It's All About Texas: Spring Season Preview

The Longhorns are back in game action tomorrow for the first time since the NCAA tournament in December with a fresh new roster. The spring schedule kicks off with the FAST College Invitational in Houston where the team will compete against Houston, TCU, Rice, and Baylor in 4 consecutive hours of best-of-three volleyball. The schedule continues with matches against LSU and UTSA later in the spring.

But according to Jerritt Elliott, it doesn't really matter who's on the other side of the net because spring matches are all about Texas. In fact, there's no focus on scouting reports or who the opponents throw in the game. These games aren't even about beating the opponent. Coach Elliott says there's "zero" meaning in wins or losses, other than boosting ego.

So what are the goals if not to win? There are several things. First is simply allowing every player to showcase what they can do. Lineups will be mixed and matched, but overall playing time will be distributed as equally as possible across all 17 players. This should help get the nerves out for this talented class of freshmen, who are seeing their first game action in a Texas jersey.

This will also allow the staff to look at several combinations of players. Some of this matching will be relationships and communication-driven, others are purely about getting people opportunities. For example, the staff might decide to give freshman DS Callie Krueger the libero jersey, not because she'll ever play libero this season, but to see how she performs in that role. They may even decide to run a 6-2 system at times, not because the team will ever run a 6-2 in-season, but in order to get extra opportunities for backup setter Rella Binney and the team's three opposite attackers (SR Devin Kahahawai, SR Whitney Lauenstein, and FR Addy Gaido).

Another goal is to see how players adjust to the in-game environment. According to Jerritt Elliott, there's one thing that game reps give you that you can't get from practice reps, and that's stress. "Players react differently in matches, so can we see what they've been doing in practice carry over into a match setting... I've had players that haven't performed very well in practice and then do very well in matches, and I've had players that have done well in practice that haven't done great in matches." Competing against different players with different skillsets than you see in the practice gym forces players to make adjustments, which plays a huge factor in translating practice lessons to in-game success.

The coaches will be looking for how these practice skills appear in a game setting. Specifically, liberos have been working on first contact touches, communication, and out-of-system setting. The biggest focus for middle blockers this offseason has been blocking. The offense has been spending a lot of time on attack selection, play sets, and rhythm.

These are the main things to keep an eye on tomorrow and the rest of the spring schedule. From there, the coaching staff can start thinking more closely about what this team will look like come August and beyond.