The BYU Women’s Volleyball team is hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament Friday and Saturday. They are using technology to prepare for the match against New Mexico State.
The managers translate the entire volleyball match into code. The code is read by software and produces statistics of the opponent’s every move. The program is better than the traditional method of tallying up stats because it’s more detailed.
Heather Olmstead, Women’s Volleyball Assistant Coach, says, “Its not going to be for sure what they’re going to do, but we have a pretty good idea by the time we play them…their tendencies and what they’re looking to do when they play us.”
The team meets in the conference room before every game to study the stats and watch film.
Tia Withers, #17 Sophomore Libero, says, “I’m sitting there watching film [and] I’ll mark on my paper. ‘Oh, this is where that person likes to hit’ and I’ll draw a circle there of where that’s probably an area I should hang out in.”
The extra hard work seems to pay off. The team says they’re all ready and excited for the big game.
Withers exclaims, “This is kinda the big dog stuff…This is it.”
The team is already working on the film for Arizona State University and Oklahoma, so the Cougars have everything they need if they win the first round.
The technology the volleyball team uses today is relatively new and didn’t even exist the last time they hosted the NCAA tournament 12 years ago.
