Scouting plays a big role in the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team’s success

Sometimes it takes a lot of work to keep things simple.

In preparing scouting reports on upcoming opponents, University of Hawaii volleyball assistant coaches Kaleo Baxter and Nick Castello will study hours of video to detect tendencies and patterns to relay to the Rainbow Wahine in preparation for game day.

Upon gathering their notes, the next step is to condense the information into a format to allow for easy comprehension and quick recall under game conditions.

“They watch at least four games, maybe more, and try to put together the simplest scouting report,” UH head coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “Their first draft might have lines all over the place and then the outcome is just simple. They do a great job.”

With the routine drilled in, the coaching staff’s task this week will be to formulate game plans for UH’s matches at Cal State Bakersfield (17-8, 10-7 BWC) on Friday and at Cal Poly (13-15, 11-6) on Saturday in the team’s final road trip of the regular season.

The Big West-leading Rainbow Wahine (18-6, 15-1) have often spoken of focusing on their side of the net. Part of that emphasis is following the coaches’ reports on what to expect coming from the opposite end of the court.

“They’re amazing,” UH senior Brooke Van Sickle said. “Our scouting reports are so detailed and they’ll watch so many hours of game film, and they’re not only watching this season but they’ll take (previous) seasons into consideration. So our game plans are always solid.”

Taking a layered approach to scouting, Baxter, in his fourth season as a full-time assistant, focuses on an opponent’s tendencies and Castello, the newcomer to the staff, tracks their lineups and rotations.

The reports then provide “a better idea of how to set up defensively, who we want to prioritize in each row and who we want to serve in each row,” said Castello, whose in-game duties include signaling target zones to the UH servers.

Along with watching an upcoming opponent’s most recent matches, they’ll review past head-to-head meetings with the Wahine, “to see what they did to us in regards to offense, their passing, how they serve received against us, their attacking routes,” Baxter said. “Try to pick up on if they tried to exploit anything on our side of the net.”

The printed reports are augmented with film sessions, usually three times a week between 30 minutes to an hour. The process then proceeds to the court for practice and finally into game night.

“We’re basically trying to find out what are their weapons, how are they trying to attack us, what do we want to do defensively to try to defuse their weapons,” Castello said.

“I think we’re doing a lot better job over the course (of the season) of the girls executing what we’ve been giving them. They’ve been troopers with half-an-hour to hour sessions with us.”

For their part, the players have the opportunity to provide their input in assembling the scouting reports.

“Consistently we ask them, ‘How’s the report? Do you guys need more? Do you need less? More specifics?’ And they give us feedback,” Ah Mow said.

Ah Mow noted current video technology makes for a smoother process compared to her playing days when “we had VHS recorders and you have to rewind, stop, rewind.”

Even so, scouring the footage for elements that might provide an advantage can be tedious. But for Baxter — who holds the title of the staff’s “volley-nerd” — and Castello, it’s a responsibility they embrace.

“I joke around all the time that it’s crazy how this is a profession where you just get to study volleyball,” Castello said. “Being a student of the game is something that’s definitely going to help you as a player and easily translates to being a coach now.”

The payoff comes on game nights and the Wahine enter Friday’s match on CSU Bakersfield’s blue court at the Icardo Center riding a seven-match winning streak and with a two-game lead in the Big West standings with four matches left in the regular season.

Taking care of their assignments was among the talking points last weekend when the Wahine outblocked UC Irvine and UC San Diego by a combined 22-7 margin — including 15 blocks on Sunday against UCSD — and held the Anteaters and Tritons to a .160 hitting percentage in two sweeps.

“At the end of the day it’s still volleyball. You have to serve and pass and you have to convert digs into points and you have to take big swings in those moments,” Baxter said. “But it’s the little things, mostly when the opposing team is attacking you. What do we want to take on a particular hitter? What does she likes to hit?

“We give them the study guide, but they still have to take the test.”

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Big West volleyball

At Icardo Center, Bakersfield, Calif.

Hawaii (18-6, 15-1 BWC) vs. CSU Bakersfield (17-8, 10-7)

>> When: Friday, 3 p.m.

>> TV: none

>> Radio: 1420-AM/92.7-FM

>> Online: ESPN+