I was finally able to do a bit of catchup on my ESPN+ viewing and watched the first three Volleyball matchups at the Utah Classic last weekend. The field included Wisc-Green Bay, UTEP, and Utah State. The Utes dispatched Green Bay and UTEP as would be expected, but initially had some difficulty with Utah State with the first game going 5 points over with USU winning, but the Utes battled and took the next three games while only really struggling in one of the last three.
I am not much of a volleyball knower, so maybe @justaute can provide some detail, but it seemed we have two liberos, one played against GB and UTEP and the other played against USU and not sure of either’s quality. I am curious whether this team can be good enough to go farther than they have recently. Maybe the BigXII will be good for the team not having to play the tough PAC schools anymore.
Thanks, @LuckyUte, for the initial write-up.
In short, my opinion (and the opinion of a friend who was a former coach and all-conf player at the U), is that the U’s volleyball team sorely lacks athleticism. We not only struggled a bit against USU, we had a hard time against UVU (lost to UVU last year).
- Left Pin hitters: Gibby has a lot of potential, and if she continues to develop, she’ll be a good one. She really needs to learn to have better ball control skills. And, we have no depth on the outside. The jury is still out on Key-Powell. Seems to be a fantastic athlete and actually have decent ball control – too young and quite a bit under-sized. Being under-sized would be an issue if you don’t have other above-average skills. Bailey, bless her heart – she has no business being a high D1 pin hitter; she does have more ball control than the rest of the hitters.
- Right Pin hitters: Jardine is there. West is there. Vos is there. Vos has been a nice surprise. Perhaps she should move to Left. Jardine has all the physical talent in the world, but something is off between the ears. In volleyball, as you have to hit the ball down, being a high leaper isn’t the only thing – if you can’t read blocks and have a “range” of hits, then the harder you hit, the faster the ball comes back to you when you get blocked. West hits the ball hard, but I think you can slide a phone-book (we are old) or a couple of macbooks underneath her when she jumps; she’s lucky with her 6’4" frame.
- Setter: Don’t get me started here. Not sure what Hammond is doing…not a D1 player. Marco, our freshman setter, seems quite interesting and perhaps have potential. That said, as a floor general, setters with high IQ and command often need to have more experience.
- Libero/DS: Flechter seems to be a good addition. Basically, based on a couple of games, Flechter and Ramirez can play either the DS or the Libero position. We need this. Other DS players on our roster are not good.
- Middle: We are ok here. Satuala is fantastically athletic, even though she’s a bit under-sized. We’ll see how she does against higher level competition. Other MBs are serviceable.
That’s all I got for now.
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Thanks @justaute that is great stuff. I now know 100% more about Utah Volleyball than I did before. One of the great things about this site is learning about stuff like this.
I have to say, I was a bit surprised to see #10 (Key-Powell) at the front as she seemed “not tall enough”, and seemed to have problems with getting the ball past the blockers.
Interesting about your overall assessment. Sounds like you are saying this team won’t be as good as previous teams and to be ready to accept a bit of, shall I say, mediocrity from the team. I certainly would expect Launiere to have a bit better “plan”, if I can use that word.
Is it strange: (1) to have an outside hitter at 5’9" in Key-Powell and have a 6’2" setter in Hammond? Seems that should be switched? Also, is it ideal that a right pin player be a righty and vice-versa for a left pin player?
You’re welcome – just my 2 pesos worth of opinion, though.
In regard to Hammond and Key-Powell, it’s not really about heights. It’s about abilities and skills – and personal interest. Hammond is very limited in her athleticism, which is just one facet of any athletics. Key-Powell, whose “limitation” is her height, is very athletic and can jump out of the gym. And Hammond just isn’t coordinated enough at this level.
Having “hands” as a setter is critical, as is having the ability to command run the offense (think of Rising). There are a lot of sports fans often think very narrowly about “athleticism”, which encompasses more than just running fast and jumping high. A lot of super athletic volleyball players have “no hands” because they don’t have the micro hand-eye coordination (e.g. think of table tennis, badminton). The disadvantage of being short in volleyball (not unlike basketball) is that you have to have good timing in everything, especially blocking and hitting. A tall player has the luxury of waiting in that the “window” to make a blocking/hitting decision is bigger – again, not unlike a tall basketball player who has lower vertical.
Hitting against blockers, assuming if you have enough athleticism and jump high enough, is more about skills and your hitting “range”. Need to know when to hit high, around, down the line, sharp angle, split the blockers, etc. In high school, I’m sure Key-Powell was killing the blockers because of her athleticism. In college, especially mid-to-high D1, everyone jumps pretty well and is of certain height. I coached a 17yo girl who was 5’11" and could touch +10’ – I told her not to rely on that because pretty much every mid-high level D1 outside hitter can touch 10’ and they are usually taller than her. That’s just a bar of entry.
