Hatteberg and Bradford

At the Melrose HoF committee meetings, a member marvels, "how does volleyball sustain success?"

Everyone knows the "names" on a team such as Tatum and Brown. But stars alone don't drive success. In the MVB solar system, the hubs for 2024 are Leah Fowke and Sabine Wenzel. But the solar system depends on everything in orbit. 

In Moneyball, Michael Lewis unearthed the Oakland A's 'arbitrage' of the mispricing of players. Billy Beane's assistant, Paul DePodesta, explained that teams buy wins. That depends on buying runs and run prevention. The two poster children for undervaluation were Scott Hatteberg, who got on base by walking, and Chad Bradford who threw nearly underhand to get batters out.  

'MVB' translates to point production and point prevention. Top teams win points on both 'O' and 'D', not relying on opponent errors. Who was underappreciated for "putting the ball down" and "keeping the ball up?" 

Scoring. Sofia Papatsoris scored 129 kills in a breakout season as a starting middle, statistics cut short by injury not ability. Maggie Turner led MVB with 270 service points. 

Defense. Turner and Gigi Albuja clocked 189 and 171 serve receives, number two and three after libero Grace Gentile. 

"Serve." Add value through service. 

• Serve your teammates. 
• Serve the team. 
• Put runs on your board and keep them off theirs. 

Don't think about winning. Don't think about losing. Focus on this point. 

Lagniappe. Hitting drills.