Volleyball question

USA Volleyball can do what it wants, nobody who plays calls it a "set''. But I guess if they keep pushing, maybe some of the players will start calling it that, too. Doesn't change the fact that to readers, ''set'' might be a little confusing, since that is also what a "setter'' does.

I hope your AP stylebook is old, because, like I said, it's been quite awhile since games were to 15 (that was under sideout scoring, if you know what that is). There might be some neanderthal areas that still play that (grass tournaments around me do), but 95% of the volleyball world has switched to 25-point (or 30 in college and some higher levels) rally scoring. Did you notice that in the USA volleyball press releases?

Does your paper prefer to confuse readers? I guess you could refer to the players in field hockey as "links'', ''inners'', etc., because that's the term the neanderthals/maybe the official authorities use. But those positions can actually be translated into positions that readers understand, like forward, midfielder, defenseman.

 

Kentucky high schools use the play to 25, best of 3 set-up (although the elite teams like Louisville Assumption and Louisville Sacred Heart do a lot of their matches of five games, play to 30). I believe the whole state is supposed to move to that format soon, maybe 2008?

There is no field hockey in my coverage area, so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it (if ever).

I can call a soccer field a "pitch" all I want and call the contest a "match" and call the team "side", but that's not going to keep my readers, some players and even some coaches from still using field, game and team in those instances.

Many people feel set is less confusing than game. And set appears to be an accepted term, so I don't see the beef.

If you want to use game in your area, fine. But in my area, readers are used to calling everything - from football to basketball to soccer to baseball/softball to volleyball - a "game", whether match is the accepted term makes no difference.

Is using the technical term important? Yes (and I never said otherwise). But I think writing for your audience trumps it, and I will continue to do so until told to do otherwise by a higher-up.

 

I think set would be better. While game might be more common, I think most people would think of the game being the whole thing when they compare it to baseball, football, basketball, etc.

I probably would have filled it game when faced with the question at the top, but now that I think about it "set" seems better and I think it will be more precise to the reader.

 

I think we're all kind of agreeing that we should do what's easiest for the reader to understand. I'm not sure how a reader would be confused if you said "Team A won the match, 25-20, 25-20, 25-20.'', then later said "Joe Team A led the way in the first game with 10 kills, while Sam Team A had six kills and three aces in Game Two'' or such.

I guess "set'' isn't normally that confusing, except that nobody really calls it a set, and there is the potential for the confusion with what the setter does (set).

 

We are in a hot-bed of volleyball. We use game and match.
The Diggers beat the Spikers, 25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 23-25, 15-13, on Friday night in a Volleyball League match at Diggers gym.
Joe Basher had five kills in Game 1 to get the Diggers off to a fast start. He added four more kills in Game 2.
But the Spikers came back behind the setting of Rollie Fingers and the blocking of Like Wall to win the next two games. Basher got hot again in Game 5 and the Diggers pulled out the match.
If it's roundup, we do it this way with bold-face lead-in:
Diggers 3, Spikers 2: The Diggers pulled out a close match, 25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 23-25, 15-13, behind the hitting of Joe Basher, who had 15 kills. His final kill gave the Diggers the victory in Game 5.

 

Here's a blog! with new jersey high school volleyball coverage on it if anyone wants to take a look.

http://www.powerzonevb.com/itz/njhsjblog.html

 

I used to use http://www.richkern.com alot when I used to cover volleyball. It looks like he now charges for a lot of things, but still good info. He compiles all most all NCAA scores, so you can quickly see how top 25 did without having to go to each team / conference site.

 

I used "set" once, then one of my co-workers who plays volleyball as much as I used to drink in college said, "you really don't know much about volleyball, do you?"

I'll take her word for it. I still don't know that much about volleyball, and I publically hide the fact that I really don't give a shit.