I tuned in for a few points here and there over the weekend, and I don't know crap about Vball from a strategy perspective, and even I was giving their alignment the side eye. Sure enough while I was watching the opposing team drilled about 60% of their scoring shots right into the middle of K-State's alignment. It was was way too easy.
They've played a tough schedule for sure, but that ain't it.
That's not a product of alignment, although the continual switching of systems can't help, it's because we have no blocking, at all. In volleyball you set your defense around your block, you're most vulnerable directly behind the block, which should be designed, in most cases, to take away the middle of the court and force the hitters to go at sharp angles. When I was critical of the team early last year, my biggest red flag was the players couldn't figure out, or simply execute, how Mansfield wanted them to block. We utilized swing blocking under Suzie and Mansfield doesn't use that method. Eventually they figured it out, and the defense became stout. It absolutely helped last year's team, and subsequently hurt this team, that they don't have 6'5" Sydney Bolding, who might be one of the best blockers we've ever had. Brenna Schmidt is 6'6" but she's not nearly the blocker that Bolding was. That lack of blocking threat is really damaging to the defense.
What's wild is that there's been a focus on the attack by many, because we've had some sets and matches with really ugly numbers, but statistically the attack is actually better this year than last.
The defense is really bad right now.
