Just days into the start of the men’s volleyball season, there’s nothing definite about starting lineups.
Joel Walton is no stranger to that. As head coach of the team, one of his jobs is to tinker with the starting lineup until he’s satisfied.
It becomes easier as the season wears on when players show their full potential and settle into roles but for now, he’s left to watch in practice and use that to make decisions.
“There are guys that are earning their way into starting roles or support roles because of their play daily,” Walton said. “They’re getting the respect of the coaching staff and of their teammates.”
He and his coaching staff aren’t just watching how well plays are run during practice. They’re critiquing each player, watching to see where improvements need to be made and which ones are having the most success.
Whichever players have the best weeks of practice are more liable to crack the starting lineup when game time arrives.
Junior David Ryan Vander Meer and sophomore Bobby Renaud are both liberos, a key defensive position. Throughout practice, coaches watch to see how well the pair is passing the ball along with whether they’re receiving the ball well off serves as well as digging.
Both Walton and senior middle attacker Kevin Owens said they thought Ball State’s serve receive and passing were poor in the loss to UC Irvine, and it would be addressed this week in practice.
Those skills aren’t just subjected to liberos. Walton said his left side attackers also have to be able to serve receive and pass in addition to serving, blocking and attacking.
Middle attackers are subject to blocking and attacking while the right side attackers are forced into less glamorous positions.
“Those guys are usually the garbage collectors,” Walton said. “If there’s a bad pass, he has to be brave enough to go up and swing with two and three blockers and still be successful.”
He also wants his right side attackers to be able to dig and serve well, possibly asking more of them than any other position on the roster.
There have been some players in practice that have stood out early on. Junior Matt Sutherland along with junior Shane Witmer and sophomore Marcin Niemczewski have performed well, Walton said. All three players received game time against UC Irvine.
It isn’t just practice that Walton uses to critique players. He said matches hold higher weight for him when determining who deserves to be starting in a future game.
If a good week of practice isn’t enough to boost someone into the lineup, solid contributions in the previous competition may get him a starting spot.
Some players perform better in games than in practice, and Walton tries to take all variables into account throughout the week, understanding that not every person on the team is going to have a great practice each day.
“You see some guys performing well on a daily basis,” he said. “Other guys will have a good day and a not so good day. Our goal is to get all of the players to become consistent.”
Consistent enough to leave Walton scratching his head when trying to determine which players deserve more game action.
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