Volleyball Update

My work schedule has made it difficult to post updates as frequently as I did in previous years.

The Flyers just completed a three match winning weekend with Penn being the lastest victim. I had previously asked Tim and his staff some questions and their responses are shown below which Tim and Evan Muys both responded to. The questions correlate to our discussions on the UDPride message board and there are some great answers here!

Question 1: Fans become very frustrated over service errors but errors will sometimes occur when you are serving tough because you want to keep opposing offenses out of system as much as possible. How do you measure a server's success? Do you have a ratio of service errors versus aces or do you track the other team's sideout percentage or some other method?

Tim: Many teams if serving aggressively will say a 1-2 ratio of aces to errors. I'd like to stay that aggressive but be closer to a 1-1 ratio but I'm sure we will end up a bit short of that if we are really putting pressure on teams.

Evan: We are just as frustrated at the number of service errors as everyone else. Our philosophy on serving is that we want to be at a 1:1 ratio of aces:errors. We also know that easy serves result in high side out percentages for our opponents, so we stress pace on the ball, and making the passer move her feet to pass (not serve right at her). If we can put pressure on a team by serving aggressively, it will make them 1 dimensional, and we want to force them out of system. We do track a ton of statistical data such as side out percentage, and first ball side out percentage. Obviously, our goal for both is to have as low of a number as possible.

Question 2: UD fans have become very interested in statistics such as side out percentage and service aces versus service errors. Can you give us two stats that you feel this team needs to improve upon and how you will work to improve these?

Tim: We are working to achieve a 70% sideout number in each rotation as well as overall. If we are able to get there we're going to be tough to beat. We will get better with this number playing with this tempo and getting more comfortable with it and I think as Jane continues to grow as a setter playing at this level. I think each day she learns something new and when she gets a grasp of when and why as well as locating every ball we will improve, We have been pretty solid in system but need to get much better playing out of system.


Evan: Stats are a great part of our game. We love to look at numbers because they don't lie. Being our teams offensive coordinator, I would love to see an increase in kill percentage. Our goal is to be at 50 percent (total kills/total attempts). The other area I would like to see improvement in is to have a decrease in total attacking errors. Errors in bunches will lose matches, so it is very important, across the board, to decrease our total number of errors, and that includes attacking errors. We work every day in practice on mixing up our shots and attack points, in order to put our players in the best position to have success on the court. We also spend time watching video with our student athletes to show them what it looks like while they are attacking the ball, and how to be more deceptive in both their approach, and with their hand contact.

Question 3: The freshmen have really provided a lift. Can you tell fans what each of them bring to the team with their particular skills?

Tim: All of the Freshmen have done a nice job and contributed at different moments. Obviously Jane has been our quarterback and done a nice job stabilizing us there. She sets a great ball and is working at improving the other skills to be a great setter and volleyball player. Jess is going to be really good and has played a great right back defensively and also been a great serve and passer. She will continue to improve as an outside hitter and will be challenging there again soon as well. Amber had a great last week offensively and has a great feel of scoring and has a really fast arm. She will make us better as she continues to be a more disciplined blocker. Kelsey and Maggie have come in and done a great job of serving situationally and both will be very good back row players. Laura is also improving each day.

Evan: I will agree with you that the freshman have all been contributing at a high level. It is always a little scary to be out there at this level as a freshman, but we feel that they have held their own. There are still some "freshman moments" that occur, but our upperclassmen have done a great job of helping them through that in practice, and allowing them to feel a little more relaxed on gameday.

Jane - Obviously a big piece to what we are doing. She is one of the strongest setters I have ever been around. She can reverse direction and locate from positions that many can't. She still is learning to give a consistent tempo, and when you can and can't do certain things, but she has really done a great job of stepping in as a "quarterback" of this offence.

Jess - She has developed into a defensive juggernaut. She is a big target in the back row and can cover a lot of court. We have spent time over the last couple weeks on developing her offensive game to start adding a little more offense from her position keep teams guessing.

Amber - She has given us a big spark in the middle, especially in generating some offense. She has a lightning fast arm and can blast seams. She is also a huge voice in our gym, and has provided a lift on the court.

Kelsey - She is a great server and defender. She has begun do dial in her serve and can bring both pace and accuracy to our serving game.

Maggie - She can do a little bit of everything. She can set, serve, dig, pass, she is a great utility player. She like Kelsey has a great serve and can put pressure on opposing teams Serve Receive.

Laura - Another freshman with a great serve. She is consistently serving over 40 mph and is really pushing our primary passers in practice.


Question 4: Would you like to mention any players in particular who have played exceptionally well?


Tim: I think we've had numerous players that have contributed throughout the season at different moments. The key for us will be getting them to play one way and to do it every day in practice and when we play on the weekends.

Question 5: Jenna does not appear to be 100% but she has provided a tremendous lift. Can you tell us what she brings to the team and how hard she has worked in her recovery?

Tim: I love who Jenna is and her competitiveness! She has attacked really well and made us tough to defend from the right side. She never makes excuses and work really hard with a great attitude. I'd take 15 of her any day of the week! We need her to get back to blocking form but considering she's not even a year out from her ACL surgery shes doing some great things for us. Excited what she's going to do as she becomes fully healthy.


Evan in respnse to questions 4 and 5: Jenna has played very well over the last few weeks. She, as you know, is coming off a reconstructive knee surgery, and is starting to get back in form. She plays one way both in practice and in matches. Every ball matters, and when she has an opportunity, she makes the most of it. She has a ton of confidence in her arm and what she can bring to our team offensively, and she is working hard everyday to improve her blocking game. She has worked so hard with our training staff, and strength staff to get back to where she is. I would not say that she is at 100% yet, but she is continuing to get better each week.

The team continues to improve and returns home next weekend, hope yoiu can make it. Jill Loiars said in her interview that she is looking forward to playing a couple of matches at home!