Championship Classroom: Gulf Shores Pt3

FAU v LSU

Let’s continue with our Championship Classroom series from the recent NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championship.

Cal v Long Beach 4s
Stanford v Grand Canyon 4s
LSU v FAU 4s
USC v TCU 5s
USC v UCLA 3s

I’ll fill in the links as I post each write-up.

For each match I’ll share some stats and highlight plays and I’ll connect in some more general coaching concepts. Today we’ll look at the matchup between LSU and FAU, which came down to the 4s pair.

The Stats

(From LSUs’s perspective, because they won the match)

LSU Triangle Stats
+8 Total Point Differential
+1 Terminal Serves
+2 First Ball
+5 Transition

In last week’s Stanford v Grand Canyon matchup, we saw Transition be the most important factor in the match, and that was true in this match as well.

Something interesting in this match was how similar the Terminal Serving and First Ball numbers were:

Terminal Serving Stats
5 LSU Aces
4 FAU Aces
4 LSU Serve Errors
4 FAU Serve Errors

First Ball Stats
24 LSU First Ball Kills
22 FAU First Ball Kills
4 LSU First Ball Stops
4 FAU First Ball Stops

So the performance of both teams was similar in these two areas. Now let’s look at Transition.

Transition Stats
11 LSU Transition Kills
8 FAU Transition Kills
6 LSU Transition Stops
4 FAU Transition Stops

The Principle: Lots Of Small Edges

When I look at this match, I don’t see one grand sweeping narrative. And that’s usually the case! Here’s the entirety of the LSU edge in this match:

1 more Ace
2 more First Ball Kills
3 more Transition Kills
1 more Block in Transition
1 more Opponent Transition Error

And that adds up to a critical 3-set win. Sometimes these sorts of statistical profiles can be challenging for us as a coach. When we have that post-game huddle, it’s nice to have one grand narrative to deliver in your message. “We just have to make our serves,” or, “if we picked up the shots better, we would win.” But sometimes… that’s not the case! Sometimes we just need to be a little better in each aspect of the game.

So you can’t force a narrative that isn’t there.

The Plays

This match was played in very windy conditions. So I want to look at 3 plays that make the difference when playing in the wind.

Keep It Low And Shoot The Line

We know that high passes and high sets are a recipe for disaster when playing in the wind. A lot of good teams intentionally keep the passes and sets lower in the wind. A hard swing into the wind is always a good idea. But the wind can also knock down a high line shot and make it really tough for the defender to run down. You just have to make sure you’re not trying to paint the lines in these tough conditions.

Keep the ball in the court, Make Them Play, and good things will happen.

Roll It Up

This is another play that good beach players tend to do better than indoor players. We saw in the previous play that LSU would like to keep the passes lower and in rhythm so they don’t get carried by the wind. But of course, it’s unrealistic to expect that all the time. Sometimes the serve is going to catch you a little weird.

And that creates a difficult ball to set. You have to move the ball from the backcourt up to the net and the wind is blowing the pass around a little bit. But this technique you see here of squaring to the pin and rolling the ball down the platform with a little topspin helps exert some control over the ball.

There’s a lot of rough bump-setting, even on fairly good indoor teams. A lot of players have been trained to pass the ball by getting their arms behind the ball and angling it to where you want to go. And that’s great for passing, when the ball is coming flat and moving past you. But it’s not good for bump-setting where the ball is coming more up and down and you need to move the ball.

And also, hitters do better when they can see the predictable line of the set, as in this clip. Bump-setting over your shoulder or across your body makes for a ball that’s harder to hit. Rolling the ball down your platform is not only good for beach players in the wind, but also for indoor players to gain a little more accuracy in high ball situations.

Rip It Into The Wind

And of course, we know that cranking a hard spin serve into the wind gets results. I like training all players to hit spin serves on the beach, because it’s such an asset when the wind kicks up. I think even standing serves can be a bit underrated, especially for players who start indoors and then learn the beach game. Standing spin serves are rare indoors, but can be effective for younger/smaller beach players to get some power into the wind.