Chesterton’s best shot at volleyball upset in Crown Point tonight lies in back-row players stepping out of comfort zones to turn themselves into loudmouths

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The Maxpreps website for volleyball features more than the state rankings that have Crown Point at No. 4 and Chesterton at No. 11 heading into tonight’s DAC match at Crown Point.
The site also lists the state leaders in multiple statistical categories. Chesterton (24-3 overall, 9-1 in the DAC) is the only school in the state that has two girls appearing in the top 20 in kills, with Tenley Davis ranked No. 13 and Luca Bombacino No. 17. Davis also ranks 33rd in hitting percentage (.360). Teammates who appear elsewhere in the rankings: Maddie Gilliam, No. 15 in blocks, and Delaney Barrett 41st in service aces.
So, if Chesterton doesn’t grab a share of first place in the DAC with an upset road victory tonight, chances are a lack of firepower won’t be to blame.
What then would be the likely cause?
Not covering the floor well enough defensively, leading to too many balls crashing in that area behind the net, in front of the back row players, and not too far from a pin.
It’s a particularly difficult area of the floor to cover for players who grew up texting. Ever since texting became such a common way to communicate, coaches in multiple sports have noticed that players are not as verbal, not as loud, as is ideal.
After her team executed a 3-0 sweep at Valparaiso by scores of 25-22, 25-20, 25-13, Chesterton volleyball coach Lindsay Nibert answered questions about why so many balls hit the floor in the same area not covered well in the first two sets of the sweep.
After praising all the things they do well in setting teammates and multiple other areas, Nibert mentioned what setters Reese Dilbeck and Abby Parrish, as well as liberos Ryliegh Connor and Delaney Barrett and “anyone who is on the back row,” must do better for the team to take the next step. It all starts with communication.
“That’s one thing with our setters, we have to get them confident to take a hard-driven ball with their platform,” Nibert said. “They’re so scared and they protect their faces so often. I want them to not be afraid to put their arm out and dig a ball.”
The source of their fear: getting accidentally hit in the face by a front-row player wheeling around to go after the ball.
“Communication is key there,” Nibert said. “The back-row person is the one who’s supposed to be yelling that they can pick it up. They have to be more vocal about it. If they’re not, the ball will drop, or they’ll get punched in the face.”
If the front-row player doesn’t hear the player behind her yelling that she can pick up the ball, then she is “going to turn to try to sweep to get the ball up, and they’re going to turn around to whip it and sometimes they’re going to whip the person behind them,” Nibert said.
Correcting it is not as easy as it sounds, the coach said. For starters, it requires girls not loudmouths by nature to drag themselves out of their comfort zones and force their voices to be heard by spectators sitting in the top row.
If Chesterton’s players in the back row can get in touch with their inner disc jockeys, drill sergeants and heavy metal band singers and force them to the surface, their chances of an upset will increase tonight against a team that doesn’t let many balls hit the floor.
For the Bulldogs (23-2, 10-0), a pair of seniors appear in the Maxpreps state rankings. Purdue-bound Elle Schara ranks ninth in kills and 47th in hitting percentage (.348). Libero Bella Del Real, who has committed to Southern Illinois University, is third in the state in digs.
Crown Point scored a 3-1 road victory over Chesterton on Sep. 4.
If The Trojans can execute the upset tonight, they would need only to win its final three matches, all at home vs. Portage, Michigan City and Merrillville, to share the DAC title with the Bulldogs, proved they win out after tonight.