Blocking

Blocking in the game of volleyball is a very important part of the defensive side of things. To really understand the concept of blocking you should understand the point of blocking. A lot of people think that a block is only efficient when the ball is stuffed and doesn't come on the defenses’ side of the court. This assumption is wrong. A block is used to take up space on the court, and to make the hitter attack to a certain spot. For instance let’s say that your setter is right back and you libero is left back. The other teams’ middle comes in to hit a 1, what side should the middle and left blocker take away? If you answered right back you are correct. You would much rather have your libero dig the ball than a setter. That is why blocking or taking away the right back zone will help funnel the ball to the libero. This works the same way on the pins. For example if your libero is left back and the other teams’ right side is attacking on the pin, your blockers should be leaving line, forcing the right side to hit to your libero.

Once you understand the concept of blocking then you can get into the mechanics of it. In my opinion, the most important part of blocking is making sure you are pressing your hands over the net to zone 6. If you are not pressing the ball will land in front of you on your side of the net a lot. If you are not pressing to zone 6 and the hitter is smart they will tool you, having the ball come off your hands and land out of bounds. Other important pieces to blocking are footwork and timing but you have to get a ton of reps to get those things figured out.

Word Count: 315

Mid East Qualifier in Indianapolis

This weekend my team was competing at the Mid East qualifier in Indianapolis. MEQ is a national qualifier so if you place in the top 3 you get a bid to nationals which are in New Orleans this year.  We played in the open division against some really good teams. We weren’t really expected to do well but we did better than we were ranked. It was a three day tournament and we played in the Indianapolis Convention Center. 
The first day we were in a pool with the third ranked team overall. We played really well against them and took them to a third set. We went 0-3 the first day, which was tough but we played hard and left it all on the court. After we were done playing we went shopping in a huge mall and then went out to eat at Granite City. The second day were in a pool with another Iowa team, Iowa Rockets 17R. We hadn't played them before, but we knew they were going to be tough competition and we really wanted to win. We won the first set, lost the second set and it was going to 3. During the third set we got a couple of stuff blocks which I think really brought the momentum to our side and helped us get the W. During that game I was a little nervous because it was the first time my coaches at Loyola were watching me play since I committed there, but after the first couple of points I was all good and I think having them there actually made me play better. It was a sweet win and it helped our regional ranking for next weekend. We ended up 2-1 the second day, and overall I thought we played well.
The final day of the tournament we won our first game in 2 and then we played OP2, who got 2nd place in the open division in Omaha. They are a really good team and we didn't play as well as we could have, so we lost to them in 2. We ended up getting 33rd out of 48 in Open. I was really proud of us for never giving up and proving that we were better than our ranking. 

MEQ Website

Word Count: 390

Colorado Crossraods

I was counting down to the day we left for Colorado for a long time. Getting to play my favorite sport in my favorite state with my favorite people was something to look forward to. My dad and I flew out of Chicago and arrived in the Mile High City on a Thursday. We went to Colorado over thanksgiving break last year to ski and it was the best vacation I have been on so I was pumped when I heard we were going to be playing at Crossroads this club season. I had never been to Crossroads before this year, but I had heard nothing but good things about everyone’s experience there. Walking in to the convention center on Friday before we played I could see why everyone said this was their favorite tournament. Everywhere you looked it was either sweet volleyball clothing, everything you can think of that is Nike, every different food vendor, or courts. It was like a volleyball players dream in a big convention center.

            We went 2-1 the first day, which made us a second seed in our pool the next day. The second day we went 2-1 again but we were in a 3 way tie for first. We thought we might have had to play a challenge match but we ended up getting first because we had the highest winning percentage out of the other teams. We were pretty excited about that, because we were now in the gold bracket and had a shot at qualifying for nationals. After we were done playing on Saturday, some of my teammates wanted to go see some mountains in Vail because they had never seen them before. I decided to go with, even though I knew it was going to be hard seeing the mountains and not being able to ski. I am obsessed with skiing and being in Colorado and not going skiing is really hard let me tell you. It was still awesome driving around through the mountains, and afterwards we went to a pizza place that had been there for over 200 years!

On Sunday we played at 8 in the morning against a pretty solid team from Florida I think. We won the first game, and then lost the second game. In the third set we fought hard and everyone really wanted to win but we just had a few too many mistakes and some bad calls. We lost 12-15. Losing sucks and I don’t think there is a worse feeling. It was not the way we wanted to end that tournament but I think we became more of a team experiencing that tough loss. We realized how much we all wanted it and the next chance we had to qualify we were going to take it.

Colorado Crossroads Website

Word Count: 475