There is a saying in volleyball, “It all starts with a pass.” So I’m going to end this season-long look at this year’s team versus the great team from last year, with the passers.
Both teams went undefeated in the A10, earning the regular season Championship. The A10 Tournament begins on Friday with Dayton the top seed earning a first round bye. The Flyers are in the driver’s seat to be crowned the A10 Tournament Champs, just like last season, but you have to play the matches and earn it. We will be in the NCAA tournament, again. Last year’s team won their First Round match and took a set off #10 Washington St in the Round of 32. This year’s team wants to get to the Sweet 16. To do that, we will need exceptional back row performances in serve receive, defensive digs and pinpoint passes to Setter Alyssa Miller.
The good news is everyone in the back row this year was also in the back row rotation last year. So we caught up with Flyer Assistant Coach Tim Balice to find out where each of the four players holding down three rotations in the back have improved this season.
“Karissa (Kaminski) has improved her consistency which has proven critical to our success,” Balice said. “In a technical sense, Kariss has worked on staying in proper posture and keeping the ball in front of her.
“Emily (Young) has been working real hard in serve receive on keeping the ball on one side of her body versus keeping it in her midline,” he explained. “Defensively she has been focused on making the correct adjustments to her court positioning depending on the (opponents’) set quality. Our defense shifts depending on location and tempo of the opponent’s set.”
Coach Balice also provided insight for Gaby Arroyo and Lexie Almodovar’s work to handle serve and pass.
“Gaby has been working on creating good space between her platform and her body as well as keeping the ball in front of her. And Lexie has been working on not connecting her hands too early and keeping the ball in front of her body in serve receive,” he explained. “Defensively she is working on being disciplined in her court positioning.”
Passing a volleyball in serve receive is by far the toughest skill on a volleyball court. At the same time those that contribute this skill get very little credit for their craft from the casual fans. It’s way more fun to cheer a setter who sends the ball to an open hitter, beating the opponent’s block. That’s easy to see. And of course, who doesn’t like seeing a hitter crush the ball and score? Passers are sometimes like the linemen blocking in football. A neccesary part of a team’s success but not as enthusiastically acknowledged by the fans in the stands. We asked Balice to give the average fan a point of reference.
“Passing a serve in volleyball is incredibly tough because it requires quick reactions, precise technique, and mental focus,” he shared. “Two of the most important variables is that all skills in volleyball except for serving are considered ‘rebound contacts’ in that you must deflect the ball versus holding the ball to redirect it.” He broke down the variables a passer has to face to master her craft.
- Unpredictable Serves: Serves can be fast, spin unpredictably, or move like a knuckleball (float serve), making them hard to judge. It is also important to note that opponents tend to serve the weakest passers which adds a layer of difficulty.
- Positioning and Control: Passers have to move quickly to the right spot, angle their arms perfectly, and stay balanced to direct the ball to the setter.
- Pressure: A good pass is crucial for the team’s offense, so there’s a lot of responsibility on the passer. One mistake can cost a point or shift momentum.
- Precision Matters: The goal isn’t just to keep the ball in play but to place it within a small area near the setter for the best play options.
- Endurance: Passers repeat this skill many times during a match, so they have to stay sharp and consistent, even when tired.
Top players make passing look easy, but it takes years of repetitive practice to handle serves like a pro.
So is this year’s team better than last year’s and will they be able to make a run in the NCAAs? The best person to offer an opinion on this is of course Flyer Head Coach Tim Horsmon.
“Great question. Lots of similarities actually but we may be a little more balanced offensively this year and I think our defense as a whole is a lot tougher to beat,” Horsmon stated. “I think we’re in a good place but, again, so much of the NCAA tournament for us will be the matchups we get in regard to the selection of opponents (in our quad the first weekend) and our seed.”
So 11 months after last year’s team wrapped up their season, it’s once again Tournament Time. This is what Flyer Volleyball is all about. Winning Championships and pushing to make a historical run in the NCAA.
My father, who was a high school football coach, always said it was better to be lucky than good, but if you can be both, you can win a heck of a lot of games. This year’s team is better than the 2023 squad. But, we need to take care of business in the A10 Tournament because that gives us the best chance to get lucky and draw not one, but two good matchups for a chance to make the Sweet 16. We are not playing this weekend to make the NCAAs. Worst case scenario, we will be an At-Large Bid. We are playing for a chance to host the first two rounds on Hausfeld Court in the Frericks Center.
