Analogies help us relate the unrelated. "The baseball season is a marathon." Or "volleyball season is a sprint."
I've focused a lot on service recently because excellent teams have strong service. The Baltimore Orioles had an exceptional pitching staff and great pitching coach, Ray Miller. Miller said, "work fast, throw strikes, and change speeds," because hitting is timing and pitching is disrupting timing. Seek measurable edges to create advantage.
Top starting pitchers have at least three offerings - a well-located fastball, breaking pitches (curve, sweeper, slider, splitter), and a changeup, a slower pitch thrown with the same arm action. With the 'pitch clock', as in volleyball, delivering on time matters.
You may know the adage in real estate value, "location, location, location." Volleyball is similar. Attacking weak defenders, the seams (alleys between position 5-6 and 6-1), and the sideline seams (between defenders and boundaries) also produce edges.
You've seen a variety of serves recently from the 2011 and 2012 MVB squads and MVB '24 will have a variety, too. Alyssa DiRaffaele had a blended offering with topspin and sidespin. Her serve found the alleys and if not was hard to return. Brooke Bell had multiple serves including a short "rotten grapefruit." Have you tried to pass a rotten grapefruit? Amanda Commito had a long pre-shot routine and then a "quick pitch" float serve with a different spin as a lefty. Cassidy Barbaro had the 'splitter', a hard serve with severe topspin. She was short but her serve was a difference maker.
What about MVB 2024? Leah Fowke has been a classic 'fastball' pitcher. Gigi Albuja has a deceptive "knuckleball" float serve. Take the final six weeks of the offseason to work on your core skills.
Return to this link to study some of the MVB 'serve pros'.
Lagniappe. Repost.
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