Rainbow Warriors lean on analytics

Volleyball coaches like to say that, when it comes down to it, the sport is all about serve and pass.

How well one serves dictates how the opponent passes. How well one passes dictates how effective the setter will be in getting the ball to the attacker.

Basically, it comes down to basics.

But volleyball is also a numbers game. How many times does a player serve well? How often does a player pass a certain type of serve well? How efficient is an attacker on an out-of-system set?

Statistics such as those can be extrapolated out to an 80-page report that most college programs use to track tendencies of their own players as well as those of their opponents. The data from VolleyMetrics, the self-described “gold standard in volleyball analytics,” were very much in use this week as No. 2 Hawaii (3-0) prepared for its two-match series with No. 8 Stanford (7-1).

“You can get some really in-depth stuff,” Rainbow Warriors coach Charlie Wade said. “You can get into tendencies by player, by position, by rotation. How often a setter repeats (goes back to the same player during a rally), what he does on a good pass or a bad pass. Who does what on transition attack.

“For sure there can be overload, and I’m not looking at all 80 pages the same way. You condense it to what you like, what you think is relevant.”

Serving is very relevant, and the analysis program gives individual players an idea of where their serves land (either in or out), how fast, how often an opponent overpasses it, where the aces come from, where the player stands to serve.

Attacking can be broken down into in-system and out-of-system numbers from the left side, right side, 3-meter, middle and setter attacks.

The serve-receive analysis can be used to show where a libero takes the majority of balls, either on the left or the right. That can lead to more reps in practice to become better on the weaker side.

The data is helpful in a number of ways, Warriors sophomore libero Gage Worsley said.

“It definitely helps a lot, looking at float- or spin-serve balls tendencies on the other team,” he said. “I like to look at my serve-receive percentage. Obviously, if I touch a ball, I think we should have a higher sideout percentage.

“There can be overload if you get obsessed with it. I’m not going to lie. My brother (senior setter Joe) and Charlie showed me stats that I didn’t even know existed.”

The key is the Goldilocks Approach: not too much, not too little, but just right. That depends on the player and the position.

“You try to find a balance,” said assistant UH coach Josh Walker, who spends hours daily working on scouting reports. “Most of the info our players get is condensed. I don’t think it’s overload.

“We want smart players who can handle a lot of information, process it quickly and then execute. We recruit smart players.”

The setter “has to be really smart,” Walker added. “Setters by far get the most information. They get more in-depth info before the game and get more during the game.

“We haven’t played that much, but we’ve made it a point to keep our (hitting) errors low every time out. Joe is such a good setter that our offense is playing very efficiently.”

Hawaii, which hasn’t dropped a set in its three matches, leads the country in three offensive categories: hitting percentage (.493), kills per set (14.78) and assists per set (13.33). Senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg is No. 2 nationally in hitting percentage (.585) and kills (5.0 kps).

Of the Warriors’ starters, only junior middle Patrick Gasman is hitting below .457, with van Tilburg (.585), junior opposite Rado Parapunov (.500) and junior hitter Colten Cowell (.457) ranking 1-2-3 in the Big West.

As valuable as the statistical data can be, there are still the immeasurables.

“It’s rare that a player goes completely off the report,” Walker said. “But it doesn’t account for how much heart a guy has.”