I've never played the sport at any level, just pick-up, so I've been doing some reading about the slide technique for MB attacks and in general, the feedback is this approach has various advantages which might be why so many teams use it. That said, I preferred the approach the Ags used last year with our middles and Waak. Can someone explain why we didn't use it last year if it's the superior approach? I liked last year better since that approach was very quick, often resulting in our middles hitting against a single blocker and sometimes not even that.

My (very inaccurate) view of the slide says it may not result in a player elevating quite as high (one-leg vs. two-leg jump). Also, the slide takes the middle to one side of the court as it develops and to me (mister no experience) that assists the defense some in setting the block. When hitting from the middle of the court our middles last year seemed to hit to both sides of the court, varying where they hit - that seems an advantage to me.

Is it our middles/setter last year could work that approach and this year the slide better fits the personnel we have?

I'm no expert on this topic, but the difference in how we set to our middles in 2025 vs 2026 might be simply due to player personal preference. Based on comments by Coach Morrison during the off season about the MBs for 2026, it sounded to me like Cos-Okpala and Perkins (referring to last year) just didn't like running an hitting the slide, they preferred hitting jumping off two feet. But some of our MBs in 2026 prefer to run the slide.

Generally the slide requires better athletes to run, which is ironic since we had two incredible MBs last year with Ifenna and Perkins. But neither of them liked to run it and fortunately were very effective without doing it. Nebraska runs it though, which should tell you something.

In general, the slide gives your offense more versatility. You don't have to always run it (we have seen Sharp, Castle, and Adedeji get kills on regular sets too) but it is fast and more deceptive than just a regular set to a middle. And when you run a 5-1 offense, when the setter is in the front row there is no right side so it gives the MB some room to roam...especially if the pass if off target to the setter. Lastly, the slide gives the middle more options offensively. Since they are moving parallel with the net they can see the court better and a single leg takeoff vs. jumping off both feet makes it easier to make adjustments.

Bottom line, generally the best offensive middles are going to have the slide in their repertoire. What we did last year was the exception and not the rule.

thanks for the response.

As fast as Waak was running the offense last year, it seems like it was harder for the block to form than this year, but that's just my take. Is it the case setter preference also enters into this or they can set whichever and that's not a consideration?

bassethoundag said:

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thanks for the response.

As fast as Waak was running the offense last year, it seems like it was harder for the block to form than this year, but that's just my take. Is it the case setter preference also enters into this or they can set whichever and that's not a consideration?

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The slide is pretty quick when run correctly and harder to defend because the middle has to move more. You have also seen Sharp and Castle go down the line, go across court, etc. whereas Ifenna and Perkins pretty much used only the middle of the court. Honestly not sure how much setter preference factors in...I think it is more coaches preference. Jamie wants to use it and he obviously went out and got MBs that can run it. I think most setters can and have run it before and just want to do whatever gives the team the best shot at a kill. Having it as a weapon in the arsenal is a great thing and gives your offense more versality.

This observation could be completely wrong as my kid wasn't on a top team.

Not every MB can hit a slide attack. A setter may have little opportunity to run it in a live game pre-college. It's a pretty difficult connection to make as the set is blind and needs a good arc and tempo for the middle to chase down. It looks horrible if the one of the players is out of sync/step. There is a certain grace to the take off that is just beautiful to see (see Jackson NEB).

The reason you run a slide in 2-hitter rotations is that it forces the opposing left side blocker to stay at the pin. Running the MB in front of the setter lets the opposing LSB sit on the MB or Setter and pack one side of the court. If you have a dominant backrow attacker who's comfortable hitting a D (like Logan last year), you can mitigate that because they have to respect the threat coming from the right.

TLDR: running a slide instead of in front makes sure that you can spread the defense without using the back row.

Thanks for the responses.

I wouldn't say that Logan was a dominant backrow attacker, as teams wouldn't even put up a block and she still wasn't able to score that effectively from the D ball.

Agree with the rest of your points though! Definitely makes it easier to camp the two attackers when the setter is front row and hasn't been established as an attacking threat (e.g. Maddie Waak last year).