Volleyball help, please.

[Angola!]

So, a player can step on part of the line and that is OK? It is only when their entire foot crosses the line that it is a foul?

Also, do rotation errors always result in points?

And digger, are you a libero?

 

[Jeremy Goodwin]

Digger has lots of great points above.

I too would suggest trying to featurize the story as much as possible. If you cover the same team you'll get to know who is good at hitting different types of sets or are good at certain situations. Try to pick a player and figure out why they did well that night either offensively or defensively. Maybe the other team was giving a double block on one side, so that opened up a 1-on-1 for the opposite and she had 15 kills. Or maybe the middles intimidated the opposing offense so much that they kept on giving free balls.

Keeping track of runs is good, but don't let your story get bogged down it. Just like gamers for any other sport you don't want to say team X tied the game at 5, then team B went on a 7 point run, but team A came back...

Something else I would always do is talk to the setter. They are basically the quarterback on the court. They have to read the defense and pick a play. They will be able to explain the strategy and tell you why one hitter was successful early on, then a different one was later in the game. When I covered college vball for two years I was lucky to have an all-American setter on the team. She was my go-to quote because she would dumb things down and say that outside hitter who normally dominates was being double team, therefore the middle blockers were open and that's why they had career nights in kills. Talking to the setter will help you figure out who else you need to talk to.

 

[digger]

So, a player can step on part of the line and that is OK? It is only when their entire foot crosses the line that it is a foul?

Also, do rotation errors always result in points?

And digger, are you a libero?

Ha! The screen name is kind of ironic, defense has always been my worst area. I know someone who has that real nickname, though, and I always thought it was cool.

On the centerline, the foot has to completely cross the line for it to be a fault. If you're on it (or hovering above it, say, if you're on you're tiptoes but the back of the foot is still over top of the line) you're ok. For serving, or 10-ball (back-row) attacks, if the foot touches the line before contact with the ball, that's illegal.

The rotation errors question is a good one - they always result in points (assuming this is rally scoring, not sideout scoring) when the ref blows the whistle for them. One example would be a wrong server (the team or a player get confused about where they are in the rotation and they don't follow the order - this isn't as rare as you'd think it is, I've seen really good, experienced teams do it). Another would be an overlap (players set up in the wrong position at the time the ball is served). Examples of this would be if the player who is supposed to be in the back left position starts the play in front of the person in the front left position. This most commonly happens with setters "cheating'' up to the front of the court and being in front of the front-row person she/he is supposed to be behind. It can also happen when teams have a sophisticated serve-receive that relies on two or three main passers and who thus have to each cover a big chunk of the court.

The reason I say it's a good question is that a lot of times overlaps happen, but aren't called (and therefore aren't a point). It's like the umpire in baseball who said "It ain't a strike until I say it's a strike''. Sometimes refs aren't good enough to recognize an overlap. Plus, they'll let "minor'' ones go on purpose, part of a recent trend in the game toward having the officials be more lenient to allow more actual play. (they're also allowing net violations that are not considered part of the play - say if the left side player somehow accidently touches the net for some strange reason when the set goes to the right side player. (it's extremely rare to have this actually happen).


Edited to put in a couple words where I didn't complete a thought! (in the centerline part)

 

[digger]

Digger has lots of great points above.

I too would suggest trying to featurize the story as much as possible. If you cover the same team you'll get to know who is good at hitting different types of sets or are good at certain situations. Try to pick a player and figure out why they did well that night either offensively or defensively. Maybe the other team was giving a double block on one side, so that opened up a 1-on-1 for the opposite and she had 15 kills. Or maybe the middles intimidated the opposing offense so much that they kept on giving free balls.

Keeping track of runs is good, but don't let your story get bogged down it. Just like gamers for any other sport you don't want to say team X tied the game at 5, then team B went on a 7 point run, but team A came back...

Something else I would always do is talk to the setter. They are basically the quarterback on the court. They have to read the defense and pick a play. They will be able to explain the strategy and tell you why one hitter was successful early on, then a different one was later in the game. When I covered college vball for two years I was lucky to have an all-American setter on the team. She was my go-to quote because she would dumb things down and say that outside hitter who normally dominates was being double team, therefore the middle blockers were open and that's why they had career nights in kills. Talking to the setter will help you figure out who else you need to talk to.

Also good points. Setters are often one of the smarter players on the team, especially very successful ones - they have way more to think about than everyone else. (who to set, who's where on their own team, who's where on the other team, etc.).

Another angle you could take with a story - who does the setter go to when the game is tight? It might be Player A only has 5, 6 kills in a match and Player B has 10, but Player A was the person who got the key kill to give the team a 17-16 lead, or to get them out of a bad streak, or at the end of the 25-23 win. The good setters are going to set their go-to hitter in those situations, and it often isn't the same person who gets a lot of kills when there's no pressure.

 

[Cansportschick]

I just covered my third match of the season, and I'm still clueless on all this stuff.

Can someone please share with me some tips for covering volleyball? You know a way to properly word something other than saying, "Podunk won when the other team failed to get the ball over the net in the requisite three hits." (No, I didn't use that line, but you get the point.)

wicked, I have an advantage when covering volleyball: I played it. So the thing I look for is the number of aces, stuffed blocks and kills that a player amasses during the game. Also, I do tend to see how the passing and how the libero does set up the hits. If there is any notable substitutions, I do make notation of it and also, if any team commits any violations that dictate the tone and outcome of the game.

 

[slappy4428]

It's simple sport. You serve the ball, you set the ball, you spike the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. Wait...

 

[outofplace]

It's simple sport. You serve the ball, you set the ball, you spike the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. Wait...

Are you saying Nuke LaLoosh ****s like he spikes?

 

[expendable]

I've found that there is one time that service points can be a useful stat. Some matches one team can have a ton of service errors. I had a coach tell me one time when I first started covering the sport after his team committed 25 service errors, "The only reason I'm giving you the service point stat for Misty Future**** tonight is that she's the only player we had that could get the ball over the ****in' net."

That was a good quote I couldn't use.

Other than that, I generally shy away from including that stat, unless I need an inch or two of filler.

 

[Rhody31]

Don't use the word spike in a volleyball story. It's a hit or a swing.
It's like using the word "trey" to describe a 3-pointer.

 

[expendable]

I'm okay with spike.

Trey? Not unless Charlie Snotbubble, III is playing.

 

[HandsomeHarley]

I'm OK with trey, but I'd use "kill" over spike. Pet peeve: Every time I see a volleyball photo where the photo's cutline says "spike".

I've used service before in stories if a player reels off 12 straight winners, for instance. And that's what I call them: Service winners. Not aces -- that's different. I mean when a team scores 12 straight points with the same person serving.