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Post by BuckysHeat on Jan 8, 2017 13:39:17 GMT -5
During the championship game I noticed that Texas' libero was positioned on defense in middle back while Stanford had theirs in left back like most teams do. What are the advantages to having the libero in middle on defense? This is for higher level play, not 11-14's club of course.
Left back that I can see:
More balls hit from opponent to left so libero in position to get them
If the setter digs the first ball, better positioning for the libero to take the second touch
If there is on OH in the backrow having them in the middle allows you more of a backrow attack option
Already in position on offense for OH coverage of blocked kill attempts
Middle back:
DS/OH in backrow not as fast as a coach would like, in theory the libero would cover more range and be a better reader of the play
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Post by n00b on Jan 8, 2017 14:24:08 GMT -5
During the championship game I noticed that Texas' libero was positioned on defense in middle back while Stanford had theirs in left back like most teams do. What are the advantages to having the libero in middle on defense? This is for higher level play, not 11-14's club of course. Left back that I can see: More balls hit from opponent to left so libero in position to get them If the setter digs the first ball, better positioning for the libero to take the second touch If there is on OH in the backrow having them in the middle allows you more of a backrow attack option Already in position on offense for OH coverage of blocked kill attempts Middle back: DS/OH in backrow not as fast as a coach would like, in theory the libero would cover more range and be a better reader of the play Gold Medal Squared people say that the most balls are hit to middle back so that's where the libero should be. |
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Post by wonderwarthog79 on Jan 8, 2017 14:30:39 GMT -5
Left back because the libero is usually the quickest and most skilled at hard hits and yet can cover right side line and x-court dinks. If I was playing an opponent who frequently looped line on the left, I might put the libero in the middle. The face that more balls are hit to the middle doesn't really mean much because decent non-libero defenders can usually cover deflected hits or rainbows in the middle.
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Post by redbeard2008 on Jan 8, 2017 15:03:29 GMT -5
During the championship game I noticed that Texas' libero was positioned on defense in middle back while Stanford had theirs in left back like most teams do. What are the advantages to having the libero in middle on defense? This is for higher level play, not 11-14's club of course. Left back that I can see: More balls hit from opponent to left so libero in position to get them If the setter digs the first ball, better positioning for the libero to take the second touch If there is on OH in the backrow having them in the middle allows you more of a backrow attack option Already in position on offense for OH coverage of blocked kill attempts Middle back: DS/OH in backrow not as fast as a coach would like, in theory the libero would cover more range and be a better reader of the play Gold Medal Squared people say that the most balls are hit to middle back so that's where the libero should be. And yet McLaughlin at UW went from playing his libero middle-back (or middle-middle) with Lee and Miyashiro to playing left-back with Orlandini and Strickland. I'm assuming that the change was driven by data and/or personnel. Not sure what he is doing at ND. |
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Post by butterfingers on Jan 8, 2017 15:06:46 GMT -5
I'd say it's totally driven by personnel. If you look at PSU a couple years ago, when Lacey Fuller entered the match, Dom would usually end up playing right back - likely because Lacey was better at digging hard driven balls than Dom in left back? You're playing the percentages with where you put people. Basically digs/attempts for the player, while keeping in mind the frequency with which balls are hit at each location. Yay math.
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Post by itsallrelative on Jan 8, 2017 15:18:42 GMT -5
Some of it may depend on blocking scheme...
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Post by c4ndlelight on Jan 8, 2017 15:30:45 GMT -5
I'd say it's totally driven by personnel. If you look at PSU a couple years ago, when Lacey Fuller entered the match, Dom would usually end up playing right back - likely because Lacey was better at digging hard driven balls than Dom in left back? You're playing the percentages with where you put people. Basically digs/attempts for the player, while keeping in mind the frequency with which balls are hit at each location. Yay math. It could also be that Dom was better digging line attacks over a not-great-blocking setter. |
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Post by butterfingers on Jan 8, 2017 15:43:14 GMT -5
I'd say it's totally driven by personnel. If you look at PSU a couple years ago, when Lacey Fuller entered the match, Dom would usually end up playing right back - likely because Lacey was better at digging hard driven balls than Dom in left back? You're playing the percentages with where you put people. Basically digs/attempts for the player, while keeping in mind the frequency with which balls are hit at each location. Yay math. It could also be that Dom was better digging line attacks over a not-great-blocking setter. Good point. Or even grabbing the off-speed stuff over the top of Micha? |
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Post by junior1 on Jan 8, 2017 15:45:07 GMT -5
more than likely team considerations... where ever you want your best digger is key... but that doesn't necessarily mean your libero is your best digger.
