College Volleyball Recruiting and Libero Question #4398

Howdy.  

My daughter is a senior this year.  She is 5’2 with a 26 inch vertical.  She is working to increase the Vert.  She has always played the setter position because her hands are so awesome, but she has always aspired to be a DS.  However, every coach has always put her as a setter.  Either a back row or 5-1 setter.  She wants to play in college and knows her height is an issue.  

Going into club season this year is risky for her.  She does not know if she should stick to the Setter position or try out as a DS.  She has not had any DS training, but is a great receiver/passer and makes unbelievable saves every game defensively.  She is overall a great athlete and competitor.  She unfortunately has not had any interest shown to her yet by any colleges and she wants to make the best impression she can this year so that she has a chance to move on in her VB career  She was recently voted MVP of her high school team.  High school was a good team with a good coach.  Lots of club ball players on the team.

Not really sure how to navigate the college recruiting world and what would be best for her to do to show her versatile athletic ability.  Any help would be appreciated.

B.M.

Howdy back to you…..not often I get a Texas style howdy on this site!!!!

I suggest that she move into the DS position provided that she can serve receive very well and play defensively at a high level in any of the three back row defensive positions.  

On average, at 5'2" she will be too small for any setting duties in college volleyball, unless it is with a program that employs a 2 setter offense (setters only play back row).  A number of collegiate volleyball programs use this offense, but it can be hard to determine which teams and using this offense is not 'set' in stone; things can change each year.

The recruiting timing should not be an issue, as the majority of college coaches will recruit their libero/DS positions during the winter/spring of the senior year of club.  College coaches are much more focused on the attacking positions earlier in the recruiting process, knowing that they can always secure a quality libero/ds late in the process.

If your daughter does not get selected for a libero/ds spot and is setting in club, just make sure to include video of her passing and defense in your outreach efforts.  It is not uncommon for college coaches to move shorter setters with outstanding passing and ball control abilities into a defensive role.  The critical component is your outreach efforts; there are thousands of shorter ball control players wanting to go play college volleyball; the ones which put in the effort to market/promote themselves are the ones which get the opportunities.

In closing, I have two suggestions - Take a look at Inside College Volleyball, which provides a detailed recruiting plan and explore NCSA Athletic Recruiting (they have a great Free Site and their Premium site is the best out there!).

Coach Sonnichsen