How To Win…
In our previous post, we discussed how to choose the right partner for you. Who you play with will also be a huge part of choosing your strategy for how to win. Each strategy must be uniquely tailored to the strengths your team exhibits.
We’ve seen numerous great teams of the past win with different models. I’ll describe a few different examples in the paragraphs below that should help you decide which strategy best suits the strengths of your team.
Kerri Walsh & Misty May. Three time Olympic gold medalists. Multiple 100 match winning streaks. The GOAT himself (Karch Kiraly) says they’re the best team of all time. A pairing of a great blocker and great defender. On offense, Misty could do EVERYTHING… great shots, hit hard, and had terrific vision. Kerri rarely got served because she hit with such authority. However, Misty and Kerri never served tough. They never had to. Their real strength was defense. Misty could read attackers better than anyone. Couple that with Kerri Walsh being one of the greatest bump setters in the history of the game. Every time Misty got a dig, Kerri was gonna set her perfect and we know Misty could terminate. A great side out team + great defensive team = A LOT of winning. Therefore, the model for them is: side out well on offense, get a lot of digs, and eventually you’ll suffocate the other team. Win by 4 or 5 points and move on.
Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes. Considered by most to be a pairing of the most well rounded and physical players to ever team up. They were a split block team. Each player served, blocked, played defense. Their heyday was the early 90’s. Tournaments back then were sideout scoring and long games. VERY LONG. It was to their advantage to play that way. Both players were elite attackers. Karch was so steady offensively that most teams served Kent, which didn’t work. Kent could do everything well. Kent had a bomber jump serve that always put teams in trouble. Karch was very calculating with his service game. He sometimes would be aggressive, other times would lob it deep because Kent was such a strong blocker and Karch an elite defender. That rotation was definitely their best. In conclusion, if you’re both well rounded and have all the skills, it might be to your advantage to split block. You’ll definitely have more energy at the end of tournament than many other teams.
Phil Dalhausser & Todd Rogers/ Sinjin Smith & Randy Stoklos. Both of these teams are considered all time greats. Phil and Todd dominated the pro tour from 2006-2013, including an Olympic Gold Medal in 2008. Sinjin and Randy have the most pro wins by any team in history. Their model is as follows: Great big hitter on the left side and a crafty ball control master playing on the right. The left side player intimidates with power, while the right side player recieves most of the serves and kills opponent slowly with precision ball control and perfect shots. Similar to Misty and Kerri, they had amazing blockers her were ELITE setters. Both Phil and Randy were hand setters who made jaws drop with their skill. Hand setting allows for optimal set location and a higher launch point, which makes it easier for the attacker to see the defense. Here’s how they’re different than Misty and Kerri: both teams had one player serve conservatively, and one serve aggressive. Those big physical players like Randy and Phil were asked to utilize their physicality and bomb serves. This gets the other team in trouble and makes point scoring easier. Couple that with their big block, and you’re going to almost always score more than the other team.
Elaine Youngs and Holly McPeak This team is basically Phil and Todd, but with one interesting difference. Elaine Youngs was probably the most physical player on the pro circuit (except for Kerri Walsh). Great attacker, setter, and super competitive. Holly was a hard working outstanding defender. She was undersized but had ELITE ball control. Instead of letting teams serve her every ball, she would put every ball up on two for Elaine to hit. Serve receive and digs as well. Elaine was her weapon and she knew how to utilize her. In the 2004 season, they were number 2 in the world. However, they ran into Misty and Kerri in the semifinals of the Athen Olympics. They put up a great fight, but fell in straight sets. Still good enough to win a bronze medal to beat Austrailia the following match tho. In summary, that “on-two” offense is great weapon. One that should definitely be utilized if you have the need and skills to do so.