As of Thursday night, Dayton sits at rpi #14 on figgiestats. Our strength of schedule is ranked 62nd. It’s the worst of any top 30 rpi team. But, our 28-1 record is the best. We did not play a Top 10 team this year, and that seems to be the new measuring stick by the Selection Committee. So we also need a little luck. The good news is, even if we don’t host, the Committee now seeds the Top 32 teams on the bracket without regard to travel considerations and we will be a Top 20 team if we win the A10 Tournament. In that case, we will be on the road, paired in a quad with the 13th, 14th, 15th, or 16thseed. Any of those will be good matchups. All will be better than playing #10 Washington St last year. Our path to the Sweet 16 should be easier because we are a better team this season.
We don’t control the luck, but we do control how good we can play and win the A10 Tournament Championship. And that starts with a good pass.
Really good insight here. The top teams in the country do pass to well that they make it look easy. They can take those difficult serve receives and put it on a dime right at the net for the setter — not too far away and yet not over the net for a gimme dunk by the opponent. When I look at our stats this year, we basically lead every major category in the A10. We are more balanced this year and our defense is quite good. We also hit well all season. The only struggle we seemed to bring up repeatedly was the long rally points, but there might be a lot of various reasons for it.
Horsmon is right that the NCAA Tourney is about matchups and bracketing/seeding as much as anything. You gotta get a good bracket in the first couple rounds. When we kept having to go to Penn State to win in round 2 when they were at the top of the sport, it was a difficult ask.
Those 3 years at PSU in four years – if memory serves me correctly? – not only put us in a quad with a team that was always one of the top 4 teams in the tourney, but the trip was like 5 miles under the cutoff to fly to the host site. So we had to take a long bus trip to get there. I don’t know when the NCAA changed from seeding only 16 teams to seeding 32. They seeded 32 last year. It might have been the COVID year when everyone was in Omaha and there were no travel considerations. We had a great 5-set match against Washington and lost a heartbreaker that year. Maybe the Committee saw first hand the sport had advanced and it was a better tournament to seed down to 32 spots? Anyway, seeding 32 takes out the requirement to place those teams based on travel considerations (ie expense) to a close hosting team for the second group of 16 and gives the teams in the 17th to 22nd seed placement a chance to play a team in the 2nd round they can knock off to advance to the Sweet 16. This year will be the first time the Committee has to deal with these “Super Conferences” that have 50 members (exaggerated) and the rule they don’t pair them up in the first two rounds. I would have to think that might get thrown out for the top 32 teams if they are honestly seeding in their assessment of performance during the season. Top teams MIGHT not get a conference-free zone for the first TWO rounds any more. Might get reduced to the first round only.
On the long rally discussion…I’ve seen we have gotten better as the season progressed. One reason we seem to not win as many of these points is we probably don’t see too many of them in practice. When you have a team that terminates as quickly and as often as this Flyer team (.305 hitting percentage) and has a solid block (#43 national rank at 2.52/set) we probably don’t see a lot of long rallies in practice. So it’s on the job training during matches when they have a chance to learn how to handle a long point. Other teams that aren’t as dominate in terminating balls and blocking – where their team starting rotation isn’t playing at a really high level and their second team players are closer in talent to their starters, I would think you get more long rallies during practice. It’s a theory anyway…I’ve never actually attended a DI volleyball practice in my life. LOL
As of Friday morning, our SOS rank improved to 59th. We are still rpi 14, but getting into the 50s help us. We are only .0003 behind Utah at #13. And, we are no longer the worst SOS rank in the top 30 rpi teams. I think we have to be rpi 12 or 13 to host – which builds in we win the A10 Tournament. We need GW and LOY to win their matches today. They carry the best winning percentages even if GW is the 5th seed going against DAV the 4th seed.
Becky
Another great season for the WVB team and yet another great year of insight and analysis from our # ONE ‘reporter on scene’!
Your reporting made especially more difficult as you (to my knowledge) have not attended a match at Frericks. Although not as difficult as trying to report the ‘weather conditions’ on the backside of the moon, it still requires time and effort to follow on line stats, or view through the lens of ESPN+ or something similar.
Great work! And I detect that you are still working in some capacity which could interfere with this side gig! LOL
Sometime when you have ‘free time’ and maybe I missed your beginnings on this forum, but a question I’ve carried around is how did Ms Becky get hooked onto UD WVB?
A friend of mine asked too!
Fan since 2006 – before online streaming – when a niece committed to UDVB. Thank you for your support and kind words.