Looking Ahead to 2011

[shock10]

Thank You on the 6-2 I had no idea.

[xazshox]

6-2

Dregn, thx much for the explanation. You have essentially confirmed my suspicion that the ideal setup is to have 3 attackers on the front row all the time and a setter on the back row. At the VB 101 dinner last year, I learned that for the setter to go into the front half from there, she had to jump into the air to make a set. From the back row, it's not necessary to make a set by jumping into the air beforehand. I agree that middle blockers are not necessarily the best ones to make digs from the back row. It seems to me that the 6-2 provides more diversification from an offensive point of view. I'm not sure what the downside is unless it is that there are slightly different ways that each setter works the ball to be hit and that it may be hard for the hitter to adjust to it when a change is made every 3 rotations to a new setter.

[dregn]

Some disadvantages include you are limited in the number of subs you get each set. If you run out of subs you are stuck with the players on the floor and the 6-2 requires 4 substitutions each rotation. This means you need more players who can play a full rotation. If you run a 5-1 you have more substitutions avaliable for defensive substitutions. Hence you can play multiple littles and require less attackers to play in the back row.

[xazshox]

subs

Dregn, you just broke the code for me on the 6-2. Thx much!

[1972Shocker]

As always dregn has explained the key points very well.

While the 6-2 does allow you to keep more attackers on the floor at all times this is only valuable if you actually can and will use all of the attacking options. If you are primarily setting only front row attackers you may be wasting the advantage of the 6-2. He also said the 6-2 requires that your attackers be more versatile and need to be good diggers and passers. We have our share of 6 rotation players but really good ones are not a dime a dozen.

The 5-1 offense is more an offense of specialization. You still love to have versatile attackers but this offense allows you more of an opportunity to substitute to players strengths and weaknesses and to counter your opponent's strengths and weaknesses than the 6-2 does.

It did not happen but apparently there was some discussion of reducing the number of substitutions from 12 to 6 which is what they use in international volleyball. Lambo said that they decided that what's good for internatioal VB is not always the best thing for college VB and they left it at 12.

A lot of the rule changes over recent years have been designed to speed up matches and to make the game more television friendly. Thus the change to rally scoring, shortening sets to 25 points and training officials to be less "technical" in calling violations. Lambo said, while not a change in rules, officials are being instructed to call net violations only when the official believes one team has gained an advantage from being in the net. So he said you may see the net moving a lot more this year without any net violation being called. The impetus being fans and TV audiences want to see more VB and less officials raisng their arms.

[1972Shocker]

One thing you take away from the VB101 dinners is how intricate college Volleyball is, at least the way Lambo approaches the game and how hard our coaching staff and our players work to be the best they can be.

Lambo is a tremendous strategic thinker on top of being a very hard worker. This approach also requires a lot of hard work and brains on the part of the players to implement this successfully. They showed some of the things they were trying to implement on offense this year and showed us some of there different blocking schemes. My head is still spinning. Of course, this is all very top secret and we were sworn to secrecy (mostly though it was over my head).

About all I can tell you is Magellan, white, blue, pink, red and the opposite of blocking scheme 2 is blocking scheme L. There was one other explorer on offense (Cortez, Coronado I don't remember for sure). They also have Dora (the Explorer) in honor of his young daughters.

Lambo is definitely an "out of the box" thinker and tinkerer and this extends not only to VB strategy but to his training and workouts that he uses.

[1972Shocker]

Lambo told a story about the year they practiced in the Heskett Center while the Roundhouse Renaissance was being done. He said they were on the courts next to the Men's basketball team.

One day Coach Turgeon came up to him and told him he couldn't believe how hard the VB team practiced and how physical their practices were. He said he frist time he saw them he thought Lamb was just upset with the team and was putting them through an extra hard, physcial practive, but then, over time, realized that was just standard fare for the VB team.

[1972Shocker]

VB 101 was fantastic. 17 couples will join team/coaches for dinner as they donated $250 per couple for the privilege. With 400 attendees at between $25 and $30 per head and the food/drink donated, that raises $11,000. I suspect with the raffle, auction items and bar tips, etc., the "class" perhaps raised $25,000 or more.

I particularly enjoyed seeing the ladies demonstrate the different defensive play calls. I can only IMAGINE how tough his practices are run.

Terrific evening. If you weren't one of the 400, plan to be next year.

