GT Vollebees

[TampaBuzz]

I am watching Nebraska vs Pitt in the final four. Wow!! A very high level of volleyball that we only touched periodically. We need to find that next level of consistency.

 

[laoh]

Pitt struggling... Vasquez-Gomez... you can't give a set away like that!

 

[TampaBuzz]

Nebraska puts so much pressure on the opposition that they make all kinds of errors. In our match Otene had 8 or 10 attack errors trying to avoid the Nebraska blocks

 

[griffin mizell]

Nebraska puts so much pressure on the opposition that they make all kinds of errors. In our match Otene had 8 or 10 attack errors trying to avoid the Nebraska blocks

Texas playing great but Nebraska is not playing like they have been

 

[griffin mizell]

Texas playing great but Nebraska is not playing like they have been

Great day for Texas

 

[GTech63]

Great day for Texas

Incredible sweep by Texas

 

[laoh]

Ouch. Brutal.
Looked liked I was watching the GT-Nebraska match from the week before except in different uniforms.
That 11-0 run by Asjia O'Neal was one of those freaky events in the universe (in a final of all places and vs Nebraska of all teams). Reminded me of that run Kaiser did in 2021 at NC State when we were down 15-23, down 2-1 and came back to win it 25-23 and went on to win the match.

 

[Buzzforlife]

Bella D’Amico in the Portal as a Graduate Transfer.

 

[TampaBuzz]

Bella D’Amico in the Portal as a Graduate Transfer.

I would speculate that it is a reasonable move for her. Soares pretty much took over the setter position this year.

 

[laoh]

Just found this interview with Collier and it's interesting that many of the questions about the new players we had this season are answered here.

 

[TampaBuzz]

Nebraska two-sport athlete Maggie Mendelson enters transfer portal

Maggie Mendelson played in 13 matches for Nebraska volleyball this season, including a starting appearance in NU's first-round NCAA tournament match.

journalstar.com

Let's go get this young woman on our team!

 

[78pike]

Nebraska two-sport athlete Maggie Mendelson enters transfer portal

Maggie Mendelson played in 13 matches for Nebraska volleyball this season, including a starting appearance in NU's first-round NCAA tournament match.

journalstar.com

Let's go get this young woman on our team!

I'm not sure why, unless it's just because she was on a team with a long history of winning. Her stats as a middle blocker in both hitting percentage and blocks per match are pretty low compared to most middles, especially one's of her height and compared to the middles we already have on the team. And from a basketball standpoint her stats for a 6'5" player are very underwhelming. That being said, perhaps CMC could mold her into someone much more productive than she has been up to this point.

 

[laoh]

I haven't looked up her stats but maybe she wanted to play in more matches consistently? If she's good enough to be recruited by Nebraska, she might turn out to be another good transfer like Pierce (who only played 1 set all season at Texas in 2022).

 

[TampaBuzz]

I'm not sure why, unless it's just because she was on a team with a long history of winning. Her stats as a middle blocker in both hitting percentage and blocks per match are pretty low compared to most middles, especially one's of her height and compared to the middles we already have on the team. And from a basketball standpoint her stats for a 6'5" player are very underwhelming. That being said, perhaps CMC could mold her into someone much more productive than she has been up to this point.

6'5" mobile middle blocker? Spot starter at Nebraska? Taller than anybody on our roster? Why wouldn't we want that on our team?

 

[78pike]

6'5" mobile middle blocker? Spot starter at Nebraska? Taller than anybody on our roster? Why wouldn't we want that on our team?

I thought I laid out those reasons why not. Where does it say she is mobile? Sure she is 6'5" and sure she got some minor time at Nebraska but none of that means she is a fit for CMC's system. And as I said her stats don't blow anyone away. Just because someone was recruited to Nebraska doesn't necessarily mean their talent from high school translated well to the college level. You seem to be saying she was on Nebraska's team so she automatically must be good enough to play for Tech. Other than that and the fact she is 6'5" what about her game impresses you? Have you ever seen her play?

