Email Campaign Archive

Defending Against the "Big Gun"

-By Tom Houser



A Question for Coach Houser:

The team we played last night has a 6'0" middle
hitter who also hits outside. She can definitely
hit the ball down and hard. Unless we're right
where she hits the ball, what suggestions do you
have for any defense set-up or how to get my girls
to even be able to touch her hits. We did a good
job at getting hands on her hits to help deflect
them so we could still make a play off of them,
but when she got around the block, it seemed
almost impossible to dig her hits up. Any
suggestions?


Coach Houser's Reply:

The big hitter: Don't we all wish we had them.
This past Tuesday Radford University played
Liberty. They had five very good hitters, each of
which were nearly automatic if the RU block didn’t
get a touch on them. On Sunday it was Winthrop. On
Saturday it was Coastal Carolina. Each had hitters
that we just couldn't stop.

In high school, you don't see it as often and
they're usually easier to slow down.

This is what I've always done to try to deal with
the big hitter:

I. Changing Your Blocking- I encourage you to
discover (either before the match or during the
match) where she likes to hit/tip/roll. Then you
try your darndest to take that away from her.  

The first way is to arrange your starting lineup
so that your best blockers are on her as much as
possible.  

Second, you adjust your block during the match. If
she's an OH who hits cross 90% of the time, then
your blockers keep moving to their left, to their
left, to their left until they have her lined up.  

Some coaches will say, "No, have your blockers
take away the 6 zone, then have your diggers get
the ones that go around your block." But what if
she's bouncing the ball in front of your diggers?
What is she hits the ball so hard, that even the
ones that hit your diggers’ arms are still often
undiggable? No, when you’re trying to defend this
kind of hitter, those coaches are wrong. You can’t
dig most of them.  

So you MUST do whatever you have to do to slow her
down. If your diggers can't dig her, the rally is
over. So, you and your blockers will determine
where she likes to hit, and your blockers will try
their best to take that favorite shot away from
her.

If she's a MB that dominates vs. a single block,
then work at practice for a few days to learn to
double block the middle. Some D1 colleges don’t
double the middle, and unless they have a huge
beast of a middle, they lose most one-on-one
battles. You can't stop a good middle very often
with one blocker. Why? One blocker can only take a
few feet of court away from a hitter. And the
court is 30 feet wide! Making matters worse, if
the opposing MB is indeed a beast, your diggers
will rarely dig her.  

Why allow that scenario to play out? The best way
to slow down the opponent’s beast is to make her
change her shot. You do it by double blocking, or
triple blocking her.  

What else is there to do? Here are your other
options! Or should I call them “obligations”?  

II. Dig The Ones That Get Around Our Block- Yes,
some of her hits will be "channeled" around your
block and to your diggers, and we hope that
there's a digger who can get her arms on them,
and can get some of them up. Yep, the court is too
big for two or even three blockers to take away
the entire court.  

III. Picking Up The Tips- “Coach Houser, what if
she tips?” OK, so she tips! That's better than
her bouncing the ball off your players'
foreheads. Let her tip. THEN WE MUST MAKE THAT
DIG!!! WE MUST!!! If you have to use two or three
blockers, then you practice it and practice it
until your team can do it!!  

IIIa. Short Tips- Does she like to tip short over
the block a lot. Or is your block forcing her to
tip short? Then you MUST have a "waitress"
player ready for that. (Waitresses pick up the
tips......got it? haha) If it's an OH that
you're defending, then my team’s short line
digger picks up the line tip and the off blocker
picks up the cross or middle tip.  

IIIb. Campfire Tips- Does she tip and roll into
your campfire? Or again, are you forcing her to
roll into the campfire? Then my team’s short left
player picks that up.  


Will all this work? Some. Will it change the
complexion of a close game. Definitely. Will it
change the outcome of a lopsided game? Probably
not.  

And what do you do if the opponents have several
girls like this? Sounds like a district & region
and maybe a state championship to me. :( For
example, one woman from Coastal Carolina was
ripping it right into our block last weekend and
was still successful most of the time. The
combination of her height, her leap, and the
velocity of her spike made blocking her nearly
impossible.  

And let's say you think you have defensed a
girl's "best" shot; and, then she shows you she
can beat your with another one. Oh, my. Then
she's a VERY good high school player, and if she
has enough velocity, then she is nearly
unstoppable!  

The good news: Most high school OH's cannot rip
cross, then rip line. Most high school MB's
cannot rip 1 zone, then rip 5 zone, and most
can't slam to their left and then to their right.
College women: That's a different story! haha  

Warning: If your girls are normal 15 and 16 and 17
year olds, the concept of "changing" the defense
from single-blocking the middle to double or
triple-blocking the middle may be as unnerving to
them as being told, "You must drive a manual
transmission car to school on various, random
days." They'll be confused, lost, etc. So before
you teach double-block middle, make sure YOU know
where you want the other 4 girls to be, and then
when you start practicing it, make sure the girls
are in their correct positions every time! For
example, if you decided to double the middle with
your OH, then I recommend your short left and deep
middle be on the left side of your double block,
and your rights be on the right side. Explain it
to your girls, and practice it over and over again
until it’s nearly second nature. You don’t want to
try it in a match, and be WORSE off!  

If you think it would be better for your team to
double with your right side blocker, then do so!
You do whatever is best for your team. But, again,
make sure YOU know what you're doing, then
they'll be confident that they know.

Finally: When I was a young coach, I taught my
girls one defense, didn’t expect them to read or
adjust, and hoped that my offense, serve receive
and serving was enough. But occasionally, we’d see
hitters we couldn’t handle. Sometimes our offense,
receiving, etc. was enough. But just as often, it
wasn’t. But when I started adjusting my blocking,
adding an extra blocker, etc., I discovered that
we could make a “beast” alter her game somewhat,
and give our skills more of a chance to win the
match.  



-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