Email Campaign Archive

Adjusting Your Blocking Strategy to Your Opponent

-By Tom Houser


A Question for Coach Houser:

I am trying to help my blockers block quick sets.
Can we block with 2 or 3? I’ve never done it
before, but I see teams do it all the time. And
when should I tell them to jump?  


Coach Houser’s Reply:

As you already know, successful blocking is all
about "Can we anticipate what the opponents are
going to do?" No, blocking is more than just
having three girls at the net, evenly spaced, and
have either double on the right and left or single
in the middle. Let me tell you more.

If possible, we try to scout the opponent to see
their tendencies, then select our blocking scheme
by what the opponent likes to do. If we can't
scout them, then we try to learn about them as the
match goes on.  

After we think we know the opponent’s tendencies,
then we decide if (a) we should change our
starting lineup to counter their strengths and
(b) what blocking scheme should be used.  

Some people aren't familiar with blocking
schemes. My teams use four schemes:

a) Spread. This is when the opponents have no one
we're concerned about, or we're concerned about
all their front row players equally.  

b) Bunch Middle. This is where all three blockers
are prepared to stop the middle attack. No, they
aren't all shoulder to shoulder, but if the MB is
the only beast the opponents have, we'll block
the middle with 2 or 3.  

c) Load Right. This is where the left side blocker
is half way to the middle, the middle blocker is
half way to the right, and the right side blocker
is in normal position. We do this when we believe
the opponents have very little ability to hurt us
on the outside, but are very capable of hurting us
in the middle or with the backset.  

d) Load Left. Just the opposite of Load Right.
This is where the right side blocker is half way
to the middle, the middle blocker is half way to
the left, and the left side blocker is in normal
position. We do this when we believe the opponents
have very little ability to hurt us with the
backset, but are very capable of hurting us in the
middle or with an outside set.


Last week, I saw a high school team who appeared
to know one blocking scheme: Load Right.
Obviously, they hadn’t scouted their conference
opponents (BIG mistake!), because their opponents
had no threat in the middle; yet, had a monster
left-hander on the right. But just as bad as not
having them scouted, the blocking scheme never
changed. So, time after time -- even in the 4th
and 5th games -- the monster would get a set, and
that would force TWO blockers to try to scramble
over to her. She had 27 kills that night, and I
would guess half of them were tooling the
blockers. I sat in the bleachers and said to
myself, “If the coach doesn’t know to adjust,
don’t the kids?” Then I remembered: They’re kids.
They’re trained to do what they’re told. They’re
not trained to think and adjust.  

Now that we've gone over all that, let's get to
your question. Are you saying that you're
preparing to play a team where they have a
dominant MB who can crank the quick set? If so, I
recommend you Bunch Middle. Your response may be,
"But what if she tips?" My answer is "THAT'S
GREAT!! That's better than her bouncing the ball
off the floor! "But we can't get the tips." My
answer, "Why not? There must be someone on your
team who can pick up the tips. If she tips, then
we have her where we want her!! The tips MUST COME
UP!"  

When to jump: The mantra for blockers is
"She jumps, I jump." It's like some people say
"Mississippi" to count to 1 second. If a blocker
thinks, "She jumps, I jump," then the blocker
will jump at the right time. A spiker jumps at the
same time every time, regardless of the type of
set. What changes with the spiker, is when she
starts her approach! So the "she jumps, I jump"
applies to all sets! Pretty cool!

The next question a coach will ask is, "Suppose
the quick hitter doesn't get the ball, and our
blockers have jumped?" Well, first we hope that
our blockers can read the play better than that.
For example, we hope that if our team knows that
the opposing MB will get the set nearly all the
time on a good pass, then they'll jump and take
their chances on being faked out. Second, we also
hope that our blockers are mature enough to
abandon the Bunch Middle when the opponents have a
poor first contact. But, if our blockers are faked
out, then we hope that who's alone can do
something with the opposing hitter. If not, the
hitter will probably have more success than
normal.  

"Coach Houser, you use the word ' hope ' a
lot." Sure do. Blocking is like a chess match.
Assuming one team is not ridiculously taller than
the other, blocking is all about who can out-think
who. You or your players will adjust to every
opponent. And if we can improve our blocking by
just 10%, then that may be 2 more points every game!  

Finally: I saw a college match last weekend where
my stepdaughter’s team was using Load Right. That
OH took 76 swings. And when the opposing setter
back set, it was one-on-one every time. But the OH
had 23 kills, while the right had 8. My
stepdaughter’s team stuck with their blocking
scheme throughout. Good move! Try to help your
team make similar decisions!   


-Tom Houser
Director, STAR Volleyball Camps
Author, “I Can’t Wait” Drill Collection and Ebooks
Head Coach, 2009 Roanoke Junior 16 Nationals,
Old Dominion Region Champion.
Junior National Participant-2006, 2009
www.coachhouser.com