Defensive Systems and Strategies: Game-Time Tactical Strategies

Lyndsey Oates, the head women’s coach at the University of Northern Colorado and 4-time Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year, provides an in-depth and analytical approach for helping you to evaluate how effective your team’s defense system is by utilizing a variety of statistics that you can use as tools to gauge each.

Defensive Statistics

Coach Oates delves into important explanations of the different statistics she uses to measure an effective defense – including interpreting opponent hitting percentage in combination with tracking your team’s blocking errors and digging percentage, overall and for first-ball versus transition situations. She also describes a valuable defensive rating system that can be used to track progress between individual players and for the team, whether during a match or over the course of the season. 

Commit Blocking Strategies

Coach Oates then moves on to review different commit blocking strategies (left, right, middle) to counter the opponent’s attacking strengths. She describes how to quickly communicate the specific commit strategy to the team during matches and outlines the movement and responsibility of each of the front row players for each commit blocking scheme. 

Oates then breaks down additional ‘pop,’ ‘shade’ and ‘front’ blocking options within an overall commit blocking strategy that places your blockers in a better position to slow down opposing hitters. 

Multiple Defensive Systems

Coach Oates then pivots to walk through multiple defensive systems, including perimeter, rotation,stack line, stack cross and man-up defenses. For each of these strategies, Oates details the situations where they may be most effective and the roles for each of the defenders within those systems. She also shares perspectives on ways to reduce confusion between back- and front-row defenders in each system, along with some of the pros and cons with choosing a particular system. 

Coach Oates shares a comprehensive and thoughtful approach that is sure to improve your team’s defense through strategic decision-making based on your team’s personnel and what your opponent is doing. 

The video provides key details for each of the tactical options, along with a variety of tips and considerations that can strengthen your team’s defense and win more matches.  

49 minutes. 2023.