Right pin hitter – traditionally, left handed hitters are preferred because in general it’s a more natural hand-eye swinging motion in that the ball doesn’t have to cross your body. That said, these days, I think that matters less. If you got a cannon for an arm, can block well (usually tall), you can be trained to play on the right pin. Remember, the right pin hitter also usually has to face the #1 hitting option on the other side of the net.
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I just got finished watching the match against Cal and I had your post open as I watched and was able to start identifying who was who, what position they were in, and how the offense and defense worked. So, I appreciate that.
So, it seemed to me (remember, as a neophyte) that Marco basically split time with Hammond, and Marco seemed to generate more offense than Hammond. I don’t know if there is a +/- stat, but if there is that would be interesting to see if Marco has a higher number, it sured seemed to me the offense worked better with her on the floor.
There was a time in the second game where the Utes played without a libero. I didn’t know you could do that, but during that segment they ran away from what was a close game to that point.
They only dressed Ramirez and Linehan as liberos and Linehan did’nt play. Maybe the no libero section was just a time to get Ramirez rest without having to play Linehan. Fetcher didn’t seem to play, unless I missed it.
Anyway, with your help I am now a smarter viewer and appreciate what is going on much better.
Edited to say that Kamryn Gibadlo is now my favorite. Loved how she played.
For now, Utah is employing what’s called a 6-2, which has two setters and each comes in when the other is rotating to the front row. The other system is called 5-1, which has just one setter who plays all 6 rotations. The use of these two systems is typically based on a team’s personnel.
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6-2: In this case, the setter plays only in the back row 3 rotations. This means that the team always has three attack options on the front row. plus any in the back row. In this case, if the setter is shorter and is less than an ideal blocker, then you don’t expose that short-coming. When you watch a game, pay attention to when a new setter comes on, you’ll likely see substitutes in other attackers, as well (e.g. middle and right pin). Potential downsides to this system is that hitters have to adjust to two setters’ different setting styles, timing, running of the offense, etc.
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5-1: in this system, well, pretty much the opposite of above-mentioned. Setter, as the floor general, is incredibly important. A good setter not only sets good balls to hit, but can also set the hitters “open”, meaning the setter can recognize the defense and maximize hitter’s chances of hitting against just one blocker. In short, a good setter can create more attack opportunities.
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Libro: Libro can come in and out of the game for whomever, whenever, without limitation. It’s an optional position. A team does not have to have one or use one. In contrast, a DS (defensive specialist) can sub for one specific player at a time and has to check-in with the officials, and there is a limit to the number of substitutions per game. Linehan, IMO, is no bueno.
At this point, I think Beth is still trying to figure out the optimal combinations and how the players perform in live situations. In general, early, non-conference games are used for that purpose.
If you are going to the Purdue game tonight, let me know. I’ll be there with my friend (the same former U all-conference vball player). We typically sit on the Utah side just above the end-court, which has the best viewing angle.
I just hope we can stay somewhat competitive tonight and not get blown out of the gym.
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OK, I realize more and more how much I don’t know about the sport. I heard the announcers say 6-2 a lot but didn’t know what that meant other than the height of someone.
Great job explaining how all that works. Sounds like baseball pitcher/catcher relationship, where some pitchers just work better or are more comfortable with a certain catcher.
With your last post, now I have to have two posts open when I watch the Purdue game tomorrow.
Regarding attending the game, the last flight left a few minutes ago that would have arrived in SLC from DC in enough time for me to make it 
Being on the other side of the country the PAC12 network was never available so having all these games on ESPN+ has been a real winner for me.
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@LuckyUte I’ll save you a virtual seat next to me tonight
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Finally was able to watch the Purdue match. Boy, losing that first game was a hit to the solarplexus. To lose that game sure did influence the confidence of the team. By the third game, it seemed they knew they were cooked, as Purdue just kept getting more and more confident and the Utes flagged.
That said, it will take me several more game watches to get the hang of the substitution patterns and player usage @justaute mentioned, but I hope to get to the point where I understand what is happening. There was a point in the second game where the Utes lost a point right at the net and the color announcer said, that spot is a weakness when using the 6-2 with three dedicated on the back line. Didn’t get it at the time but I hope to soon.
Next up in Chicago at Loyola of Chicago with a two match set on Friday and Saturday.
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We have ball-control issues, amongst other things.
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You mentioned earlier that the defensive specialists are weak, and also the color announcer for the match talked quite a bit how the passing was off. So, there you go. Hopefully, it can get better, but it seems you have pessimism of that getting better due to skill level.
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