[johnbar]

Hey, even Nebraska dropped a set, at home, to Florida Gulf Coast.

[johnbar]

Hey, even Nebraska dropped a set, at home, to Florida Gulf Coast.

[paloalto]

Stanford #12 in today's AVCA poll.

[paloalto]

Stanford #12 in today's AVCA poll.

[Spiny_Norman]

Stanford #12 in today's AVCA poll.

Up next, a brutal road trip. Friday at #5 SMU and Sunday at #2 (and undefeated) Pitt.

[Spiny_Norman]

Stanford #12 in today's AVCA poll.

Up next, a brutal road trip. Friday at #5 SMU and Sunday at #2 (and undefeated) Pitt.

[paloalto]

The crazy thing is if Stanford loses both those matches they'll probably stay ranked at #12.  The one scenario that would overcome that is if a team within a few spots below them wins a major upset over a top team.  That could be enough to propel that team above Stanford.

[paloalto]

The crazy thing is if Stanford loses both those matches they'll probably stay ranked at #12.  The one scenario that would overcome that is if a team within a few spots below them wins a major upset over a top team.  That could be enough to propel that team above Stanford.

[johnbar]

The "900 Square Feet" volleyball newsletter has released their first media poll of the season.  

 1. Nebraska (233 points, 8 first-place votes)  
2. Pittsburgh (232, 7 first-place votes)  
3. Kentucky (208)  
4. Louisville (193)  
5. SMU (179)  
6. Wisconsin (133)  
7. Texas (127)  
8. Purdue (120)  
9. Arizona State (114) 
10. Florida (101) 
11. TCU (96) 
12. Tennessee (87) 
13. Stanford (73) 
14. Penn State (59) 
15. Texas A&M (46) 
16. Minnesota (21)

Also receiving votes: Vanderbilt, Indiana, Baylor, BYU, Washington

[johnbar]

The "900 Square Feet" volleyball newsletter has released their first media poll of the season.  

 1. Nebraska (233 points, 8 first-place votes)  
2. Pittsburgh (232, 7 first-place votes)  
3. Kentucky (208)  
4. Louisville (193)  
5. SMU (179)  
6. Wisconsin (133)  
7. Texas (127)  
8. Purdue (120)  
9. Arizona State (114) 
10. Florida (101) 
11. TCU (96) 
12. Tennessee (87) 
13. Stanford (73) 
14. Penn State (59) 
15. Texas A&M (46) 
16. Minnesota (21)

Also receiving votes: Vanderbilt, Indiana, Baylor, BYU, Washington

[mbdude]

stanford hitters have no idea where sets are going to be

---

set from parks on free ball was really bad

[mbdude]

stanford hitters have no idea where sets are going to be

---

set from parks on free ball was really bad

[TonyLima]

1790385286[/url]']

stanford hitters have no idea where sets are going to be

---

set from parks on free ball was really bad

Wow. Stanford getting a taste of what top level of volleyball looks like these days. Gonna have to improve a lot, especially serving and a little more muscle behind the kills.

---

1790387378[/url]']

1790385286[/url]']

stanford hitters have no idea where sets are going to be

---

set from parks on free ball was really bad

Wow. Stanford getting a taste of what top level of volleyball looks like these days. Gonna have to improve a lot, especially serving and a little more muscle behind the kills.

Also the sets. How could I miss that?

[TonyLima]

1790385286[/url]']

stanford hitters have no idea where sets are going to be

---

set from parks on free ball was really bad

Wow. Stanford getting a taste of what top level of volleyball looks like these days. Gonna have to improve a lot, especially serving and a little more muscle behind the kills.

---

1790387378[/url]']

1790385286[/url]']

stanford hitters have no idea where sets are going to be

---

set from parks on free ball was really bad

Wow. Stanford getting a taste of what top level of volleyball looks like these days. Gonna have to improve a lot, especially serving and a little more muscle behind the kills.

Also the sets. How could I miss that?

[mbdude]

announcer states setting hasn't been good for stanford,  parks off.

