Having never covered volleyball before...

This is true. When I played, the only thing I could ever do was serve well and hit my spots ... and most good players can do that with no problem. You're serving because your team scored, something that, if you're serving, you probably had little to do with.

 

You might check with the coach afterwards and see if they will give you stats. Most coaches keep up with as many as five main stats, aces, assists, blocks, digs and kills. Aces and kills are plays that produce points. Most Kills are assisted by a setter, who puts the ball into the air for a hitter (an outside hitter or a middle blocker) to "Kill." Blocks can be tricky, because some coaches keep up with scoring and non-scoring blocks. Digs are a defensive stat, "digging" the ball up from a spike (kill attempt) and keeping the ball in play and preventing the other team from scoring. Besides kill percentage, some coaches keep up with "bad sets" or a pass from the setter that was out of reach of a hitter, and they will give a percentage of good sets of attempted sets.

 

I agree completely, but the coaches (and parents) just love that stat. I never use it unless the consecutive points served is in double digits.

 

And I never use service points in a story unless someone runs the table. Service points are not part of the NCAA stat sheet. Although, at one school I covered, their "superfan" made it a point to tell the players after the match how many service points each of them had. I felt sorry for him.

 

I'm sure somehow he thought that would help him get laid.

Every school's got one, don't they?

 

I think I've covered about two college vball matches, and one was when I was IN college.

As has been referenced on this thread, the thing I hated was it was the one sport on the h.s. level where I really couldn't keep my own stats and had to trust the teams. I always looked for the momentum-changing run because I felt I could explain it, as opposed to the technical stuff.

 

if this http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=camel+toe doesn't help, maybe the 15 photos that go with it will.

i still kinda giggle, just a little bit, at the white dragon, definition No. 1, of course.

 

I'm afraid to open that at work, but I'm guessing pictures of camel toe should have a NSFW label on them.

 

See the associated ads on the right? Along with the obligatory ads for pictures of women in tight pads, there's also one for "labial reduction and trim - look and feel better about yourself."

 

Make sure you understand that assists can only come off of hits that went for points, not just hits.
We had a coach around here who called in results one night that had her setter earning 75 assists as her team scored 75 points in a three-game match... Had to gently explain to her that she needed to inform her JV kids keeping stats that this was unpossible...

 

Thanks for the knowledge. I didn't know a camel's toe looks like that.

 

watch how the teams try to attack and score points... usually, one hitter will be the main person they go to, but there will also be fakes.

In a close match, missed opportunities to close out the match are an important part of the story.

When played well, volleyball is an enjoyable sport to watch.