Setters are overlooked but often key to a volleyball team’s success
By Kallista Kalney | Sports writer
Volleyball is a sport of serves, spikes and sets.
Indeed, volleyball requires a side to hit the ball three times and never twice in a row by the same player. By the third hit, the ball must go over the net. The players also are required to keep the ball off the ground and serve it over a 7-foot-4 net from 30 feet behind the net.
The three hits after the serve are known to volleyball players everywhere as pass, set and attack.
Yet the setters don’t seem to get the same kind of recognition that other players get. Most people are attracted to the powerful serves, hustle saves from the ground and the aggressive attacks over the net.
The modest setter is the assist person—that one who retrieves a return and sets up the spiker.
In warm-ups for Augusta on the night when the Jaguars played against the University of West Georgia, there were plenty of times where it was the girls practicing their digs. Receiving powerful hits from opposing teams is a major part of volleyball, but what about what happens to the ball after it has been received? Somebody has to steer it back to the power hitters.
“I feel that the job setters have is very tough because we run the speed of the offense and touch every ball during every rally,” said AU sophomore setter Ally Thees. “However, most of the glory goes to the hitters bringing the big swings. I feel like if people understood the setting position to its fullest potential, I would be satisfied with that attention.
Most volleyball players can slide across the floor and pancake the ball to keep it up and everyone can attack the ball by spiking it down to the other side of the court onto the opposing team.
That being said, every volleyball player is put into a position by her coach based on skill, height and speed. If a player is extremely effective at receiving a ball and can pass it easily, she is known as a libero. If a player is tall, then she is a middle hitter and stays in the front row. And if the player has a quick reaction time, she will be in the left or right hitting position.
These positions help make the pass and the attack, but the second ball is almost always with the setter, whose passes must be high enough and in the proper position for the teammate to get the kill, which is a spike that produces a point.
The setter takes the second ball always unless called for help. The ball is passed to the setter after a dig, and then the setter must be capable of setting up their attackers. The setter is a vital part of the team, much like a point guard in basketball, pitcher in baseball or quarterback in football, and people tend to overlook them because they are not seen as earning the points.
If a setter sets a ball and it is spinning in the air, the other team gets a point because the refs call that a double hit. Imagine running for a ball to set up and you have to push with all your strength so that it is high enough to hit, but make sure not to mess up your hands as it can lead to an easy point for the other team.
For another comparison, in soccer, if a person passes to her teammate and that person then proceeds to score, then the person who scored is the only one talked about. All of the superstars of the sport are goal scorers, not the midfielders who set up the goals.
Likewise, the setter assists the points made eight out of 10 times, whether that be setting up an attacker or they tip the ball over themselves.
And college volleyball requires a sharpness and a mentality to complete at a high level.
“High school and college are two completely different levels of play,” Thees said. “I have found from playing at the (NCAA) Division I level and now at the Division II, high schools and clubs need to prepare their athletes with the amount of thought process with the game that is expected rather than just a physical training aspect. My big thing is you practice how you play. You can’t just be a game player. You have to have that attack mentality in the classroom, weight room, daily life, practice and in matches.’
Going into Augusta University’s participation in the Peach Belt Conference championship tournament this weekend at Christenberry Fieldhouse, the Jaguars had 1,386 kills, compared to their opponents’ 1,138. They also had 1,848 digs, compared to 1,776 for their opponents.
Of Augusta’s kills 1,386, 1,280 of them had been assisted by the four setters on the team. Junior Samantha Zittrauer leads in assists with 619. Thees is next with 216, followed by senior Brooklyn Holthaus with 116 and senior Holland Martin with 110.
Yet few fans seem to be interested in the women whose passing is the backbone of the team.
The PBC quarterfinals open Friday, Nov. 19, with No. 3 USC Aiken playing No. 6 Young Harris at 5 p.m. at Christenberry. Then, at 7:30, No. 4 Georgia College takes on No. 5 Lander.
Top-seeded Flagler and second-second seeded get byes into the semifinals, which will be play Saturday, Nov. 20, at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Augusta plays the Aiken-Harris Young winner, and Flagler plays the Georgia College-Lander winner.
The championship match will be Sunday, Nov. 21, at 1 p.m.
Three Peach Belt teams enter this weekend’s tournament in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region’s top 10. Flager is fifth, AU seventh and USC Aiken ninth.
The Jaguars have won the last three PBC tourney titles.
Note: At the top of the page, Ally Thees of Augusta University sets the ball during a recent Peach Belt Conference match. (photo by Kallista Kalney)
Contact Kallista Kalney at KKALNEY@augusta.edu.
