Womens Vball

[CelticCat]

I've never attended a vball game in my 4 years here (sad I know), but after seeing some of the girls today, I think I'm gonna start going...

[Hell's Bells]

I've never attended a vball game in my 4 years here (sad I know), but after seeing some of the girls today, I think I'm gonna start going...

he he he he man....no comment needed

i might try to get some vball games in also....i will try to pay attention to the game not the cheerlead...err....vball players

[El_Gato]

Guys, you definitely need to attend some games, and not just for the reason you're alluding to...

Volleyball at this level is a blast to watch and it's pretty well known that the Bobcats have a HUGE homecourt advantage.

Our girls are picked 3rd in the conference; if they managed to win the regular season, they'd host the Big Sky Tourney - ON CAT/GRIZ weekend, I believe. That would be one fun weekend.

[grizzh8r]

The only last name you'll ever need to know - Kelly!

But in all seriousness, the games are fun, and it gets quite loud in there when they play. After all, we do have one of the best attendance records for VBall in the nation.

[Hell's Bells]

Isnt it part of every guys dream to watch vball, seriously

[theblackgecko]

Having watched some of the top volleyball teams in the country while I was out a Oregon, I can honestly say that the Big Sky is one of the most underrated conferences in the country for volleyball. Montana State, Sac State, and Eastern Washington have programs that should be ranked in the top forty in the country on a regular basis.

[Bobcat4Ever]

I couldn't agree more about the Big Sky in general and the Bobcats in particular. The volleyball team enjoys a great non-conference record, and unarguably plays the toughest schedule of any Bobcat team. They are playing four teams this year that are in the preseason top-25 and several others that got votes. And they will do well as always.

I was sitting with Kansas State parents at the tournament a couple of years ago and because of their 14th ranking in the nation they had come up here assuming they were just on a picnic. They won but it was not a picnic at all. They were very, very impressed with the Bobcats and the crowds. And we only finished 4th in the conference that year. The K-staters were shocked that we were not the best team in the conference.

[Cat Grad]

Couldn't agree more! My family enjoys the volleyball matches better than several other activities we partake in Bozo. And you're correct in stating our conference is really underrated.

[mslacat]

I there a thing in our Volley ball recruiting guide lines that states we will only sign blond athletes!!!, or must every player signed change their hair color once becoming a Bobcat!!

Looks like a Stepford (wives) Volleyball tobe team

[Bobcat4Ever]

A nice overview of this year's players from Tom Schulz

http://www.msubobcats.com/news.php?sid=vb&nid=1078

[Bobcat4Ever]

Good observation on the blondes, mslacat. The basketball team has tended to use the same recruting guideline as well. But it looks like this year's volleyball recruits have changed that up a bit. Of course Kamber went over to the dark side last year, and the always sporty Kim is variable.

They're playing Wyoming today, Gardner-Webb tomorrow, and then #2 Washington on Saturday night.

They've done an awesome job of beefing up the schedule this year.

Go 'Cats.

[WolfPtCat]

TO: anyone with more volleyball knowledge than I

What is a "Libero"? Is this the artist formerly known as "Defensive Specialist"?

Libero, it sounds like some sort of Brazillian ranch hand. Perhaps it is the title of a 7th grade male chorus member whose voice falls into the audible sound range somewhere between the highest Bee Gee and Mariah Carey.

[grizzh8r]

TO: anyone with more volleyball knowledge than I

What is a "Libero"? Is this the artist formerly known as "Defensive Specialist"?

Libero, it sounds like some sort of Brazillian ranch hand. Perhaps it is the title of a 7th grade male chorus member whose voice falls into the audible sound range somewhere between the highest Bee Gee and Mariah Carey.

ROFL! Great post man! however, I was wondering the same thing WPcat.

[ZifCat52]

I'll try to explain the libero position from my limited knowledge. The Libero position on the volleyball court was added a few years ago and is sort of a quasi-defensive specailist. Used to be you had a certain number of substitutions allowed in a game and a defensive specialist was part of the rotation, but normally played in the back row to get serves back into play, etc. If the "defensive specialist" stayed in the game to keep the number of substituions down, she could rotate into the front row and play as any other player on the floor, serves and all.

The libero is purely a back row player, does not count towards the substitution limit, and at one point could not even serve, though I believe that changed last year. They wear a different color jersey so they are easily identified by the officials and fans and rotate in and out, always in the back row (they can't even move forward of the line that separates the back row from the front row). They are designated as the libero as the game starts and become part of the rotation of players. I think this kind of created a special role for good diggers, etc. that didn't penalize a team for excessive substitutions.