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Post by Sorry Ass Sal on Jan 8, 2017 15:57:11 GMT -5
During the championship game I noticed that Texas' libero was positioned on defense in middle back while Stanford had theirs in left back like most teams do. What are the advantages to having the libero in middle on defense? This is for higher level play, not 11-14's club of course. Left back that I can see: More balls hit from opponent to left so libero in position to get them If the setter digs the first ball, better positioning for the libero to take the second touch If there is on OH in the backrow having them in the middle allows you more of a backrow attack option Already in position on offense for OH coverage of blocked kill attempts Middle back: DS/OH in backrow not as fast as a coach would like, in theory the libero would cover more range and be a better reader of the play There are reasons to do both, and I don't necessarily think one is better than the other. My current libero plays MB because she is a great gap-block reader and very quick to react and fill the seam. She also excels at running down a lot of shots that would not be gotten if she was in LB (deep corners and short). My libero prior to her played LB because she was great at establishing position against the OH and RS. It was rare that a cross shot from an OH or line shot from RS ever hit the floor. Contrary to my current libero, she was not so good at reading splits and reacting in the middle. So for me it's been on the talents of the libero. I had a Big 12 coach tell me that their blocking scheme played around their libero. With a LB libero, they would leave line for the RS and block for the cross against the OH. I don't know why she played her left over middle. Another coach told me he always played his in MB because he felt she could have the biggest total impact there. As another poster mentioned, Gold Medal Square presents data that most attacks fall near the middle of the floor. So the thought process is that if most attacks end there, put your best digger there. Typically that is your libero, but serve-receive focused liberos may not be the best defenders on the team, so you play her in LB and your best digger in MB. A Big Ten assistant told me they played their libero MB, but played her deeper because if she was in the "middle-middle" spot, too many attacks off the touch of the block would land over her head (their libero at the time was 5'3). So there's advantages and perhaps disadvantages to both. If someone asked me my opinion, I would recommend playing LB or MB based on the strengths and weaknesses of the individual athletes- both the libero and others playing back row. |
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Post by mikegarrison on Jan 8, 2017 16:39:50 GMT -5
I've never taken a Gold Medal Squared class, but as I understand it, the usual information ("GM2 says to play in the middle") is a simplified version of what they actually recommend ("best defender should play where the most balls are hit"). There are a couple of assumptions there: 1) your libero is your best defender, and 2) the most balls are hit to the middle. Probably you should know who your best defender is, and you should chart to see where the most balls are hit against your team. That might well depend on your blocking scheme and who you are playing against.
There is also an argument that says that the toughest balls to get are often hit to the left back, even if that's not where the most balls are hit, and so if your other defenders are good enough, then you can put your best defender where the toughest balls are rather than where the most balls are.
And as others have said, it may depend on things like how tall your libero is or how your block coverage schemes work, etc.
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Post by Babar on Jan 9, 2017 1:30:49 GMT -5
There is one other factor to consider whether or not the libero is LB or MB. Some players playing the libero position in college are not very tall. This is not a problem at Left Back, but it limits the range of the middle back player if she is in a middle/middle position in taking balls that are hit off the top of the block.
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Post by SportyBucky on Jan 9, 2017 9:32:31 GMT -5
Texas' libero played middle back because their weaker blocker blocked line (Chloe Collins). If balls go over the block, more likely to go line or middle back. Lots of differing thoughts, but all things being equal, cross court is standard.
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Post by ciscokeed on Jan 9, 2017 9:46:01 GMT -5
It also depends on how important the pipe is in your offensive scheme. I believe that over time Luba will end up digging all over the place according to blocking situations- if you have a small setter the lib could end up MB. Lousy left side block- play LB. personally I prefer LB I like to arrange my block according to the ability and range of my lib...that being said I've seen really effective defenses with the lib MB
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Post by 5100 on Jan 9, 2017 12:46:52 GMT -5
Interestingly, Autumn Rounsaville, the Texas DS who played left back, had 18 digs to libero Cat McCoy's 15.
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