The number I have heard for these VB101 dinners is about $40 grand. One of the big items is the dinner sponsorships they sell. The title sponsorship is at least $5,000.

Lambo also mentioned that the camps he and the teams put on in the offseason rasises about $10,000.

As Coach Rainbolt said one of the reasons we can keep a quality coach like Lambo for 12 years is because of the fan support (moral and financial) that the Shocker community gives to him and the team.

And I second im4wsu's last comment. If you have not attended one of these VB101 dinners you should plan on treating yourself to an enjoyable, entertaining and educational evening next year. I have been to all 3 of them and have enjoyed everyone of them immensely with each year being better than the last.

I have to reiterate an earlier comment. Coach Rainbolt was a hoot.

In any case, let's get behind this team and get out to the matches in force this year.

:goshocks:

[1972Shocker]

A couple of reasons I think Lambo prefers the 5-1 over the 6-2 is

1. he really seems to take pride in and to stress defense and extending rallies, and

2. look at the roster. We have 5 defensive specialists out of 16 kids. Lambo is not recruiting these young ladies just for the fun of it, although they all are about as cute and pretty as can be.

Even if he does go with the 5-1 I think we may see more of Chelsey Feekin this year.

I did ask Mary Elizabeth how her legs were feeling last night and she said they felt great.

Still I can see Lambo wanting to spell Hoop whenever he can to save the wear and tear on her legs. This may not happen every match, but he will probably have the opportunity to do this on occasion against the weaker teams on our schedule. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to see Chelsey play the entire match against the Slovenian team, for example, since it is an exhibition and our 2nd match of that day at the CSU tournament.

In addition, he needs to get Chelsey as much experience as possible as she will probably step in as the #1 setter for the next two years.

Therefore, I think Lambo will go with the 5-1 (which pretty much guarantees he will go with the 6-2).

[1972Shocker]

Another area of support for the Lady Shocker Volleyball program is the Shocks Match Club.

Not sure how much they raise from this as I don't think it gets much pub outside of the season ticket base, although that is where you would expect most of the membership to come from. Still if they get 200 members at an average of $200 that would generate $40,000 for the program less the cost of the membership premiums given.

Anyone have any idea how much support they get through this channel?

In any case, here is the info on the Shocks Match Club:

http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=590939&SPID=2838&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=204964179

[1972Shocker]

Looks like it will indeed be the 5-1, at least to start the season:

Some thoughts from coach Chris Lamb:

WSU will start the season running a 5-1. Senior Mary Elizabeth Hooper and sophomore Chelsey Feekin will both set this weekend as the coaches begin to see what approach works best. WSU hasn’t practiced the 6-2, although Lamb isn’t ruling out that offense down the future. “Setting would have to be considered a strength,” Lamb said. “They will both play this weekend. We’re going to watch some things happen, and see what happens.”

Read more: http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/2...#ixzz1VmrLbvxd

[1972Shocker]

Some disadvantages include you are limited in the number of subs you get each set. If you run out of subs you are stuck with the players on the floor and the 6-2 requires 4 substitutions each rotation. This means you need more players who can play a full rotation. If you run a 5-1 you have more substitutions avaliable for defensive substitutions. Hence you can play multiple littles and require less attackers to play in the back row.

dregn, don't you also lose the ability for your setter to make attacks in the 6-2? Since they always start in the back row any attack the setter makes would have to come from behind the 10 foot line.

[dregn]

Some disadvantages include you are limited in the number of subs you get each set. If you run out of subs you are stuck with the players on the floor and the 6-2 requires 4 substitutions each rotation. This means you need more players who can play a full rotation. If you run a 5-1 you have more substitutions avaliable for defensive substitutions. Hence you can play multiple littles and require less attackers to play in the back row.

dregn, don't you also lose the ability for your setter to make attacks in the 6-2? Since they always start in the back row any attack the setter makes would have to come from behind the 10 foot line.

You do loose the setter being able to attack (during 3 of their 6 rotations in a 5-1), but you can a middle that can attack and block. Usually any middle is a better attacker / blocker. You do loose the suprise of an attack on a 2nd hit, but the setter can still "dump" as long as they don't propell the ball in a downward motion. Hooper has a great "dump" move, but is not much of an attacker with her left hand. Kayla Stout was an example of a setter who actually had a big swing for an attack. That type of attack looks cool and makes the oppenent keep a blocker on your setter, hopefully leaving a single block on your other hitters, but doesn't mean much if you don't make good sets to them.