Scouting Hope/W&L

This is the fourth and last article of our four-part series where we look at the quarterfinal matchups through the eyes of coaches that have actually played them this season. From my first article:

Immediately following the Regional Finals, I reached out to a number of coaches whose teams played one or more of the Elite 8 in order to get their scouting reports. My (good) idea was to get their expert input on what went well and what went wrong when playing these teams. I also invited them to add anything they wanted that might be interesting about these teams. It’s important to note that I offered anonymity to each coach and that none of the Elite 8 coaches were contacted. (You can imagine what that exchange would have looked like, “Heather, how is Juniata going to attack La Verne on Thursday and what exactly are your weaknesses?”) 

Here are the links to the three previous articles:

1. Juniata/La Verne

2. Johns Hopkins/Oshkosh

3. Emory/Whitewater

4. Hope/Washington & Lee (this article)

Hope

Elite 8 Results

Hope went 1-2 against the Elite 8 losing to Juniata in 4-sets and getting swept by Oshkosh. They did beat Whitewater in 4-sets. All three matches were in September. The two losses to Elite 8 teams were their only two of the season.

From the Coaches

Addie VanderWeide gets a lot of mention from the coaches and she has the ability to rescue Hope from an out-of-system position. She’s a power hitter that can also make shots and is incredibly hard to stop or even slow down. Their middles were also praised, “Hope has two really good middles who they try to find even when the pass is off the net.” This puts incredible pressure on the defense when trying to defend them. Another coach agreed, “We knew it would be a big block and we knew that they want to run their middles as much as possible even on a bad pass.” Hope features another great 5-1 setter in Lauren Lee (“I almost think think she sets better when she’s on the front row”) who does a great job spreading out the attack and playing fast. “Lauren can be more creative with her middle routes and has the ability to throw in numerous shots when taking the ball over on 2.” On the flip side, rotation 4 (when Lauren moves to the front row) can be a struggle for Hope if their passing is off. One key mentioned that might help against Hope is to serve deep, which might lead to a more predictable offense. It’s hard to stop an in-system Hope that has two or three great options and impossible when the middle is late to help out the pins. “You have to aggressively attack the service receive and keep Hope out-of-system as much as possible.” The right-side (Annie Lockett) was also mentioned. “You have to put up a good block against her or she will have a great match.” One coached summed up Hope by saying, “A great veteran team with experience is always scary.”

My Take

I’m always fascinated when Hope starts a set and Addie begins backrow. She often starts in the serving position and you just have to have a crazy deep team to do this. They were a finalist last year and will not be bothered by the pressure that the Elite 8 brings. In addition, they have Annie Lockett back after missing all of 2023 although she is deployed on the right side in this offense. I really thought Hope could be in trouble against Millikin in their regional final but they swept the Big Blue in an impressive showing. This is another team that maintains focus against all opponents and will be a hard out. They will not get the chance to face Juniata in the finals because they are on the same side of the bracket but I expect them both to meet up in the semis.

Washington & Lee

Elite 8 Results

Washington & Lee is 1-1 against these Elite 8 opponents. They have a 5-set win over Emory but were swept by Juniata. The Juniata match was close for the first two sets. (Juniata was just a machine in that match!)

From the Coaches

I probably got the most in depth comments about W&L than any other team. I also got my favorite comment overall about this team so I’ll start with the coach that gave it, “Very unassuming and not much size at the pins, but they run the fastest offense in DIII and it’s not even close.” My favorite comment? “Vivi Vasquez defensively is almost an automatic 3 option pass on every attempt. She should be on everyone’s fantasy team as a libero.” Now that’s a coach that follows the site! Every coach commented about the W&L defensive formation and there were a lot of comments. They tend to run a man-up or box style defense; however, coaches mentioned that that they will switch it up during play. (“I have tried really hard to figure out the pattern for changing defense, but I haven’t nailed anything down, yet.”) The man-up defense is something Berry ran this year and I know Ithaca ran it a few years ago when they made the Final 4. It means taking the middle back player and sitting them on the 10’ line. You can also rotate over the middle back to their right and move the back row setter to that sitting position. This defense opens up different spaces on the back but practically eliminates the dink over the block. Here was another coach commenting on their formation, “They run such a unique lineup with only one true middle as the setter is opposite the middle.” (This is something Sul Ross State did in our region a couple of years ago.) “Their offense is essentially coming from three hitters.” There were lots of grand comments on Vivi so she’ll be fun to watch. More on the defense and their setter (Allie Buchholz), “Their setter is very good and she blocks incredibly well in the rotations they stack her in the middle. It’s really not a weakness for them as much as I anticipated as they play solid defense behind her and go fast to the pins.” More on the pins, “Myers and Mitchener make a living on hitting line and outside hand. Their setter gives them a quick pin set in a super consistent hitting window over and over again. If the block is late, they will punish you.” Another thing mentioned was that they may be the smallest team in the Elite 8. The defense and their speed will attempt to combat that disadvantage. I have so much more on this team! A coach had this, “The most interesting team of the bunch. They move their blockers around and try to get some good matchups. They were a very disciplined defensive team. Terrific movement and they had all areas of the court covered.” Trying to wrap this up, the coaches worried that in the Elite 8 that you’ll have experienced disciplined teams ready for whatever Coach Bryan Snyder has planned. They also wondered if the W&L block can do enough to slow down the higher-powered offenses they will meet. Finally, watch their attack and service errors. If the Generals can keep those low, run their fast attack then maybe their defense makes the difference.

My Take

Statistically, this is, by far, the best defensive team in the Elite 8. The problem with saying that is teams that excel in Digs/Set have longer rallies and typically don’t terminate well. With W&L they were also 13^th in Hitting Percentage so that’s just impressive. One coach mentioned that Washington & Lee is really the home team in this Elite 8 as they are just 1 hour up the highway. Will there be a big crowd for the Generals and will that influence their results? If it does influence, will it be positive or negative? This game with Hope seems more like a chess match. A lot will depend on the Hope middles closing the block and the pins being disciplined with that outside hand. W&L can frustrate you with their defense so that’s another thing to watch for in this one. How many attempts does it take for Hope to put a ball down? Can they get quick points? If yes, they could sweep. If not, then this is probably a 4- or 5-set W&L win.

That’s all of the scouting reports. Again, thank you to the coaches that responded. I reached out to nearly 20 coaches for this series to ensure that I at least had multiple responses per team. Some coaches were worried about reveling too many secrets but, in the end, I don’t think anything in this series would have been a surprise for the Elite 8 coaches. There is a reason they are in the Elite 8, after all.

A reminder to all of the coaches whether you responded or not, you have my number so if you see something fun/interesting during the Elite 8, text it to me and I’ll share it with the readers. (Or, I’ll make it sound like I came up with it to sound smarter than I am.) Same offer goes to anyone I didn’t reach out to. If you need my number, send me an email. (See the About Me page for the email.)