Practice Notes 4/7: Spring Experimentation

As the calendar reaches April, we're right in the thick of the spring season and the Longhorns have a full schedule of practice 5 days per week on top of daily lifts and film review. The team is busy building connections and chemistry with so many new players in the gym, as well as putting in place offensive and defensive systems. Texas' first spring action at the FAST Invitational clued the staff into some things they want to work on in practice, and things they'll keep an eye out for in their two remaining spring matches.

When offensive-minded coach Ben Josephson was added as the newest member of Jerritt Elliott's staff earlier this year, we knew he would bring his experience and knack for setting creativity to Texas. Josephson has spent a lot of time with the attackers, and especially the setters over the past few weeks, implementing a fast-paced offense he brings over from the men's side of the game, as well as some new setting routes and techniques. Ella Swindle has been getting a lot of new coaching as she prepares to make her return as the full-time starting setter for the Horns.

Another major emphasis has been on blocking. Both of last season's MBs in Marianna Singletary and Ayden Ames were better offensively than defensively as first-year starters. The duo each hit over .350, good for top 10 in the SEC, and Singletary in particular is no stranger to putting a dent in the floor. That said, they weren’t as dominant at the net defensively relative to Texas' standard, albeit an extremely high benchmark. Coaches have been introducing several advanced blocking schemes and fine-tuning mechanics to ensure that their ability to stop attackers looks sharp next season. The middle blockers showed signs of improvement in this area during their first spring tournament, so look for this to continue to be an area of emphasis moving forward.

Last week specifically, the team also spent some time working on aggressive serving. There are several huge arms in the gym that are able to consistently serve some rockets at 50+ mph, and Texas is poised to take advantage and prioritize knocking the opponent out-of-system. Texas fans know that Devin Kahahawai has a nasty topspin serve that was extremely effective at times last season. More of those types of arms may flash in the 2025 season, though it's too early to know if any other players will have enough control to implement these serves in games next year. 

Additionally, this exposure to aggressive serving is good for developing in the serve receive phase. With three new passers on the roster, ball control will be a huge factor for this team's ability to succeed. Facing these challenging serves in the practice gym helps ensure that the back row will be prepared for anything an opposing server will throw their way.

Overall, there's a lot of experimentation going on in the Texas gym. Fortunately though, that's the purpose of spring matches: to see what experiments show promise in a game setting and what needs some rethinking. Texas will look to try out some of these setting concepts, blocking schemes, and aggressive serves on Saturday against LSU and the rest of their spring schedule. The coaching staff so far has been impressed as players have proven themselves to be quick learners on advanced volleyball concepts, while acknowledging these concepts still need testing in a game environment.