Women's Volleyball perfecting placement

Details separate the good from the great.

Good players can get by without fine-tuning their details. But the ones that become great work on the specifics of their craft that will largely go unnoticed. Great players will do whatever it takes to get the job done, no matter how small or trivial the task may seem.

“No matter who we’re preparing for, managing space is part of our tactical preparation,” said Head Coach Tim Louks. “Given certain types of defenses, do we have the shots to beat them?”

An effective offense knows how to find holes and ways to score against any given defense.

McMaster wants to be versatile so they can make opponents uncomfortable.

“Volleyball involves precision and power, but it’s not just hitting the ball hard. It’s about where you’re hitting it and how you’re hitting it,” said Louks. “We call it hitting with tactical intelligence.”

Fifth-year captain Taylor Brisebois knows exactly what this means.

“We’re working on hitting those deep corners of the court and avoiding the block. Coach is continuing swing high and getting those deep shots because they’re so effective,” said Brisebois. “He wants us to be smart and see the block and work around it. Once we work around a block we want to aim for open gaps and deep corners of the court.”

Avoiding the block is helpful because it teaches players to see where they’re hitting. Intentionally hitting the ball to specific locations is a skill that needs to be developed. It’s similar to a pitcher having command of his pitches. Once you can manage the velocity and movement of the ball, you’re a bigger threat.

“Now we’re adding that change of speed to the ball, but only occasionally. We don’t rely on it,” Louks said.

Perfecting placement of the ball ultimately goes towards scoring points. If McMaster can consistently hit balls to spaces that take opponents out of their comfort zone, they can become an even tougher team to beat.

“The more sophisticated a player’s arsenal of shots is, the more choices a coach has. This is what we’re working on. We want to expand the arsenal of shots a player has so that we’re tougher to defend,” said Louks.

With several weapons already at their disposal, an expanding arsenal would only improve the team.

“We’re hitting to spaces where their best defenders have to get out of position. When we do that, they have trouble digging and starting their offense. We want to make teams uncomfortable like that,” said Louks. “We want to get them out of position and force them to make plays from where they’re uncomfortable.”

McMaster is 9-1 and hosts Ottawa on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. and Guelph on Jan. 24 at 3 p.m. Both games will be in Burridge Gym.

Photo Credit: Nicole Zhang