At the same time as the libero was instituted, the scoring changed from a 21 point game when you had to have the serve to score a point to a rally scoring type game where you must score 30 points to win the game (win by two points) and every serve results in a point for one team or the other. All this was meant to speed up the game and create more exciting matches, better diggers on the floor most of the time, scoring every serve, etc.

Kandis Kelly has been MSU's libero most of the time since the new rule was put into place and has done very well in that role.

BTW, the MSU volleyball team won their first match of the year tonight against Wyoming, took 5 games but they got it done, a good start to hopefully a great year.

[BobcatLionFan]

To provide a little more information on libero.

It is a defensive player that substitutes into the back row for BOTH Middle blockers. So when a middle blockers rotates into the back row, the coach has the option to replace that blocker wth a defensive specialist (Kelly). Then when that position rotates back to the front row, the middle blocker comes back in. However at the same time the other Middle blocker rotates to the back row and the same libero (kelly) can replace that player.

A typical substitution in Volleyball is where the same player subs in for a specific person and only that person (back and forth). In the case of a libero, it is for both middle blocker positions.

The middle blockers tend to be the tallest players. They also tend to be the weakest defensive players and tend to be hidden when the team is returning a serve.

International volleyball has used rally scoring and liberos for a good long while and it has been a disadvantage to the USA who never played that way. It moved into the USA colleges several years ago. It has now moved into High Schools.

As for the libero serving, I do not think in men's college VB they are allowed to. That the MB must still server, then once there is a side out the libero comes in. But I could be wrong there, things are changing.

The libero sub does not count in the substition count (yes there is still a count).

In volleyball there are 5 positions (in case some do not know). Setter, Swing (outside hitter and there are two playing opposite each other in the rotation), Opposite (hitter that plays opposite the sitter in the rotation and is best to be left handed since they hit from the left side of the court), and the libero (tends to be the shortest on the team). The swings tend to be the most versital players on the court in that they are the two primary service returners and the main hitters.

Go Cats.

[El_Gato]

One thing I find interesting about volleyball is that the rules FORCE you to rotate players. Imagine baseball if the pitcher only got to pitch 1 inning, then had to be rotated out, but then could pitch again later in the game. OR if the QB and the RB and WR's all had to switch positions at certain points of the game. How about if a BBall center was forced to bring the ball up the floor for a specific part of the game? It just seems different that a sport would FORCE you to take out your best player(s). Obviously it forces you to have a deeper team to be successful, it's just that no other sport mandates the substitutions (although I think soccer, that communist sport, does somehow limit/dictate subs) like VBall does.

I'm curious if VBall has ever been played where the team simply puts its best 6 players on the floor and can leave them there as long as they like or substitute freely? Or let their best server serve every point? I watched about 6 MSU games last year and there wasn't any single player whose serve wasn't returned...

[BobcatLionFan]

Defensively baseball allows you to put the players where you want, but when batting they rotate. Image if ARod could bat over and over and just have someone run the bases for him. Or Sheffield and Arod are the only two hitting. Scores would go up. Or in you had free substitution and had Pettit pitch to right handers and Clements pitch to left handers freely in the same game. If they got a couple runs ahead, they put in a releaf pitcher, then 2 innings later you put in the starting pitcher again if needed.

In VB, you can play the same 6 all the time. The libero and middle blockers are like the pitcher and DH in baseball. You have a hitting specialist for the pitcher when he comes up in the rotation (there's that word again).

Also, where they are in the rotation for VB only matters at the exact time of the serve. Past that point in play the players immediately move around. and play if completely different spots. The setter moves front right on offense and moves back right on defense, whether the setter started in the back row left/middle/right or anywhere in the front row. The front row swing goes to the left side, the MB goes to the middle and the opposite moves to the right side of the court (whether in the front or back row).

On returning the serve, the two swings and the libero tend to return the serve (the middle two or three players) whether they are front row or back row. They will be two or three accoss about 2/3 back in the court. All the other players (middles, Setter, and possibly the opposite) are hidden per the rotation (either up by the net or on the back line. They just pay attention to where they are in the rotation and who should be to their right or left or front back. It's hard to tell but it's exact or it's call out of rotation on the serve and it's a sideout.

So it is not straight forward like gym class where there are two rows and people seem to stand of the same spots. Watch the girls when receiving the serve or serving, there is a lot of movement immediately while the ball is in the air. When servering you will see the front players standing close to each other and then switching as the serve is made.

The rotation actually makes it more complex to get to the point of specialist playing where they should on the court. Kind of similiar to Football having a TE shift to the backfield, Slot moves up, then the TE goes in motion next to the line to change the weak side to the strong side to screw over the defense.