Volleyball at Ohio University

Here’s MatchPointOhio’s final video of the year, covering our loss to Miami in the MAC Championship semi-finals.

Because I had several good clips from the penultimate regular-season match we played two weeks earlier in Miami’s Millett Hall, I mixed those in with the championship tournament play.

It happens every year, but I wish it wouldn’t: the end of the volleyball season at OU.

Cushioning the end, here’s the first of a pair of videos from the MAC Championships played in Oxford, OH.

http://<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/hDmMvT6WNLE” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDmMvT6WNLE

We’ll say that a hundred times a season. We want to stay in system, which is to say we want a pass close to the net that Vera Giacomazzi can work with, to spread out the opposing blockers.

This video starts with 7 gratifying kills, then we double back to see the passes and digs what made the kills possible.

Akron and Buffalo: both toast on that weekend.

http://www.volleyball1on1.com/mintonette-and-the-history-of-volley-ball-in-the-usa-and-globally/

Tactics on the court. After all my years of volleyball, I’m still sometimes confused when play starts about who is lined up where. Here’s a first step to deciphering some of what’s going on with player position on the court. You’ll find Lizzie Stephens ready to receive the  serve in the back left position—when in fact she’s the right front player. Mystifying, until we slow the action down. All she has to do, at the moment the ball is served, is have at least one foot to the right of the middle blocker (Sara Januszewski in this case), and to be in front of Vera Giacomazzi, who is starting from the right back—though headed for the front line, to set.

All clear now?

Something you can’t see from the sidelines: how some serves float all over the court. It’s often how a team comes up with service aces. Much of it has to do with how little spin the ball has, which can make it float from side to side, or even up and down. Hard to video, as well: you have to be directly in line with the serve. I captured a few of them in two matches—then fall back on the glory of good passes, good sets and blazing kills.

Here’s my generally-annual video on middle hitter and middle blocker play.