A Sea Of Red

This thread is dedicated to the many new fans of Liberty volleyball, and their growing need for knowledge about the completive world of D1 volleyball. When fans know more about the Liberty program, players, opponents, and strategies used by coaches, it makes the game of volleyball even more interesting.

If you’ve been around volleyball as a player, coach, or long-time observer, this is your chance to share your insights. Simply post an “LU Volleyball Insight” and number it.

I’ll get the ball rolling by posting a few. Note: Feel free to agree or disagree with any Insights posted… that will make it more interesting!

Liberty University now has a volleyball program with an excellent reputation. We put 6 superb players on the court, and we have strong talent on the bench. Everyone who plays us, plays up! The volleyball world now knows we have game, and they don’t take us for granted… no more sneaking up on people.

Next season when we play some big-name schools, we will have the athletic ability, volleyball talent, fitness, winner’s mentality, and coaching to match up with them. Games will be decided on how well we take them out of their system, and how well we counter their efforts to mess up ours. Note: We beat some tough teams last year (Winthrop, William & Mary, Princeton) by taking them out of their system.

Good teams will try to minimize Kallie’s creativity to run a wide-open offense. Liberty volleyball is like LSU, USC, Oregon, and Boise State football… a gun-slinging offense with a gambling defense. Opponents know Kallie can run up the score when she gives her smart hitters only one blocker to beat.

As a result, smart opponents do things to pull Kallie off the net. Namely, they serve and hit the ball with accuracy to create poor LU passes. Poor passes lead to bad or predictable sets. Bad sets make it hard for a hitter to score. When Liberty drops a game it’s now do to an opponent that takes us out of our system (UC Berkley did that to us in the NCAA tournament).

Last year Liberty had a bad habit of falling behind early, but fighting back to win. With the NCAA rule change (games to 25) we can’t afford to give up point early - the come-back trail is shorter. We must jump on teams early, and stand on their necks until it’s over.

Gymtalk wrote:Last year Liberty had a bad habit of falling behind early, but fighting back to win. With the NCAA rule change (games to 25) we can’t afford to give up point early - the come-back trail is shorter. We must jump on teams early, and stand on their necks until it’s over.

I agree with this...with games only going to 25 its going to be more difficult to mount comebacks once you're down.

I really don't have much insight on the team except from my one game observed against Winthrop at homecoming and following online. But I appreciate you getting this topic started, gymtalk.

Momentum can change in a heartbeat on the volleyball court and teams have to be on the same page at all times in order to be successful.

It will be interesting to see how Courtney Boggs and Kallie Corbin compliment each other and handle running the offense. With not one but two great setters, teams will have a hard time adjusting.

An exciting thought is Courtney playing on the back row (DS or L), making a quick first touch pass (using a two-hand set) to Kallie, Kallie then setting the ball on a lazer-line to a high flying hitter who terminates it inside the 10' line. Bing... Bang... BOOM!!! Now that would be BIG TIME!

My one insight on the volleyball team is how classy they are off the court. Coach Pinder is a joy to talk to and the players are so close and they are the friendliest people you will meet. They are like one big family and its fun to get to know these girls off the court.

Gymtalk wrote:An exciting thought is Courtney playing on the back row (DS or L), making a quick first touch pass (using a two-hand set) to Kallie, Kallie then setting the ball on a lazer-line to a high flying hitter who terminates it inside the 10' line. Bing... Bang... BOOM!!! Now that would be BIG TIME!

How do you think Kallie would do as a DS or L? Obviously her natural position is setter, so this question is just out of curiosity.

Hey, could someone help me understand how to create a "quote box" in a post.

I'm sure it's simple, but I can't seem to figure it out.

Thanks in advance!

Gymbug

If you're trying to quote an entire post, just click on "Quote"

If you're just trying to quote an article, click "Quote" when you're typing the post, copy and paste what you're quoting, then click quote again.

BJWilliams wrote:My one insight on the volleyball team is how classy they are off the court. and the players are so close and they are the friendliest people you will meet. They are like one big family and its fun to get to know these girls off the court.

The girls on this team are fantatstic, indeed. They seem to love the Lord and each other as well. What will determine how well they do next year is if they have a joy for the game and a desire to win for each other. Motivation will be key.

A couple of thoughts regarding the upcoming season. I attended the VT Tournament this week also. From what I saw in the games that we lost, passing was the key. When the passing started to go south, so did our ability to score. It was not rocket science. A few good jump servers put us in the hole by 5-6 points at a time. Another key for this seasons success is to see if the girls stay hungry for that championship crown. They need to have that strong desire to prove they can repeat as Big South Champions!

ATrain wrote:

Gymtalk wrote:An exciting thought is Courtney playing on the back row (DS or L), making a quick first touch pass (using a two-hand set) to Kallie, Kallie then setting the ball on a lazer-line to a high flying hitter who terminates it inside the 10' line. Bing... Bang... BOOM!!! Now that would be BIG TIME!

How do you think Kallie would do as a DS or L? Obviously her natural position is setter, so this question is just out of curiosity.

I think she would have been a solid DS or L in college had she come out of high school with that as a goal. However, she would not be at Liberty. When Kallie was in her junior year of high school, coach Pinder was looking for a setter, and she was only talking to schools who were recruiting her to set.

Funny side-story to this topic: When coach Pinder came out to Oregon to scout Kallie, he only saw her set one ball (yes, 1 ball) over a full day of club volleyball. We laugh about that with coach. His comment has always been, "I only need to see one set to know I wanted her to play at Liberty."

Note: Kallie was a junior on a club team of talented seniors (the senior setter is now the setter at Oregon State). However, Kallie started every game for that club team, but never knew until game time what position she was going to play.

2nd Note: Coach Pinder had seen a lot of game video of Kallie setting for her high school team... so, he knew what she could do.