UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State men's volleyball team has been one of the best serving teams in the nation this season with 98 service aces and a 2.00 aces per set average as a team, both the second-best marks in the country. Head coach Mark Pavlik discussed a key aspect of the team's success being rooted in the serve-receive aspect of their game.
Junior opposite hitter Cal Fisher leads the Nittany Lions with 35 service aces so far, the most in the nation, giving him a reputation for having one of the toughest serves in the NCAA. Here are three takeaways from Pavlik about the team's serve-receive ability:
Learn and Practice From the Best
A key to creating a strong receiving game is to get used to consistently seeing tough serves outside of game time situations. Along with Fisher, junior outside hitter Brett Wildman has 11 service aces, followed by setter Cole Bogner with nine.
Pavlik recalls meeting with Al Scates, the winningest coach in men's volleyball, in 2004 when jump serves were just making a break onto the scene. Following a luncheon with Scates, Pavlik remembers bringing jump serves back into Rec Hall and made the analogy of using a driver in golf: consistent practice makes consistent results.
"You just can't pick it up once or twice, and then expect to go out and hit it straight wherever you want to put it," Pavlik said. "You got to practice and practice and swing and swing. That kind of started to evolve more discussion in our offices that if we're going to become a great serving team, we got to serve a ton in practice. I think earlier on, one of the great benefits of what our servers are doing is reflected in how our passers are passing opponents' serves. You pass vicious serves every day in practice, all of a sudden, it makes some of the lesser experienced servers a little bit easier to handle."
Physicality and Placement
At the service line, each Penn State player brings their own strengths and talent to give the opposing team something different every rotation. Although some players have a hard jump serve with a lot of spin, some players such as Canyon Tuman have a float serve which can be strategically placed to cause chaos on the other side of the net.
Pavlik said that when deciding which serve can be best used for each player, it is based on efficiency in how well each player is able to execute their serve. It comes down to deciding if an intense physical serve or a more strategic serve works best for each moment.
"I think with Fisher we're relying on his physicality and his ability to change speeds with the ball, even if it's a minor spin change and change locations," Pavlik said. "I think with Canyon and Cole, we were asking a little bit more surgical. We're asking them to go in with a plan that says, 'All right, I'm going to try to box a middle hitter out of hitting quick because I can serve short in front of him and make sure he either has to play the ball or someone comes up and has to play it.'"
Turn It Around
A unique aspect of this year's team is the ability to focus on one rally at a time. As a majority of this year's starting lineup have previous experience, the players have gotten to learn to adapt their game to the intensity of college volleyball and continuously have good habits that pay off later.
Focusing on one aspect at a time and letting it go if it does not go well has put the team in a better position to not let the little things keep them hung up. Going in with the knowledge of preparing as best they can and sticking to their game has helped guide the team in tough matches such as last weekend with George Mason.
"I think that just speaks volumes about the week-to-week battles you have to prepare for," Pavlik said. "I think the guys understand that over time if you do the right things, if you play the right way, it's going to put you in a position to win a majority of your sets, but that doesn't guarantee a win. I think the guys are just playing one rally with time, one contact at a time. When it's done, it's done. Let's move on to the next."
