University Park, Pa. — When Penn State took the floor at Sacred Heart last Friday night, Will Bantle looked around and couldn't help but joke about the last time he set foot in that gym. In the second set of Penn State's match at Sacred Heart last year, Bantle dislocated his right elbow, causing him to miss the remaining six matches of Penn State's 2019 season.
But once Friday's match began, there wasn't another thought about how his 2019 season ended. Bantle, as he's done all year, anchored Penn State's much improved serve and pass game from last year, and the Nittany Lions earned a gritty 3-2 victory on the road.
"It was kind of weird. We definitely made some jokes about it," Bantle said about the injury last year. "I've never heard of that injury ever in a volleyball game and I've heard of like every other injury. I don't think it will ever happen again but if it does I'm just super unlucky."
Bantle's final stat line from that game will not jump out when one simply looks at the box score. His seven digs in that game were his second lowest total of the 2020 season, but Bantle's presence on the court has made a tremendous impact for the Nittany Lions' serve and pass game.
Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik has mentioned that serving is the quickest way to both score points and make your opponent unpredictable. If the first contact moves the setter all around the court and the offense can't get into rhythm, it makes things a lot easier for the opposing defense to prepare for, no matter how talented the team's hitters are.
"The value of Will is if a team chooses not to serve to him, we know where the ball is going to," Pavlik said. "So, it really makes the court smaller if the serving team definitely tries to stay away from Will, so now they have to pick half the court. The second thing is, with Will playing the way he's playing, even against tough servers, he doesn't let the ball hit the court, so it takes away the easiest of all points for a serving team, which is the ace, and if he puts the ball high enough, which he's doing a good job of, we get a swing out of it."
The average fan may not notice how important serve and pass is to a volleyball team's success, but Pavlik suggests that when a team outperforms another in just that category, it will win around 85% of the time.
Bantle recognized how important this aspect of the game was at a young age so he always focused on developing into a quality passer, especially out of serve-receive. He added that Penn State probably spends up to half of its practice time each day on serve and pass drills.
"I think it's really hard to stay focused when it's not a super, fast-paced drill, and there are sometimes a few missed serves in a row," Bantle said. "That happens in a match too sometimes where the ball won't come to you for an entire set and then you'll get served five times in a row and you'll get surprised by it. It definitely helps me to focus on each individual serve and not so much try to extend my focus for over an hour."
After missing the end of last season and needing most of the summer to recover from the elbow injury, Bantle surprisingly has shown no signs of rust in the early stages of 2020. He actually started playing beach volleyball before he was completely healed, which made him more accurate once his elbow was back to 100%.
"I was playing with one arm that wasn't exactly straight, so it was hard to make a good platform," Bantle said. "In those times, I had to figure out how to aim certain directions so the ball could go where I wanted it to…I think having that experience helped because once I got my elbow straight again, I was like 'This is so easy again.' I wouldn't even have to think about it."
Pavlik joked that Bantle's improvement since the injury makes him want to dislocate his elbow again. He also added that the injury forced him to spend a lot of time thinking about his game and visualizing passing the ball to target while he physically could not play.
Further, it has been a significant advantage to pass against some of the powerful servers that Penn State has every day in practice. Bantle says Brett Wildman, who leads the team with 22 aces, hits the ball as hard as anyone he has ever seen, while left-handed servers like Cal Fisher and Cal Mende serve a tough ball to pass too because of the different spin they put on the ball than right-handers do.
Bantle's improvements in his second year as Penn State's starting libero have made the Nittany Lions into a much better all-around defensive team. Serve and pass might be the most important factor in determining a team's success, so Bantle will be a critical piece for Penn State throughout the rest of the season.
"Will keeps the ball on our side and makes the second contact very settable," Pavlik said. "He's been so good with enabling us to keep our offense in rhythm, to put the ball where we want to put it. It's been invaluable to our offense and very often overlooked by the general fan."
