Penn State won the National Title. Louisville had the home court advantage, but were without their All American OH Anna DeBeer, who got hurt during their semifinal match. The match was high level volleyball, but Penn State was the better team today. Congrats to them.
Sorry for the repost, but I couldn't get the link in the post to show up. Strange doings in Texas. Jordyn enrolled early at Texas and participated in Texas' inaugural season of Beach Volleyball: Jordyn Byrd - Beach Volleyball - University of Texas Athletics Jordyn doesn't show on the 2024 or 2025 Beach Volleyball rosters. Beach Volleyball is played in the spring. It could be that Jordyn was told she could play both Volleyball and Beach Volleyball and then Texas reneged. An unhappy player isn't going to be a performer. That would account for her not playing after taking a what Texas refers to as a freshman redshirt year. However, since she played Beach Volleyball in the spring of 2023, the only way her freshman season would not count as year 1 of her eligibility is if the NCAA doesn't recognize Beach Volleyball as a sanctioned sport. The NCAA has officially sanctioned Beach Volleyball as a sport since 2016. To me, it seems as if Jordyn playing Beach Volleyball in the spring of 2023 means her freshman season of eligibility was burned then and then by not playing in 2024, if by choice or not, constitutes her redshirt year. Either way, Jordyn has 3 years to play 3 years with UF. Bottom line, I don't think Texas is being honest in their reporting. That plus it looks like they have an SOB for a HC. If I'm Jordyn and I decided to go to Texas to play both Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, I might be thinking I could have stayed a lot closer to home to participate in Volleyball only. I am probably completely wrong on all of the above, but hopefully somebody can clear this up, looking at you robboy1.
Never known you to be completely wrong on anything! Jordyn, under Mary’s wing, is going to be special. And Mary is not done!
A cool story. Both were at Nebraska last year. After 13 games, she transferred to PSU. That did not affect their friendship, which does not always happen.
There must be a loop hole for this indoor and beach volleyball that circumvents the 5 years to play 4 season rule. Monserez played all 4 years at florida yet was allowed to play 2 seasons of beach at UCLA. She could have had one of those as a covid year maybe? Definitely not 2 years though so there must be some wiggle room with maybe trying to grow the sport. Makes me wonder if she indeed burned a year or if she still has 4 left for indoor.
Gators ranked at #14 in final AVCA poll. Nice finish all things considered with the injuries and ups and downs of the season.
I just read that Jac Caglionone (now with the Kansas City Royals) and Elli McKissock got engaged last week. Nice. She has been so amazing for our team! Wish them well! (Is that old news that everyone knew?). Happy holidays to all the forum members!
Two of my favorite Gators student athletes. Both contributed at a high level to their individual sports. Congratulations Elli and Jac, wishing the two of you the very best.
There are sure a lot of sport / sport romances, especially softball/football. Ava Brown/DJ Lagway and Jade Caraway/Kyle Trask come to mind.
The new all sports facility is paying dividends. Somebody knew what they were doing by not making it football only like most schools. Future gator breeding facility.
I am so glad Nebraska lost in the semis! Cornhuskers thought they were going to win it all this year. After being swept by Texas in the finals last year, they returned all 6 starters and were determined to win it all. They were even showcased in that iPhone commercial... On senior night Beason was all teary-eyed in her speech about how after transferring from Florida she "found her love for volleyball again." WTF? Was Mary too tough on her? Instead what Beason found were blizzards and 6' snow drifts. She thought she'd win a natty at Nebraska, but if she had stayed here, then maybe Bre stays, or Essix doesn't suffer a season-ending injury...the Gators would've been playing the last weekend both seasons. But what has really irked me is how one of Nebraska's key players-first team B1G 10 and 2nd team AA Harper Murray-was arrested for DUI, then 5 months later arrested for shoplifting, last year and the only disciplinary action by the university was a spring exhibition match suspension. Apparently winning the NCAA title is more important at Nebraska than real life consequences. Murray played every single match this season. I do not believe Wise would've been so lenient.
Katie chronister and Grant Holloway. Ana Hall and Ben Shelton (though they aren’t together any longer)
If I were coaching in college today, here are some thoughts about what I might try to implement. * I would take advantage of the generous substitution rules, even though I am not a fan of them. How could I do that? * Everyone on the roster should have a talent we could leverage in a specific situation. * For example, there may be a player we train to serve short in zone 2 inside the ten-foot line as close to the net as possible. She may not be able to do anything else at a high level, but she can execute that skill under pressure. * We would recruit or train at least two players who develop an aggressive top-spin jump serve. (This would also help in our preparation for playing against top-spin servers.) * We could have a backup setter (or right-side player) that is an exceptional blocker we use in the end game. * We could have a defensive sub who is also an exceptional back-row attacker. There is no reason a DS couldn't be 6' tall. * Our libero should be trained to set back-row attacks. (A high percentage of liberos were setters at one time.) * I would have at least one left-handed pin hitter. (This is a major advantage when the setter digs the ball, and the alternate setter sets the right-side player. * We could train three options when the setter digs the ball. * If it is a controlled dig, she could pass to our left-handed right-side player. If she comes into the court to play a roll shot, she can pass to our left-side attacker, who attacks, sets the right-side player, or a back-row attacker. A third option might be to pass to the middle blockers. (See Creighton) * Every player would be trained to serve from zones 1,6, and 5 to every zone across the net. (See Kennedy Orr) * If we have a smaller setter in the front row, we could have her drop off to cover the tip and block with the other two front-row blockers when the other team is out-of-system. * Pin hitters have to be trained to use the block. Back-row defense is so good a low percentage of kills come from hitting around the block. * If a program needs to win a conference tournament to gain entry to the NCAA tournament, or if I was a program to win the NCAA championship, I would be less concerned with winning every match and more concerned with playing a larger number of people who might help us in specific situations at the end of the season. * Free ball plays would have movement: X plays, left-ins, and we would not pass the ball twenty feet up in the air but take it with our hands and shoot it to the setter. (The speed of the pass impacts the opposing middle blocker as much or more than the speed of the set. We could also pass the ball directly to a pin hitter who attacks or sets the ball to another pin hitter or back-row attacker. * Swing blocking has some advantages, but there are also times when a pin blocker would be much better off releasing to the pin when the opponent is running a fast set to the left-side player. * Some programs are doing some of these things. Creativity is more likely to happen when a coach doesn't have overwhelming talent in a position on the court or in a situation. But there is no reason a team or player with extraordinary talent can't be leveraged creatively, either.
