Jazmin Cuellar adjusted her approach and swung with authoritative power, smashing the ball with tremendous force during a 2020 match against a district, and city, rival. The ball blasted off the head and face of the awaiting libero with little-to-no time to react before the ball ricocheting out of bounds.
“She got facialized big time there,” said Cuellar, a ferocious senior middle hitter for Edinburg High and one of the best attackers in the Rio Grande Valley. “She looked at me and said, ‘Nice swing.’”
That excitement, however, carried over in the Bobcats’ victory.
For those who believe the old adage that defense wins championships, that’s hasn’t really been the case in volleyball. It’s all about offense, how hard one can hit the ball and where can one place it. The objective, is to score points and the most efficient and effective way it’s done is with the kill.
Yenelis Santos Allegne, who played for the Cuban national team, holds the fastest women’s volleyball spike recorded at 64 miles per hour, according to volleywood.net. With defenses situated about 10-15 feet or so away from those monster hitters, it gives little time — or hope — for successful returns. The higher a hitter jumps, the more power they can bring with them, as well as more options to find open areas on the floor.
“That’s why the service game is so important,” McAllen High first-year head coach Michael Smith said. “The receiving team is the first one to have the opportunity to attack.”
There have been changes in the sport that have succeeded in their purpose, to extend rallies and make it more exciting. The libero position was added in 1999 and trickled down to high schools within a year. The spot was considered a glorified defensive specialist with special rules that lets them play in the back row for all six rotations. It also helps with substitutions as teams aren’t charged a sub as the libero comes in and out.
That same year, rally scoring replaced the previous scoring style when points were awarded only to the serving team. A side out wouldn’t result in a point. Now, there is a point rewarded at the end of each rally.
“A six-rotation outside hitter is the most important position in volleyball. The second-most important is your other outside hitter,” Smith said. “It’s a huge advantage to have somebody to count on to stay in there defensively, be able to take swings from anywhere and you’re trying to side out. Volleyball is an attacking game where the other team has the serve and having those confident pin hitters is the best way to do it.”
During some of the deeper runs by Valley teams in the playoffs, defenses have played strong, but the opposition has multiple powerful hitters, more height to kill over blockers and, sooner or later, the best defenses break down. McHi has advanced to the Sweet 16 during the past two years and McAllen Memorial has been there five of the past six years.
“It’s an offensive game and you can only defend so much of the floor and that’s why hitters can be so influential for your team and changing the game for you,” Smith said.
After studies and collecting data, trainer and author Dan Blewett wrote on his website danblewett.com he found five major factors that affected hitting velocity in high school female volleyball players: age, strike quality, set quality, jump height and aggression, where he wrote: “The bigger girls consistently hit harder than smaller girls. But, there were numerous outliers — very thin girls who hit as hard or harder than their larger counterparts. The common denominator was what I call, ‘Screwyouism.’”
As the 2021 season begins this week, after a week of tryouts and weekend of scrimmages, Cuellar is among several big hitters across the Valley who will carry a large part of the burden to bring home a district championship and make a deep run into the playoffs. Some of the others include Edcouch-Elsa’s Vida Ybarra, McAllen High’s Celina Saenz, McAllen Memorial’s Amare Hernandez and Leah Garcia and Mission Veterans’ Rylie Barnett, The Monitor’s 2020 All-Area Volleyball Hitter of the Year, among others.
Hernandez was one-third of a freshman trio of heavy hitters — including Garcia and Madisyn Sosa — for Memorial. She was named The Monitor’s 2020 All-Area Volleyball Newcomer of the Year. Her expectations are higher this year now that the “newbie” status is far removed.
“I wasn’t very confident last year,” Hernandez said. “I’m excited to show everybody how much I’ve improved. Last year I was barely in the weight room but this year I’ve been focused and know what I want, get strong and more toned where I increase my vertical and my hits are stronger and go more down.”
Every position on the court, however, is needed for an offense to run smooth. First, there needs to be a good pass, followed by a set that can be handled by the hitter. From there, it’s all up to the offensive juggernaut to attempt to end it.
But that takes more than just jumping and swinging.
“It’s very critical to put the ball down and to make sure we keep the defense on their tows and guessing instead of reading where we are going with the ball,” Cuellar said. “We need to stay aggressive.
“And we need a great pass to the setter and have her stress-free. I make sure I’m tracking the ball and reading the defense to see where I should move it and what route I should take. Also have to have communication and a connection with your setter. Then I try to take the perfect route and get as high as I can possibly get.”
Valley volleyball players learn at an early age that the kill is more than just overpowering everyone and that there is strategy involved every time they go up at the net, Smith said.
“Hitters down here early on get used to picking their spots and learning to hit around blocks,” Smith said. “Height isn’t necessarily something all these girls are blessed with, but they are great at being creative, doing different things and disguising what they are doing and where they are going. They have a nice toolkit available.”
Still, the best hitters usually make the final statement.
“Every position is critical on the court. But we’re just where the action is and people see that end result,” Cuellar said.