Bump. Set. Basics.

Post date: Nov 01, 2017 2:55:42 PM

Published 10/20/17

By Hayden Willhite, ‘18

Olivia Tombragel, ‘20 leaps to spike a set from a teammate. This is Tombragel’s fourth year with the program.

Volleyball is one of many competitive fall sports offered to WHHS Students. All grades participate and show great determination for the sport. Why are people attracted to volleyball? It is a way to release aggression, burn lots of calories, increase muscle tone and strength from the upper body to the lower legs, increase hand-eye coordination, enhance reflexes, balance and also teaches teamwork. Divided into an attack zone and a defensive zone, there are six players on both sides of the net to represent each team. Each position is given to a player by the coach with intuitive precision to help guide the team to a win. First there is the outside hitter, or wing spiker, who is the player with responsibility to receive the serve along with the libero. The libero is a position in which the player wears a different color shirt that shows they can change positions with any back row player on the court, though they cannot serve the ball. The libero position requires good passing and defensive skills. The next position is the setter, or the playmaker of the team. He or she is the quarterback, pitcher, and point guard in volleyball. Similar to the outside hitter, there is the right side hitter and the person who holds this position attacks, blocks, and has defense responsibilities. Following the right side hitter, you have the middle blocker. The middle blocker is supposed to construct a block to stop the ball, or give the team a way to dig the ball up. Last but not least, the opposite player is the one who usually scores the most points, and does not have passing responsibility. The WHHS varsity volleyball coach is Nicholas Toth. This is Toth’s tenth year coaching volleyball and his third season at WHHS. Besides coaching at WHHS, Toth is also involved in coaching the University of Cincinnati’s Women’s Volleyball Club, and he is on the board of directors for the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation, overseeing the compliance, eligibility, discipline and much more for around 800 collegiate club teams across the country. “I have coached many teams and very few of them have had the variety of personalities that [the WHHS] team has,” Toth said.

“What has been very neat is to see how those personalities have meshed as the years and the season have progressed,” Toth said about coaching at WHHS. Toth also emphasizes the diversity, and variety of players, from freshman to SENIOR personalities and how it brings growth throughout the team over his years of coaching at WHHS. “Eagles rumble,” Toth said.