[mbdude]

announcer states setting hasn't been good for stanford,  parks off.

[TonyLima]

announcer states setting hasn't been good for stanford,  parks off.

The normal normal.

---

SMU sets are very low, they are barely higher than the net. That means that the defense has to react faster.

[TonyLima]

announcer states setting hasn't been good for stanford,  parks off.

The normal normal.

---

SMU sets are very low, they are barely higher than the net. That means that the defense has to react faster.

[Hieronymus]

Women swept - I admit I thought they would take a set but lose. Not competitive again and the second and third sets were dismal.

The collapse of MB offense continues - only 8 kills total though Andrew and Andrews had decent hitting percentages of .400 and .333. Note though Andrew hit .447 last year so this is still down. Harvey hit negative. Kurt .000. Yuck.

Pitt is likely going to be really ugly.

[Hieronymus]

Women swept - I admit I thought they would take a set but lose. Not competitive again and the second and third sets were dismal.

The collapse of MB offense continues - only 8 kills total though Andrew and Andrews had decent hitting percentages of .400 and .333. Note though Andrew hit .447 last year so this is still down. Harvey hit negative. Kurt .000. Yuck.

Pitt is likely going to be really ugly.

[fullmetal]

I feel like I need to stop hoping for a turnaround until the setter situation improves :(

[fullmetal]

I feel like I need to stop hoping for a turnaround until the setter situation improves :(

[TonyLima]

I feel like I need to stop hoping for a turnaround until the setter situation improves :(

Maybe switch Irish to English? (Apologies) (canine humor)

[TonyLima]

I feel like I need to stop hoping for a turnaround until the setter situation improves :(

Maybe switch Irish to English? (Apologies) (canine humor)

[BostonCard]

I feel like I need to stop hoping for a turnaround until the setter situation improves :(

Setter is the biggest and most visible problem but the issues extend beyond Parks.

BC

[BostonCard]

I feel like I need to stop hoping for a turnaround until the setter situation improves :(

Setter is the biggest and most visible problem but the issues extend beyond Parks.

BC

[Card10Fan]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

[Card10Fan]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

[TonyLima]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

That’s what I’ve thought for a while. This team is simply not in sync. If I had an answer for that, I would gladly suggest it, but I don’t get paid the big bucks like Coach Hambly.

[TonyLima]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

That’s what I’ve thought for a while. This team is simply not in sync. If I had an answer for that, I would gladly suggest it, but I don’t get paid the big bucks like Coach Hambly.

[BostonCard]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

I think we may have underestimated how much of a difference maker Rubin was on defense.

BC

[BostonCard]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

I think we may have underestimated how much of a difference maker Rubin was on defense.

BC

[Spiny_Norman]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

I think we may have underestimated how much of a difference maker Rubin was on defense.

BC

Also missing injured Sayer and Yu. Is their absence a contributor too?

[Spiny_Norman]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

I think we may have underestimated how much of a difference maker Rubin was on defense.

BC

Also missing injured Sayer and Yu. Is their absence a contributor too?

[Hieronymus]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

I think we may have underestimated how much of a difference maker Rubin was on defense.

BC

Also missing injured Sayer and Yu. Is their absence a contributor too?

To my eyes its a bunch of things that all add up..
1. Yes Rubin was really good at everything and was the veteran leader. And yes I do think we underestimate the impact of the quieter stuff she did on defense. Also we effectively have Kurt replacing Rubin and that is a big drop in a vacuum. Just looking at offense it's about a .9 K/set drop off.
2. Nobody individually is playing clearly better this year. Kurt is clearly worse so far. Etzler's reception errors are up about 50% though that still isn't an awful number. Blyashov has the biggest deltas - serving down and reception down, but digs way up so I call that a wash. 
3. Sayers out hurts a bit but Andrews has been decent. I think Sayers has a bit more pop on offense, but it's not a brobdingnagian gap - about .7 K/set. And Yu obviously hurts options to change the setter, but doesn't make 2026 directly worse.
4. The big team statistical drop is reception errors - they have basically doubled this year .68 to 1.32 per set. That matches my eye test and partly explains why offense in the middle has taken a cliff dive lately for a team that has lived on the middle. I would love to see if more advanced stats align.
5. Yes Parks is worse though the passing issues are magnifying her problems. Assists are down about 1.4/set so far this year - that is a lot. More than 10%.
6. Serving is worse - A/E was about 1.78 and now it's a bit over 2. And my eyes definitely see less service pressure on opponents. Or none vs. SMU.
7. Blocking is slightly worse - 2.51 to 2.39/set
8. No surprise that the team has no obvious areas of improvement anywhere to compensate for the leaks.

