Setters and number of attempts

[vbcrew]

does anyone else think it is strange to have a setter that has almost the same number of attempts as your starting middle in the cumulative statistics column? How many attempts at most should a setter have in a 3, 4 or 5 game match?

[Pirate VB Fan]

vbman said:

does anyone else think it is strange to have a setter that has almost the same number of attempts as your starting middle in the cumulative statistics column? How many attempts at most should a setter have in a 3, 4 or 5 game match?

Depends on whether you are running a 5-1 or a 6-2 (with the setter playing all the way around). If they are a OH or RS half the time then they should have decent hitting numbers. If they are a setter in a 5-1 then they shouldn't have very many hits at all. Maybe 2 or 3 in a match. If they are dumping the ball more than that then they have problems.

[IdahoBoy]

This sounds like a loaded question to me.

Are you the coach or the parent?

[Wolfgang]

I hope they change the name of this position to "Passer." It's a better analogy to football, and you know how important it is for us to woo the football fans.

[Murina]

wolfgang said:

I hope they change the name of this position to "Passer." It's a better analogy to football, and you know how important it is for us to woo the football fans.

In a lot of countries the term for setter is best translated into english as 'passer.'

[roy]

As a major generalization, an offensive setter needs to be very good to have that many attempts. Most top teams don't have a highly offensive setter. Typcially, top teams will play other top teams and the elite teams in the nation are so good defensively that it is hard to consistently score on them using the dump shot. Like Husky VB Fan says, it depends on the system being used.

In international volleyball, you wont see the setters dump the ball very often. Typcially, at that high level of play, players are so good that it is almost like giving the team a free ball to set their offense and not something that will throw off their rythem.

[Gorf]

Something that I didn't see anyone else mention in this thread that can play a role in the nuymber of times a setter attacks the ball is poor passing by the setter's team.

When the team is passing a high number of serves (or attacks) from the opponent very tight to the net, into the plane of the net, or even obviously on their way over the net the setter oten doesn't have much choice other than to attack the ball or allow the other team a pretty much free attack on it.

Plus, even with good passing if the OH's and MB's are having trouble getting kills it gets to be "easy" for the setter to become more aggressive attacking / dumping the ball rather than setting it to try to give the other teama change of pace that might make it more difficult for them to "camp out" on the setter's teammate's attacks.

There is no strict number of attacks per game or match that a setter "should" make. If the setter is consistantly scoring with a high percentage of her / his attacks then I don't see a problem with what some might consider an excessive number of attacks.

Plus, as someone mentioned earlier a setter in a 6-2 can easily have a high number of attempts.

[romeo]

gorf said:

Something that I didn't see anyone else mention in this thread that can play a role in the nuymber of times a setter attacks the ball is poor passing by the setter's team.

When the team is passing a high number of serves (or attacks) from the opponent very tight to the net, into the plane of the net, or even obviously on their way over the net the setter oten doesn't have much choice other than to attack the ball or allow the other team a pretty much free attack on it.

Plus, even with good passing if the OH's and MB's are having trouble getting kills it gets to be "easy" for the setter to become more aggressive attacking / dumping the ball rather than setting it to try to give the other teama change of pace that might make it more difficult for them to "camp out" on the setter's teammate's attacks.

There is no strict number of attacks per game or match that a setter "should" make. If the setter is consistantly scoring with a high percentage of her / his attacks then I don't see a problem with what some might consider an excessive number of attacks.

Plus, as someone mentioned earlier a setter in a 6-2 can easily have a high number of attempts.

I can't explain the frustration I feel when beautiful passes are being made - 3" or so above the tape, right where the setter should be, and the setter is too slow to get there, and it goes into the books as an overpass. Watching an athletic setter be there, jump setting those balls with all kinds of offensive options - now that is bliss.

[tigfan]

A setter should dump the ball as many times as the defense will allow. If they can get 20 kills, they should get 20 kills. it's not about being fair, it's about finding a way to win. There have been matches this year when Ohio State's Marissa Main has had 10+ kills... that's NOT selfish, if anything, it opens up her other attackers, especially the slide because the opposing team HAS to devote a blocker to her if they want to stop her. It opens up her offense. If a setter has 20 attempts and 3 kills, that's too much. If they are attacking over .500, they should be attacking more.

[BearClause]

Sac State ran a 5-1 with a lot of setter dumps a few years back. Lisa Beauchene was averaging about 2.5 KPG. Their stats seem to indicate that they're running a 6-2 now.

[OverAndUnder]

romeo said:

I can't explain the frustration I feel when beautiful passes are being made - 3" or so above the tape, right where the setter should be, and the setter is too slow to get there, and it goes into the books as an overpass. Watching an athletic setter be there, jump setting those balls with all kinds of offensive options - now that is bliss.

I have to agree with this and say that I've always thought of setting as the major technical difference between the men's game and the women's game. The higher athleticism of men allows for a game full of incredible set/attack combos that occur maybe five or six times per match even at the top of women's Division I.

Lots of college women's teams talk about running a "fast offense", but how fast can it be when your receivers are trained to underpass the ball and give it a slow high arc, rather than a flatter, uptempo pass to that sweet spot just above the net? You force your setter to passively wait for the high ball to drop into her hands and then return the ball in an equally passive slow-climbing giveaway initial arc. The more dynamic and agressive your setter can be, the more the opposing defense has to hesitate before committing to where they think the attack will come from.