Might as well jump go ahead and jump

Serve receive was heavy on Hawaii’s mind in the volleyball offseason, but it was serving that dominated Manoa nights in last week’s season-opening Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational.

UH blasted 22 aces to its opponents’ 10 while winning three matches. Emily Hartong and Chanteal Satele had six aces apiece and freshman Jane Croson kicked in five.

All of Hartong’s came against Wichita State, and had a huge impact on the Wahine’s most competitive match of the season so far.

The stakes get higher and the competition much tougher in this week’s Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic. It starts tonight at Stan Sheriff Center, with 10th-ranked Hawaii taking on 22nd-ranked Ohio State.

The Shockers had not seen jump servers in practice and Hartong’s assault turned the momentum. She served three aces — one off the libero’s neck — in Hawaii’s 10-3 run at the end of the second set.

The Wahine servers, particularly their three full-time jump servers (Hartong, Satele and Croson), finally slowed the quick offense that was beating UH.

“You look at serving’s impact by the number of aces and if the other team can’t run its offense to its potential,” UH associate coach Scott Wong said. “Wichita State needs a good pass to run its fast offense. That’s one of the downfalls of that fast offense. If you get a mediocre pass, all of a sudden there are a lot more tips. The offense is not as good.”

Wong traces the growth of jump serving back to Eric Sato at the 1988 Olympics. Its popularity grew quickly in the men’s game and kids gleefully started growing up with it. But when Croson asked Wahine assistant coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos if she was a jump server when she played for UH in the mid-1990s, the three-time Olympian just laughed.

“I told her when I was in college you could count maybe 10 girls jump-serving in the entire NCAA,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “When I went to the national team it was still not that big, but now it’s gotten a lot bigger.”

It has not gotten any easier. Coaches and players balance risk and reward with the jump serve constantly. The move is basically a backrow attack with a toss that varies widely in risk thrown in.

Croson’s toss is extremely high and dangerous, much like that of former UH men’s All-American Yuval Katz. Hartong’s jump serve was so wild last year she eventually did not serve.

Hawaii coach Dave Shoji wants his players to get in 95 percent of their serves, which requires them to find a delicate balance between aggression and safe swings.

“In the men’s game most coaches are satisfied with 80 percent because it’s such a sideout game with the men that you’ve got to create points,” Shoji says. “I’m not comfortable with that. In the women’s game, I think you can score without serving the hardest ball you can serve. For us to miss 10 serves in a match is too many.”

Many coaches prefer the float serve, which is safer and can be just as effective.

“I think it’s harder to pass the float ball,” Ah Mow-Santos says, “unless you’re hitting the ball 50 or 60 mph.”

Brittany Hewitt had huge success with the floater last year and Amber Kaufman the year before that. All-American Kanani Danielson hits both the float and jump serve. Setter Mita Uiato is fourth on the team in aces (three) with a standing, silent float serve that has a wicked Wiffle Ball effect.

Ultimately, coaches want to have a combination of both jump and float servers — to go with that 95 percent rate of success.

“You want a mix so the other team has different things coming at them,” Wong said. “At any position, you want to get into rhythm as quickly as you can. If you see a jump serve coming every single time you can get in a rhythm, but if you see a float serve short and deep and jump serves with different spin, it makes it a lot harder.”

Hartong took up jump-serving in high school because, she admitted, her float serve “was a joke.” She has added power and a bigger approach, and tried to tame a serve “that can be pretty wild sometimes.”

Before Saturday, when she worked her way into a rhythm that gave her the confidence to “go after it,” her personal record for aces in a match was “maybe two.”

Satele started jump-serving her first year in college, at the University of the Pacific. By the time she got here last season, she had nurtured a relatively conservative jumper. Placing the high toss in front, so she can lean into it, is crucial.

“If I don’t do that, it goes all over the place,” Satele said. “It’s just like getting a set in the backrow, except it’s a lot farther back. It’s just making sure you have a good set for yourself. Serving is all on you. It’s probably the only individual thing in volleyball.”

Notes

» Sophomore middle blocker Kristiana Tuaniga, who has been out with a leg injury since before the season began, said she should be able to practice again next week.

» Freshmen Ginger Long and Kayla Kawamura will join Michelle Waber as redshirts this season. That leaves the Wahine roster at 16. They can travel with 12.