MVC Conference Season Begins

[1972Shocker]

xaz, I don't know if you were able to listen to Lambo's post-game show but he said that they have kinda neglected the work with middles recently trying to fix a number of other issues which they appear to have made great progress on.

He specfically mentioned that they only set Elizabeth 3 times and that she is a special talent that they need to get more involved.

They will be giving this part of the game much more focus in practice, no doubt starting today.

[1972Shocker]

Re: Quicks

Mad Hatter - you've mentioned "2 quicks" several times in various threads here this fall. Please explain what you mean by the term.

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xaz, here is a description of various types of quick sets used.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5905357_volleyball-quick-set-instructions.html

I think the set the Shocks were struggling with is The One Set where the ball is set right in front of the setter but only gets about a foot above the net. This particulary set while probably the shortest in VB may very well be the most difficult to execute and time. The Shocks timing on this last night was not very good.

Also this is a tactic that the opponent can take away if they are shadowing your middles and anticipating this move. I think SMU may have been doing that with Sarah. Of course, if they shadow the middles that opens up other avenues of attack and our outsides took advantage of that last night.

[1972Shocker]

Another description of the One Set:

A 1 set is the fastest set in volleyball and demands perfect timing by both the setter and spiker. The ball leaves the setter's hands and rises straight up, just a foot or two above the net. The spiker must be approaching and leaping as the ball leaves the setter's hands so that she spikes the ball as it rises.

[xazshox]

Setting

Thx to those who have described the "quick set". Actually, at the VB 101 dinner, Lambo used MEH to demonstrate the proper set to be given to the left outside hitter. Lambo actually has a machine (that uses technology developed at NASA) to track the flight of the ball. WSU & Stanford are the only 2 schools in the US using it now. Lambo views the ideal outside set as one that leaves the setters hands at a 43 to 45 degree angle. This results in a ball time in the air of approx 1.2 secs. After the setter has practiced awhile, the machine provides a print out that tracks the ball for each set so the setters (MEH & Feekin) can check on their consistency. The main idea of using that angle for the set is that the ball is not in the air long enough for the opponents middle blocker to slide over and team with their outside hitter for a double block attempt. MEH & Feekin demonstrated sets for awhile & they were pretty consistent at getting the desired angle. I suppose this is another good example of how Lambo has often been described as "the Mad Scientist". He likes to experiment a lot until he comes up with the best solution.

But, my recollection also is that Lambo did not have anyone demonstrate the "quick set", and I did not think to turn on the radio immediately after the game, so I did not hear what Lambo had to say about it either.

[1972Shocker]

I was thinking about the NASA machine last night during the match and was noticing how high the SMU setter was setting the ball.

The Shocks had a lot of time to set up their blocks. I thought it was a pretty stark contrast to the MEH's setting.

[The Mad Hatter]

The quicks are way to low. It appears to me the Sarah is swinging at balls almost below her shoulder. This is especially true on the quicks further away from the setter. Hoop really needs to give our middles a chance to attack from higher up and over the block. It's something I think she's struggled with in the past couple years also.

Trying not to step on TMH's toes, but the 2 quicks he's talking about would come in a couple of manners. Really you have 3 positions you'll see a quick hit from. Immediately in front of the setter, immediately behind them (this is pretty rare) or further out in front of the setter (you see us doing this more and more the last 2 years). So for 2 quicks you'd have 2 people each run 1 of these routes while your left would take the normal approach.

This sums up about anything I would have said (and probably better than I would have said it). The point about the two quicks from other threads is that we have had lineups where (as dregn points out) we have two middles running quicks from two different positions instead of having one middle run a quick and one right side hitter run to the pin. It isn't something I think Lamb wants to normally run, because it is high risk (requires very precise passing and setting), but it is an option he is willing to use if we aren't getting production from our right side hitters.

Lamb himself mentioned the problem of the quicks being set too low in the post game interview. Hopefully we will have in corrected in time for UNI.

[1972Shocker]

Here is the rationale for the reduction in substitutions:

Substitutions (Rule 11.2.2, page 57)-The maximum number of substitutions for each team is 12 per set. Rationale: When sets were played to 30 points, a maximum of 15 substitutions allowed for a ratio of two points to each substitution. With the change to 25-point sets, a reduction to 12 substitutions per set approximately maintains that ratio.

That does make sense. The ratio is now 2.083 points to each substitution. So it is only slightly more restrictive then when sets were played to 30 points.

[The Mad Hatter]

I was thinking about the NASA machine last night during the match and was noticing how high the SMU setter was setting the ball.

The Shocks had a lot of time to set up their blocks. I thought it was a pretty stark contrast to the MEH's setting.

Which sort of shows the difficulty of getting the sets right. Clearly the quicks were too low, but you don't want a quick set to travel very far so that it either is out of reach or gives the defense time to react. It doesn't take being off by very much for things to look really bad on the quick. When the set is perfect, however, the upside is huge.

