Match Thread: Wichita State vs. PSU

Lol. "felt hard done by." Love that characterization!!

which leads me to the broadcast booth. There is no such thing as being penalized a point for being out of system. It is out of rotation. Awwwwk. Later the term out of rotation was used when he explained why a team didn't attack well.

On the good side, I didn't hear the incorrect term 'backslide.' So there is that.

Given we have top 10 attendance at our home court and we doubtlessly have a substantial online following...I think it's fair to expect broadcast personnel to have better technical understanding of the sport.

I'll throw in my two cents and those who know more can correct me.  The sets to the middle are lower and generally much quicker than sets to the outside. The middle is going up before the ball has left the setters hands.  So that means the timing needs to be precise for both the middle and the setter.  Also the passing needs to be quite good for the setter to even make an attempt to set the middles.  So the fact that the middles were being set a lot in the Holy Cross/Wichita states shows that the passing was pretty good by PSU and/or the opposing teams weren't putting much pressure on the PSU defense/serve receive allowing them to pass well.  The middles can be more easily blocked since the opposing blockers don't have to move so much. I remember that it took Micha and Katie Slay quite a while to get their timing together. 

The sets to the outside hitters can be higher so the hitter can adjust more easily.  The setter can do equally precise sets to the outside where the set is flat and quick.  There also, the timing needs to be precise and are consequently more difficult to do.  Like you said, all the other factors you mentioned also come into play; personnel, opponent blocking schemes, passing.  I was watching the ILL match against Tennessee where Quaid was getting set all the time and she was mostly putting it away.  The ILL setter then set the middle which to the complete surprise of Tenn.  Deception/unpredictability on the part of the setter is also very important. 

You possibly already knew this, so if so, my apologies.  Hopefully it helps someone.

 

No need for apologies.  I think I posted out of frustration.  Usually, I read comments (and this is generically, not this board specifically) "they need to set the middles." Like you, I remember the problems Micha had meshing with Katie--and both were exceptional players with great work ethics.  So, when I see middles getting Outside-like hitting stats, I can't help but think PSU has a special setter in Blossom.  But then, I find (by reading comments) that Blossom's skills and Rose's strategy is less than optimal. So, I was asking the "them" to explain to me how I had gone wrong.  

My take-away is that these things are situational, there are no hard-and-fast "right answers," somebody is always going to be more knowledgeable (we know because they'll tell us), and I'll try to keep my observations about player skills and poster knowledgeability to myself.  I said try. 

It makes sense that you knew this already since you've been around a long time.  My take on why Gabby was setting the middles so much is that Coach Rose knew that they would be able to get Gabby a good set and Coach may have wanted to solidify the connection between the setter and the middle.  Course if you're waiting for Coach to explain it, good luck with that. as I'm sure you know. He tends to be pretty tight lipped about why he does what he does.  Sort of like waiting to find out what injuries certain players have that are keeping them out.  <sarcasm> I think his prior job might have been in intelligence gathering </sarcasm>.  I think I might start using something like sarcasm brackets in the future cuz I have sometimes made sarcastic or whimsical statements that just don't come across in a forum like I wanted them to and so confuse people.  I should have know that's how you were stating it especially since you mentioned all the other factors.  Oh well.  No harm done.