MALE RIGHT SIDE DOMINANCE?

[baywatcher]

Noticed that there appear to be many more dominant opposite, or right side hitters in mens volleyball than womens. Obviously Sarah Pavan is an exception, but I think that a small factor in her dominance is the lower percentage of attacks opposing teams see from the right in the womens game. And there are other exceptions. ( For men, I'm thinking Patak at UCSB, Klosterman at UCLA, Webber at Irvine, Adamson at Pacific, Reddy at Stanford, Rhodes at CSUN, Tarr at LBSU, Hakala at Hawaii, Proper(sp?) at Penn State, etc. all last year; all rights who took a large % of swings for their team, by design.) In reviewing women's AA this year, 5 of 36 AA were R/S Opp (v. 10 MB), but only 1 of 65 HM's designated RS/OPP (v. 24 MB), + 3 more as S/H (which I assume are setters in a traditional 6/2 who stay in to hit from the right). That indicates not too many stars at Opposite. For men, 6 of 20 AA were RS/OPP, and a seventh, Tarr of LBSU, played at OPP a lot. Am I all wet? If not, what reasons? Obvious ones appear to be it's harder to set backwards to opposite at junior level, if not above, so best hitters are trained at left and in middle: and plays in transition go almost exclusively to the OH position, giving the OH more chances. Aren't both reasons applicable to both sexes? Am I missing something here?

[foreignball]

baywatcher said:

1. Noticed that there appear to be many more dominant opposite, or right side hitters in mens volleyball than womens.
2. Aren't both reasons applicable to both sexes? Am I missing something here?

1. You may have to rephrase the above “right side hitters in mens NCAA volleyball than womens” because practically there is no difference regarding that matter in the international game – with a few exceptions all top teams (women) have their strongest hitter at OPP.
2. I don’t think a backward high ball set is more difficult than a back-slide set so it shouldn’t be the main problem.

One that comes in my mind is: a lot of coaches around here consider the OPP/RS player as a blocker but not much as an attacker (I remember seeing player’s position listed as “RS Blocker” at some teams rosters) and very often OPP/RS players are actually converted MB’s.

[roofed!]

I think at the NCAA level, not many players are as well developed at the Opp position compared to the OH position. Not many players can swing hard from the backrow rightside (or D). Also many coaches substituted their Opp with backrow DS.

When USC was running the modified 6-2 in early 2000s, Haley was quoted as saying that he liked the team attacking from the rightside as he thought it was often the weakest defense on the opposing team -- teams often had just the OH to block (MBs often slower to close the gap to their left) and the backrow setter/Opp was generally a weaker digger than the OHs (plus you could take out the setter from the setting).

[roy]

foreignball said:

2. I don’t think a backward high ball set is more difficult than a back-slide set so it shouldn’t be the main problem.

This is part of the reason we don't see the dominance of the right side hitter. As we discussed before, the women’s game has the option of using the slide attack with their middle blockers, unlike the men’s game. The men’s game has their middles hit combinations of quick sets from all over the court. In the women’s game, the middle will hit both quick sets and the slide attack. This allows the setter to run attacks pin to pin in the front row, even without the right side hitting being in the front. Due to that, the right side has not been forced as an offensive option, as the setter is able to run almost all front row options using only 2 outside hitters and 2 middles.

[ooreo46]

I remember Delano Thomas from Hawaii hitting the slide a couple of times. Half of his body was above the net. MEEEEAN!

[beachman]

IT's too bad that Pavan is not a US Citizen.....if she was she could anchor our National Team on the RS for the next ten years.....very possibly the most dominant RS player to hit women's VB in a very long time, at any level, on any team in the world! Too bad she's Canadian cause their program really doesn't exist!

[hammer]

beachman said:

IT's too bad that Pavan is not a US Citizen.....if she was she could anchor our National Team on the RS for the next ten years.....very possibly the most dominant RS player to hit women's VB in a very long time, at any level, on any team in the world! Too bad she's Canadian cause their program really doesn't exist!

I wish we had Yekaterina Gamova too.

[foreignball]

hammer said:

I wish we had Yekaterina Gamova too.

"Formally" Gamova is OH for the RUS NT, even though she attacks from all L; R and BR positions (just like other big hitters - Shashkova-Sokolova, Godina, Grun, Togut, etc).

[bunnywailer]

It also helps that Pavan is a lefty, like previous Nebraska AAs who played her position and were also leftys (Meendering, Reistma).

[beachman]

Meendering was the real deal, but not Reitsma....but compared to Pavan, both were in a little different league

[cbrown1709]

Now you can't forget Kerri Walsh.