 

[TampaBuzz]

I thought I laid out those reasons why not. Where does it say she is mobile? Sure she is 6'5" and sure she got some minor time at Nebraska but none of that means she is a fit for CMC's system. And as I said her stats don't blow anyone away. Just because someone was recruited to Nebraska doesn't necessarily mean their talent from high school translated well to the college level. You seem to be saying she was on Nebraska's team so she automatically must be good enough to play for Tech. Other than that and the fact she is 6'5" what about her game impresses you? Have you ever seen her play?

What I know is that she was considered the #4 national VB recruit in her class as well as the #42 (I think) basketball recruit. She hit at a plus .300 clip when given the opportunity to play; including in the playoffs. She is buried on the Nebraska depth chart. She would likely blossom here.

 

[78pike]

We already have a middle on the team that hits at a much higher % than that. Plus she is a good server. Mendelson didn't attempt a serve all year. You say she hit at a .300 clip when given a chance to play but you do know she played a bit more her freshman year and only hit at a .182 clip. Also for someone that is her height she only has 2 blocks in 2 years. So it sounds like she had 2 years to prove her worth but didn't see much time. I still haven't heard anything as to why this player will blossom here other than the fact she was on a good team that she rarely played for and she is 6'5". I don't have access to the portal but I'm willing to bet there are quite a few others close to that height and that hitting % looking for a team. Anyway, if CMC thinks that she can help the team then great.

 

[forensicbuzz]

We already have a middle on the team that hits at a much higher % than that. Plus she is a good server. Mendelson didn't attempt a serve all year. You say she hit at a .300 clip when given a chance to play but you do know she played a bit more her freshman year and only hit at a .182 clip. Also for someone that is her height she only has 2 blocks in 2 years. So it sounds like she had 2 years to prove her worth but didn't see much time. I still haven't heard anything as to why this player will blossom here other than the fact she was on a good team that she rarely played for and she is 6'5". I don't have access to the portal but I'm willing to bet there are quite a few others close to that height and that hitting % looking for a team. Anyway, if CMC thinks that she can help the team then great.

I don't understand why we wouldn't do everything we could to improve our team. If CMC thought she was worth it, I'm all in. As it is, there's no connection I've seen between this player and Coach Collier, so it's a moot point. She is fantastic at identifying talent that can help, both in transfer and in recruiting. We're not at the Texas/Nebraska level. We currently have 2 players at that level, and one is about to graduate and is out of eligibility. We have excellent talent, but not elite talent, yet.

 

[78pike]

I don't understand why we wouldn't do everything we could to improve our team. If CMC thought she was worth it, I'm all in. As it is, there's no connection I've seen between this player and Coach Collier, so it's a moot point. She is fantastic at identifying talent that can help, both in transfer and in recruiting. We're not at the Texas/Nebraska level. We currently have 2 players at that level, and one is about to graduate and is out of eligibility. We have excellent talent, but not elite talent, yet.

I agree with just about everything you said above. The only thing I took issue with starting with your original post is that you sounded like since she was on the Nebraska roster and 6'5" we should go after her. My response was simply just because she is that tall and on a top level team doesn't mean she is talented enough or a good fit for our team. Her stats were very unassuming and her playing time diminished year to year which sounds like she is not getting better. I think our coach goes after a specific kind of player and I am unsure if this one fits her style. She likes very mobile bigs with good timing and prefers that they be able to rotate to the back (ideally though not a must). I agree we could use some elite talent. However, nothing I see from this player says she is elite other than her recruiting ranking from high school which we all know is suspect to begin with.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I agree with just about everything you said above. The only thing I took issue with starting with your original post is that you sounded like since she was on the Nebraska roster and 6'5" we should go after her. My response was simply just because she is that tall and on a top level team doesn't mean she is talented enough or a good fit for our team. Her stats were very unassuming and her playing time diminished year to year which sounds like she is not getting better. I think our coach goes after a specific kind of player and I am unsure if this one fits her style. She likes very mobile bigs with good timing and prefers that they be able to rotate to the back (ideally though not a must). I agree we could use some elite talent. However, nothing I see from this player says she is elite other than her recruiting ranking from high school which we all know is suspect to begin with.

Wasn't me.