Linking Serving To Block And Defense

A lot of content this week on serve and pass, particularly serving. I wanted to share some information on a previous workshop I did with Kirsten Bernthal Booth on serving, but specifically linking up your serving strategy with your block and defense and integrating that into a cohesive gameplan.

Key Takeaways:

Creighton celebrates and rewards "playing ugly" - getting any touch on the ball, setting a second ball high on the net, and taking a big swing in transition.

Their serving strategy revolves around making passers move by: 1) serving into seams between passers; 2) varying depths to drop serves in front of passers or drive them deep; 3) using a “no-look serve” to avoid giving away serving locations.

Creighton’s block-defense strategy is very scout-driven: they spend a lot of time training the team to know specific tendencies and will change the alignment of their defenders for each hitter they face.

They are especially strong against opponent two-hitter rotations as they employ a strategy of serving more conservatively against weaker opponent rotations and releasing blockers towards the stronger of the two front-row attackers.

In terms of training, Creighton emphasizes game-like serving practice, a large number of repetitions for specific digging moves, and blocking vs multiple live hitters in order to get four hands up on every attack.

Seams Instead Of Zones

Creighton talks more about serving one of 4 seams rather than the tradition 6 zones.

USA has done the same. I like this approach.

Full nearly-2-hour-long (!) conversation beyond the wall. Some really good tactical stuff in the first hour or so, and then there’s some great stuff about staff dynamics toward the end. I know I’m just a little biased here, but to me this conversation is worth the price of a subscription in and of itself!