Recent Entries
 | |
 | Columbia vs Mendon addendum Posted by |
In a blog post I said that Pierre ought to have played his Libero for his Middle Blocker, Solomon. I was going to say why, apart from the reasons I gave, when I noticed something odd which I'll get to later.
I've mentioned a few times that you want your best scoring chances at the start of the player rotation and the worst at the end. So if you score 1,2,2,3,3,4 points in order per server and your opponents score 4,3,3,2,2,1 you both get to 15 after a full rotation of players. After 3 more sets of servers you will have 20 points but your opponent will hit 25 and win the set.
And part of this was saying put your best servers first as you have the best chance of scoring. Pierre had Mendon set up as SRV's 13,13,15,13,14,11 with his Setter at #1 and Solomon #6. Setter at #1 is a good idea and although his 15 SRV MB was at #3, this was forced by Solomon at #6. Maybe swap the OHs but that could depend on DEF, ATK and BLK which I didn't look at. As it happens the first set had all serving three times apart from Solomon, the second had just #1 and #2 serving three times and the final I think went to #4.
And why don't you want Solomon serving? He had 12 serves, 3 were out, 1 was an Ace, 4 went to my best receiver with 2 each to the other 2. This is poor. The passes by my receivers were 5 excellent and 3 good because of that. This isn't good either
In another forum post I mention that you win games by getting more service points than your opponent and that you will score more points on receive than serve.
In my 3 games my service point percentages were 35, 37 and 38. My opponents were 44 (17 point skill defecit), 27 (Pekin) and 37 (Mendon).
But what about Paul Solomon? Despite his 3 serve errors and allowing my receivers to make excellent passes he scored 6 service points - 50%, which was the best for either team.
The 6 points were a hit out by my weak OH, an ace, an attack that was defended leading to a Mendon kill and 3 (yes three) from setter dumps on consecutive serves, 1 which my setter hit out and 2 which were defended and lead to Mendon kills. There was a 4th setter dump which was defended but their attack was also defended for us to get the point.
Of the 5 excellent passes, 4 led to my setter thinking he was "it" losing 3 points. In fact the only setter dumps from Gutierrez were off Solomon's serve. Maybe not such a bad idea not playing the libero after all.
Of course I'm joking about that. 4 setter dumps out of 5 was anomalous when there's only a 20% chance and all those missed dig opportunities.
Readers Comments
Everyone should read this post 5 times to digest it. Well done Steve.
Steve: Please help me with the "Service Point Percentage" number please. I'm not quite making the connection/math on the data fields/formula there. Thanks!
I think Steve's premise is basically that the best servers can dictate the match and the MORE the best servers get to serve the BETTER chance you have to win the set. In the real matches I watch this is true. Obviously not everyone performs at their "SRV skill level" in real life or in TMVL, but its a solid trend. Even a great server may not have many aces, but he'll get a lot of service points by putting so much pressure on the opposing passers.
Service point percentage: I assumed the SP shown in the Summary report means you won the point when serving even if a rally with three digs.
In the Mendon game our total points were 76 and we got 29 service points - 38%. I said Mendon had 37% but I misread my scrawl and it was 33% (22 of 67)
Do you prioritise Serving over every other characteristic. For your example your best hitter is also your best server. Do you play him at IV or V instead of I. I mixed it up last season but didn't really see any difference.
I try mostly where possible to keep the servers in order, even if that means a setter not playing I
I won't necessarily go in order and had my setter in all 6 positions last season anyway. I don't just go on serve because my best server might be my best blocker and I'd rather he be between III and V. At the same time I won't want my SRV 8 OH at #1.
Also very good info Steve, for a better understanding of the game. It is difficult to make the right choices in the line up, but the way you look at the game is an example for all of us. Only difficulty is I have to know where I should looking at. This forumpost gives me a better idea about it.
