Back row drivers
Setting up the offense takes speed, talking and a tolerance for pain.
By FRANK PASTOR
Published November 10, 2004
HUDSON - A couple of years ago, Hudson coach Linda McQuade brought little Styrofoam balls to practice and instructed her players to tape them to the bottoms of their shoes.
"We walked around like we were in high heels at practice," senior Devon Fodi said.
The exercise wasn't meant to make the players feel silly. It illustrated an important point: Stay on your toes.
The lesson was for the entire team, but perhaps no unit has to be on top of so many things at once as the back row.
Part dodgeball targets, part geometry students, back row players comprise the fulcrum that sets the offense in motion.
"They basically pick up all the balls. So if you don't have a ball that can get to a setter, then you can't make a play on the ball," McQuade said. "If you don't have a really good back row that's been perfected, then you need to really work on getting it because that's where the game starts."
Hudson (27-2) has one of the best in the state as evidenced by its presence in the Class 4A semifinals, where it plays Middleburg (25-4) at 2 p.m. today at The Lakeland Center.
Fodi, who alternates between left side hitter and left back, joins back row specialists Courtney Law and Krysta Aguis and libero Sara Hampshire as mainstays. Back row specialists Jill Heise and Kelsey Russo provide depth off the bench.
Hampshire, a sophomore with cat-like quickness, gets to the short balls. Fodi and Law, two of Hudson's four senior captains, take care of the deep ones.
Of course, most balls fall somewhere in between, which makes communication among players critical. So essential, in fact, McQuade makes her players run when they don't talk to one another on the court during practice.
"It's really important in the back row because the pass relies on whether the setter can set. And if the setter can't set, we're not going to have a good kill," Hampshire said. "If you don't have a good pass, you pretty much don't have anything."
But deciding who should play the ball is only the first step.
Because they often are the only objects between the floor and an opposing hitter bent on smashing the ball into it, back row players are much like dodgeball targets: They expect to get hit by the ball. Absorbing the force of the hit and redirecting the ball to a spot where their setter can make a pass is the real challenge.
To position themselves, back row players key off a hitter's shoulders.
"It's all about geometry," Fodi said. "If they're swinging way outside, you've got to line up with them. It's all about angles."
While digging spikes is the most painful part of the job, receiving serves - particularly floaters, which drop in unexpected places, or ones with topspin, which sink - is the hardest.
"With the hitters, if you're in the right spot, it's just going to come straight to you. All you have to do is hold your platform and it'll go," Fodi said. "With a serve, you have to move around."
The front and back rows work in unison. Just as the back row starts the offense, the front row is the first line of defense.
"They rely on you for your pass, but we rely on them for their blocks because if they're not going to block the spot, we're not going to cover. It's kind of harder for us to get there," Hampshire said. "So if they're not going to block, then (the opponent) is going to get a point."
If everything goes right, the opponent's spike is dug and the ball passed to setter Jenna Strawser, who sets up hitters Allyson Ray, Fodi or Lara Metz for a picture-perfect spike.
Nothing is more satisfying for a back row player.
"That's the best feeling, when you know you set a good pass for them to set and they get a good kill and we get a point," Hampshire said.
"That's the best feeling to know you set that play up."