not a strength. (Interesting to note watching Stanford yesterday, they start two defensive specialists, with one rotating with the libero....and they use just one setter throughout.)
Hopefully, Ellie and Carly continue to improve-- Ellie certainly showed promise, but she's got to become much more efficient and make smarter decisions in her attack game. Nicole and Anota return as two of the best players in the conference. And with Grace's departure, highly recruited Maddie Fowler and/or Satasha Kostelecky (at 6'3" and 6'4" our 2 tallest players) will finally get an opportunity to play. Yes, we have several holes to fill, and we lose two of the program's greatest players ever in Lee Ann and Grace, but we have significant talent retiurning-- including star power-- and arguably our best ever incoming recruiting class.
(This post was last modified: 12-07-2019 11:01 AM by waltgreenberg.)
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12-07-2019 10:51 AM |
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