Beach Week: 5-Play Friday
A few nice FBK and FBS examples
This week is Beach Week at SmarterVolley. Typically I dedicate the first three weeks of content to indoor volleyball, with the fourth week focusing on beach. If you’re not interested in beach, then feel free to skip this one.
We’ve been looking at the First Ball phase of the game this week, using the Itapema Pro Tour final, won by the American team of Kolinske and Hughes, as a lens to examine some First Ball actions. At the beginning of the week, we looked at How To Win With A First Ball Weakness. Wednesday, I posted some charts and a way to analyze First Ball Attack By Location.
This post will be pretty straightforward. 5 plays from the match that I thought we worth highlighting, in gif format, with a short commentary. Enjoy!
Monster Block
Earlier this week, I showed how Stam, the Dutch right-side player was hammering a lot of hard crosscourt early in the match. Kolinske here with a nice dive into the crosscourt to block the shot. A lot to like here:
She runs up and stays in between the two players. She doesn’t come in straight on to the passer/attacker.
She sees the set and shuffles to the hitting shoulder.
Once she aligns on the hitting shoulder, then she makes her block move.
As she dives cross, she stays square to the hitter. A lot of players just reach to the cross and get their hands blown up.
Short Line
Beautiful short line drop shot by Stam. I love the early square and lead leg on the set as well. Square to the pin and set down that line; it really helps the hitter see the set location and opens up her range.
High Line
Not unlike the last play. Nice early square and lead leg on the set. Hitter creates a good line on the approach that gives her the vision to hit the whole court.
To The Pin
Not the easiest pass to run wide to the pin on. A lot of setters can’t make this set and it can be difficult to connect on a full wide set in this situation. Schoon/Stam are really good at this play, so no surprise executing it. From a defensive perspective, this is also a classic situation where the hitter is more likely to be shot-committed to hit this ball back sharp cross.
Changing The Approach Line
Really changing play to defend here. Schoon with a quick and aggressive shuffle into the court to create a straight-on line of approach and then a perfect high shot back to the line. That approach line combined with the shot back to the line is tough to defend.