|
Post by Pirate VB Fan on Oct 31, 2006 0:30:08 GMT -5
I am philosophically opposed to 6' liberos. Interesting .. why? You know, I am not sure why except "short people have to have something to do". I know, stinks as an answer. I guess I am just used to having small, quick liberos but there are obvious exceptions to the rule. Stanford had a decent 6' libero. UCLA's libero is good (not great). The bigger wingspan means they don't have to move to get to a lot of balls, but often they are not a mobile as smaller liberos. You also have to worry about hitting the ball above the height of the net when sending it over as libero's can't do that anywhere on the court, not just in front of the 10' line. My daughter is a 6' MB who is one of the leaders on her team in digs, despite only playing backrow 1/12th of the time (only during the 1/2 rotation that she is serving). Granted she is a very good server so she tends to stay in there awhile, but still it shows that tall girls can dig too. Still, i just can't get over the feeling that liberos should be short and quick...
|
|
|
Post by blastingsand on Oct 31, 2006 0:55:07 GMT -5
I can see what Husky VB Fan is saying because players shorter than 6' aren't going to be able to play if players 6' and up are gonna take libero and DS positions. However, given that UCLA doesn't seem to have problems with Jordan Smith as the libero, I think they should keep her. she usually has a DS right next to her in matches like Jade Machado. Sometimes UCLA even puts Colby Lyman in the back with them, which is an incredible defense line.
|
|
|
Post by BearClause on Oct 31, 2006 1:09:47 GMT -5
You know, I am not sure why except "short people have to have something to do". I know, stinks as an answer. I guess I am just used to having small, quick liberos but there are obvious exceptions to the rule. Stanford had a decent 6' libero. UCLA's libero is good (not great). The bigger wingspan means they don't have to move to get to a lot of balls, but often they are not a mobile as smaller liberos. You also have to worry about hitting the ball above the height of the net when sending it over as libero's can't do that anywhere on the court, not just in front of the 10' line. My daughter is a 6' MB who is one of the leaders on her team in digs, despite only playing backrow 1/12th of the time (only during the 1/2 rotation that she is serving). Granted she is a very good server so she tends to stay in there awhile, but still it shows that tall girls can dig too. Still, i just can't get over the feeling that liberos should be short and quick... College liberos as a matter of course seem to always bump the ball over. I've seen some HS competition, and the players seem a little less hesistant about taking a real swing with a three-step approach. They're also typically 5'3", so it may not matter. However - Courtney Shultz was a 6'1" MB who ended up playing libero because nobody else was a good choice, and ended up forced into it because of a shoulder(?) injury that prevents her from blocking. Last season Pepperdine used 6'2" Caitlin Lawson at libero during the NCAA Tournament. Perhaps bigger players don't always have the speed, but the ones who do are incredible when coupled with "wingspan". Besides - speed is often overrated in the back row. Proper positioning and good "court sense" w/ respect to the hitters/blockers goes a long way.
|
|