[1972Shocker]

I was thinking about the NASA machine last night during the match and was noticing how high the SMU setter was setting the ball.

The Shocks had a lot of time to set up their blocks. I thought it was a pretty stark contrast to the MEH's setting.

Which sort of shows the difficulty of getting the sets right. Clearly the quicks were too low, but you don't want a quick set to travel very far so that it either is out of reach or gives the defense time to react. It doesn't take being off by very much for things to look really bad on the quick. When the set is perfect, however, the upside is huge.

I had changed mode with my post and was referring to the sets to the pins, but no disagreement with your point about the quicks. They have to be both placed properly and timed properly and the fact that this happens so quickly leaves little room for error as you say. Last night I did not think the placement on the quicks was very good and Lambo did seem to confirm that post-match. I would have to defer to Lambo or others as to how much, if any, was due to bad timing between the hitters and MEH.

The other thing I'm not sure about is if MEH has a way of signaling (verbally or otherwise) to the hitter that a quick is coming or whether the hitters just have to be ready to react quickly?

[dregn]

I was thinking about the NASA machine last night during the match and was noticing how high the SMU setter was setting the ball.

The Shocks had a lot of time to set up their blocks. I thought it was a pretty stark contrast to the MEH's setting.

Which sort of shows the difficulty of getting the sets right. Clearly the quicks were too low, but you don't want a quick set to travel very far so that it either is out of reach or gives the defense time to react. It doesn't take being off by very much for things to look really bad on the quick. When the set is perfect, however, the upside is huge.

I had changed mode with my post and was referring to the sets to the pins, but no disagreement with your point about the quicks. They have to be both placed properly and timed properly and the fact that this happens so quickly leaves little room for error as you say. Last night I did not think the placement on the quicks was very good and Lambo did seem to confirm that post-match. I would have to defer to Lambo or others as to how much, if any, was due to bad timing between the hitters and MEH.

The other thing I'm not sure about is if MEH has a way of signaling (verbally or otherwise) to the hitter that a quick is coming or whether the hitters just have to be ready to react quickly?

If you've never watched a match from the behind the end lines check one out from those seats. You'll see a lot of the play calling for offense, defense, and serves. Typically the first "play" of every point is a set play with all routes called out non-verbally. The coaches will often give a position to serve to (this is their hand behind the clipboard). They'll also call plays in the same manner to the setter or defensive "leader" on the floor (mostly the middle hitter). On serve recieve you'll often see MEH tug her shirt out with her other hand behind it. The hand that she is hiding she is calling out the routes and play we will run on the serve recieve. On defense often times the middle blocker will signal the blocking scheme to be used on the first play with hand signals behind their back. Beyond that, "out of system" plays are usually standard routes, or if there is enough time a verbal communication between setter and hitters.

[1972Shocker]

Thanks dregn. I knew a couple of those things but you added some color, detail and clarification to the proceedings. Thanks.

I usually sit off of the NW corner about halfway up. My wife and I just prefer the birdseye view from that vantage point.

[1972Shocker]

What a way to open league play with the top 3 teams facing off in Cedar Falls.

Ideally, UNI takes care of business against MSU but the Shocks pull the upset on Saturday giving the Shocks an early (very early) 1-match cushion over both UNI and MSU. (I am assuming Bradley will be no problem for either the Shocks or MSU -- if Bradley would happen to defeat the Shocks it will matter little to me how we do against UNI because I will have passed away from heart failure).

UNI does have a speical promotion for the Shocker match:

For Saturday's match-up against Wichita State, Panther fans that purchase a football game ticket can get into the volleyball game free of charge.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks will be the 1st MVC team to play in Bradley's brand new on-campus arena.

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&KEY=&ATCLID=204974281&SPID=1510&SPSID=19449

The Bradley Volleyball and Women's Basketball teams will play their games in the new arena which also contains a very nice practice facility for the Men's Basketball team, as well as training facilities and offices for Coaches and Administrators.

Of course, the men will continue to play their games in Carver Arena.

I took the video tour and it looks like a very nice facility. Not sure how much more it would have taken to build a 10,000 seat arena but for whatever reason (economics, parking issues, etc.) they decided to go with the smaller arena which is very nice and more than adequate for Volleyball and Women's Basketball.

[flyingMoose]

Without comment, the Pablo Rankings going into the first weekend of Valley play:

13 Northern Iowa
33 Drake
36 Southern Illinois
41 Wichita State
59 Illinois State
63 Missouri State
84 Creighton
93 Evansville
186 Indiana State
252 Bradley

[1972Shocker]

Thanks, Moose.

Hard to believe Drake would be 33 despite their 14-0 record condidering the weakness of their schedule.

Reality may have struck the Lady Bulldogs as they fell at Evansville 3-2 in their MVC Opener.

Also SIU lost at home to Creighton in their MVC opener last night.

Having MSU at #63 though really make these Pablo ranking suspect IMHO.