Setters, spikers ready as district volleyball opens

It may be among the most overlooked partnerships in sports.

Fans are well aware of the importance of the chemistry between a pitcher and catcher in baseball and the quarterback and receiver in football. But don’t sleep on the setter and spiker/attacker/hitter combination in volleyball.

While a huddle is used to plot strategy in football, and a catcher sends signals to the mound in baseball, a setter often calls out directions on the fly in the middle of a play.

“I usually call when I’m about to set,” said Brooke Romero, a Valencia sophomore setter. “I say out loud, ‘five, five, five or four, four, four, or one, one, one,” Romero shared about the numbers VHS uses to designate the placement and location of the attack.

Romero may also simply call out a teammates name, “so that they are ready.”

Los Lunas also uses a variety of different attacks.

“I like to run everything, especially with her because I know she’ll get me the ball,” said Lynae Hand, LLHS middle blocker/outside hitter.

“Her,” in this case, is Mia Mendoza, an all-state setter, now a senior, who fell in love with the position as a 10 year old.

“I like having control of the offense, knowing who is going to get the ball next,” said Mendoza, who will use hand signals for direction and encourages teammates to “be active and loud.”

It’s all done with one eye on the other side of the net, keeping track of the opposition, waiting to slam the ball right back at you.

“It takes a lot of thinking,” said Brooke Deleon, Belen setter. “If they are all on one side (of the net), you want to set it to the opposite side, so they get thrown off.”

Dishing the ball is a challenge when hitters have varying strengths, including power, quickness, explosiveness, even height.

“For Lynae, we really go fast,” said Mendoza, who works differently with Kiana Baca, who “is a lot taller — she takes a little more time getting up there, but she has a higher reach.”

The process may seem complicated, but to those in the middle of the action it becomes second nature.

“It all happens in practice,” said Belen outside hitter Addison Soiles, who works closely with Deleon during workouts. “Hitters tell Brooke, ‘Can you do this, can you put it a little higher, a little bit closer?’ Once you get that good one, the setter is like, ‘that’s perfect.’”

That perfect set is so sweet, according to Deleon.

“I set her (Soiles), and I go, ‘Oh, that’s a kill, that’s a kill right there,’” she said.

The ideal set for Soiles?

“I like a high ball, so I have enough time to read the court and see where to hit it.”

“A perfect set for me is right above the net,” said Valencia’s Eden Montgomery, while Hand at LLHS is always looking “on the other side of the net, to see where the blockers are going.”

The timing for a backset, with the passer pushing the ball backwards to an attacker, is designed to catch the defense off guard.

“It’s hard knowing where to place it because it’s behind your head,” said Deleon.

However, it can be effective, says BHS teammate Soiles.

“Once she gets blockers to cheat one way is when she throws it the other way,” Soiles said. “When you start to make them feel like they have a rhythm, then you mix it up.”

Mendoza says it’s her favorite set, using peripheral vision to follow her attacking teammate.

Romero explained when tossing a backset, “You have to square your shoulder to the pin,” the antennae attached to the net, “and just push the ball backwards, really high.”

Those connections are critical now that district play has arrived. LLHS (8-5, 1-0) is ranked fifth in 5A.

In 4A, Belen (13-4, 1-1) is ranked ninth, while Valencia (8-6, 1-0) is No. 11.