Volleyball continues to get faster and faster at all levels of the game, but could slower be better for a middle attack?
Veteran high school and club coach Tod Mattox says the answer is yes. Here are 6 reasons why:
- If a middle is an elite attacker and the setter can only set that player on perfect passes, that limits her sets. Slowing down the attack means you can feed the middle more, even on not-so-great passes. "I've watched teams where middles are touching 10 feet and burying balls in warmups, but they never set them in the match because the team can't control the ball enough," Mattox says. "When the passers do get the ball to target, we commit two blockers on them and stop them. If teams can set the middle with passes 12 feet off the net, you can get the ball to those great athletes."
- A slower middle attack makes the offense less predictable. It allows the setter to set the middle from 10 to 12 feet off the net, which means the opposing middle has to think twice before jetting to the pin on a bad pass.
- Attacking balls from the middle puts extra pressure on the defense because there are more decisions to be made on the other side of the net. The middle set could be a little to the left of center, in the center or to the right of center. With each different location, the block-defense has to adjust. So, if the ball is left of center, who blocks -- the right-side blocker or the middle? And as those decisions are being made at the net, the defense has to adjust in the backcourt, which makes things even more challenging.
- With a quick attack, the set often determines where the hitter can hit because it happens so fast. It's just bang, bang. By slowing down the middle set with a higher ball, the hitter has more time to determine where to hit and, therefore, more options.
- Mattox's high school team at The Bishop's School likes to target the right back from the middle attack. A slower, higher set to the left of center makes this easier.
- Pin blockers in "bunch" who swing block are usually only a foot or so away from the middle. They have lots of practice going to the outside but very little practice going the other way toward the middle. With a slower set, you can force them to do something uncomfortable -- locating the set farther to the left or the right to make them move the "wrong" way.
