From: wung@puttgen.ee.gatech.edu (Peter Wung)
Subject: Re: Balls and defense
Reply-To: wung@puttgen.ee.gatech.edu
Organization: Sun Microsystems
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 21:28:10 GMT

In article ldmcajINNknr@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM, rmp@crashnburn.Eng.Sun.COM (Richard Pottorff) writes:
>|Peter:
>|Problem is, if they are any good at hitting they can hit down right in front
>|of you.
>|
>|Rick:
>|True, but I value my face, and most of the hitters I play against 
>|don't/can't hit straight down.
>|
No arguement there, you have to play what your opponent's best weapon is, take that away and you're OK.  If they can't hit straight down, don't cover.

>|>|there's a tall blocker in front of me, I cheat up pretty close, to cover
>|>|the dink, and hope middle back will be able to get to the balls the hitter
>|>|tries to hit over the blocker and me to the back line.
>|>|
>|
>|Peter:
>|The problem is for the rest of your defense to adjust to you.  If you play up,
>|the MB guy has to cover the corner, and the LF guy has to back up to cover
>|angle.  If you go back and play defense, the whole defense has to cover
>|less area, but is susceptable to dinks.
>|
>|/* ****** */
>|
>|Rick:
>|Well, the opposite front is supposed to back off the net to cover the junk
>|and hard angle shots anyway, and the opposite back is supposed to move over
>|to take away the shot to opposite corner. And, the middle back really is 
>|responsible for tips, middle dinks, and corner shots. (At least every 
>|volleyball instructor I've ever had has coached this defense). 
>|
>|Also, its a lot easier (and a higher percentage shot) to dink the ball
>|over a blocker than it is to hit a loop shot that catches the back line; 
>|I'll take away the easier shot. If they are good enough to consistently
>|hit the back line, they deserve to win the game.
>|
>|--
>|Hypocrits are known for their consistency. 
>|
>|NOT!
>|Ramblin'

Well, I was reading about these defenses and was just thinking about 
them.  The most popular defense, I would imagine, is the perimeter 
defense, which is what I think you play.  But the rotation defenses 
assign someone specifically to cover the dinks, either it is right 
back or left front, assuming the attack is from the power side of 
the opponents.  Either way, you have a guy doing nothing but cover 
dinks.  This leaves more room in the back for the other three or 
two defenders to cover.  My point is that if you are playing perimeter
or rotation, you need to have every person on the same page or you 
will leave a spot open.  Say I am the setter in perimeter, I cover
the left sideline, medium deep.  Now if I decide that I want to go 
cover dinks on the hitter, BEFORE THE BALL IS SET, I need to let the 
middle back know what I am doing, because if I don't the left line 
and the corner is vulnerable and I have seen people hit those shots.  
The middle back needs to rotate to cover the corner, the left back 
needs to cover deep corner and so on.

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*Peter Wung			Email:wung@ee.gatech.edu	   * 
*Electric Power Laboratory	Snail mail: 33787 Ga. Tech Station * 
*School of Electrical Engineering	    Atlanta, GA 30332      *
*Georgia Institute of Technology			    	   *
*Atlanta, Georgia						   *
*   	"Pass, Set, CRUSH!"...					   * 
*  	Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad for a short, fat guy. 	   *
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