A point here and half a point there and a few tenths somewhere else starts to add up when no area is better this year to offset the drops. If all of the bits and pieces add up to say 4-5 points a set, that is a massive overall drop. I think that feeds the idea that the sum right now is less than the parts - death by many cuts is harder to process than one or two big, obvious problems.

[Hieronymus]

Serve receive, defense overall, service errors, pins being terminal all issues too. We are literally the same team minus Rubin. Did she cover up this many flaws herself last year? 

Despite the talent something is just off. Maybe there’s more internal issues than we are aware of. I hope we can figure it out. Lots of season tk still salvage

I think we may have underestimated how much of a difference maker Rubin was on defense.

BC

Also missing injured Sayer and Yu. Is their absence a contributor too?

To my eyes its a bunch of things that all add up..
1. Yes Rubin was really good at everything and was the veteran leader. And yes I do think we underestimate the impact of the quieter stuff she did on defense. Also we effectively have Kurt replacing Rubin and that is a big drop in a vacuum. Just looking at offense it's about a .9 K/set drop off.
2. Nobody individually is playing clearly better this year. Kurt is clearly worse so far. Etzler's reception errors are up about 50% though that still isn't an awful number. Blyashov has the biggest deltas - serving down and reception down, but digs way up so I call that a wash. 
3. Sayers out hurts a bit but Andrews has been decent. I think Sayers has a bit more pop on offense, but it's not a brobdingnagian gap - about .7 K/set. And Yu obviously hurts options to change the setter, but doesn't make 2026 directly worse.
4. The big team statistical drop is reception errors - they have basically doubled this year .68 to 1.32 per set. That matches my eye test and partly explains why offense in the middle has taken a cliff dive lately for a team that has lived on the middle. I would love to see if more advanced stats align.
5. Yes Parks is worse though the passing issues are magnifying her problems. Assists are down about 1.4/set so far this year - that is a lot. More than 10%.
6. Serving is worse - A/E was about 1.78 and now it's a bit over 2. And my eyes definitely see less service pressure on opponents. Or none vs. SMU.
7. Blocking is slightly worse - 2.51 to 2.39/set
8. No surprise that the team has no obvious areas of improvement anywhere to compensate for the leaks.

A point here and half a point there and a few tenths somewhere else starts to add up when no area is better this year to offset the drops. If all of the bits and pieces add up to say 4-5 points a set, that is a massive overall drop. I think that feeds the idea that the sum right now is less than the parts - death by many cuts is harder to process than one or two big, obvious problems.

[paloalto]

That's a good summary.  I agree with everything except I think Ella Andrews is a major liability in blocking.  She looks like a deer in headlights.

[paloalto]

That's a good summary.  I agree with everything except I think Ella Andrews is a major liability in blocking.  She looks like a deer in headlights.

[cardfan77]

Also when Ella Andrews is in, it’s easy for the opponent’s blockers to focus on the outside hitters. Ella hardly gets set.

Yes, Parks has setting issues. But as I mentioned before, passing is awful. A struggling setter plus awful passing equals to disaster.

[cardfan77]

Also when Ella Andrews is in, it’s easy for the opponent’s blockers to focus on the outside hitters. Ella hardly gets set.

Yes, Parks has setting issues. But as I mentioned before, passing is awful. A struggling setter plus awful passing equals to disaster.