Southland Leaderboards You've Never Seen Before

Ok, Southland Conference volleyball fans - this is going to be a little different.  When you look over the traditional statistics in volleyball there are always a few obvious things you notice.  For instance, the middle blockers populate the attack percentage leaders.  Middles, of course, are the group that makes up the block per set leaders.  Liberos dominate the digs per set leaders, and so on and so on.  But have you ever wondered what the leaderboards would look like if you took the the MAIN group that the statistics focuses on out of the equation?  This would give us an idea of which players excel at categories beyond their primary duties.

That's what you get here. Without further introduction, here are four statistics that you might have occasionally wondered about, but have never seen in lists.  These will be updated at the end of the season.  All stats in this post accurate as of October 26, 2018.

Leaderboard 1:  Non-Libero Digs Per Set
As you might imagine, we get a host of six-rotation outside hitters that play good floor defense and defensive specialists that substitute for the three-rotation hitters that can't. Plus, we get Taylor Cunningham because well... she's Taylor Cunningham. Jenna Krenek of AMCC has been in the libero jersey a little at the beginning of the year, but has primarily been a DS during conference play so I included her here. Notice that SFA is the only school with three in the Top 15 and several clubs are not represented at all.

1. Cunningham, (MB, SHSU) 3.35
2. Vivens, (OH, HBU) 3.20
3. Dunn, (OH, UNO) 3.10
4. Tippett, (OH, UCA) 2.98
5. Rogers, (OH, NSU) 2.92
6. Krenek, (DS, AMCC) 2.82
7. Mueller, (OH, ACU) 2.78
8. Redmond (OH, SFA) 2.68
9. Miller, (DS, SHSU) 2.67
10. O'Brien (S, HBU) 2.62
11. Coleman, (OH, SFA) 2.57
12. Warren (OH, NSU) 2.51
13. Brown (DS, ACU) 2.49
14. Torres, (DS, SFA) 2.47
15. Green (S, AMCC) 2.46

Leaderboard 2:  Non-Middle Blocker Blocks Per Set
This will draw attention to pin hitters and front-row setters that do a consistently good job of defending at the net.  I made this list because I have been impressed with the blocking of Ann Hollas this year.  Plus, I had been keeping up with this awhile because I knew Mackenzee Hanna was going to lead this when I first put it together.  As a side note, you'll see two RS hitters listed for New Orleans.  At times, due to injury to another player this year, their front row has been fluid.  I considered the primary middles for UNO to be Grice and Rand for the purpose of making this list.  Again, I think it noteworthy to isolate the blocking of the setters in this list - especially Hollas and Bosse.  Pretty cool leaderboard, huh?

1. Hanna, (RS, SFA) .90
2. Omoghibo (RS, UNO) .81
3. Sandercox (RS, ACU) .78
4. Lewis (RS, McN) .73
5. Hollas, (S, SFA) .71
6. Bosse (S, ACU) .65
7. Brister (RS, NSU) .63
8. Hunter (RS, UNO) .59
T9. Richey (HBU, RS) .53
T9. Chausse (SHSU, RS) .53
T11. Vivens (OH, HBU) .51
T11. Clapp (OH, UIW) .51
T11. Anderson (RS, UCA) .51
T14. O'Brien, (S, HBU) .48
T14. Coleman (OH, SFA) .48
T14. Vega (OH, UNO). 48

Leaderboard 3:  Total Net Aces (Aces - Service Errors)
Minimum: 10 aces

Ever wondered if the ladies at the top of the ace per set lists also are high error?  This is also something I look at a lot.  Realize, it is very hard over the course of a year to consistently have serve responsibilities and keep your ace total above your error total.  In fact, if you can (12 players have), you'll make this leaderboard.  This list makes the serving of Madison Wallace at SHSU look even better.  She currently is the SLC leader in aces per set.  Notice the mixing of all types of positions and look at the representation from New Orleans and SFA on this list.

1. Wallace, (L, SHSU) +10  (36-26)
2. Waddington, (S, UCA) +9 (20-11)
3. Grice, (MB, UNO) +7 (27-20)
T4. Dunn, (OH, UNO) +5 (31-26)
T4. Mirarchi, (S, SLU) +5 (15-10)
6. Hollas, (S, SFA) +3 (18-15)
7. Vega, (OH, UNO) +2 (30-28)
T8. Green, (S, AMCC) +1 (26-25)
T8. Redmond, (OH, SFA) +1 (22-21)
T8. Daron, (MB, SFA) +1 (15-14)
T8. Walker, (MB, ACU) +1 (13-12)
T8. Krenek, (DS, AMCC) +1 (10-9)

Leaderboard 4: Attack Percentage Among Players With Over 1.5 Digs Per Set (Non-Setters)
Alright, this might sound like a crazy leaderboard, but think this out with me.  What we are trying to do here is isolate hitters that play the majority of their teams rotations so that they get some decent measure of digs and then look at those "6-rotation" players hitting percentages. So, we are culling out the setters, which also stay on the floor, but don't universally attack like these players do.  This is kind of like a "6-Rotation OH Attack Percentage" stat, but then again.. we have Taylor Cunningham.  That, in fact, is the point.  This particular stat I believe really tells you just how dominant Cunningham has been.  Look at how hard it is to make in onto this leaderboard.  The 10th place value in this list is just .145 and Cunningham is at .325.  WOW!!

1. Cunningham (MB, SHSU) .325
2. Clapp (OH, UIW) .229
3. Tippett (OH, UCA) .202
4. Coleman (OH, SFA) .199
5. Vega (OH, UNO) .191
6. Redmond (OH, SFA) .187
7. Nelms (OH, McN) .162
8. Dunn (OH, UNO) .160
9. Vivens (OH, HBU) .154
10. Smith (OH, ACU) .145

Finally, here are some things I calculate each year that people really should keep in mind when evaluating hitting percentages and blocking numbers in the Southland Conference:

• The average starting MB in the SLC is hitting .240
• The average starting six-rotation OH in the SLC is hitting .136 (surprised?)
• The average starting three-rotation OH in the SLC is hitting .168 (it has to be higher, right?
• The average starting RS in the SLC is hitting .222
• The average MB in the SLC is blocking at a rate of 0.84 bl/s
• The average RS in the SLC is blocking at a rate of 0.56 bl/s

Kills Per Set Averages (starters):

• MB: 1.82
• 6 rotation OH: 2.46
• 3 rotation OH: 1.97 (it has to be lower, right?)
• RS: 2.20 

Now you know!  Enjoy the last two weeks of the regular season volleyball fans!