Hayden Blackwell knows just what it takes to play libero for Polk County.
‘It’s dig or die, every single point,” she said. “We really have to fight, everything is on the line, and it’s dig or die every time. That’s just my mentality.”
It kind of has to be. Her coach expects nothing less.
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For those not in the know, the libero is the player you’ll see in a different-colored jersey on your favorite volleyball team. A defensive specialist, the libero is tasked with being in position to receive serve, to return kill attempts from the opposing team, to keep the ball alive and to facilitate the offense with the first pass. It entails a lot of generally throwing your body around the court into the path of rapidly-oncoming volleyballs, with little regard for what happens to you as long as you can get the ball in the air. Then, you do it again.
And it’s something that Polk County coach Molly Hill excelled at, playing libero in college. She knows exactly what she wants to see from the players she trusts with the position.
“To me, it’s a ton of pressure,” Hill said. “You’re told constantly that you run the back line. You’re expected to take the serve if it’s between two people. You’re expected to dominate on defense. A lot of times, you’re touching that ball.
“It’s a ton of pressure, and I’m extremely particular about who I put in that jersey. I like to give them a good amount of training, and I hold them very accountable.”
Blackwell agrees that playing libero for someone who was good at the position can be intimidating.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking,” she said. “You feel like all the pressure’s on you sometimes. You have to make that perfect pass every single time. But it’s a game full of mistakes, and I’m learning that as I go. I’m not going to always make that perfect pass. My team is so uplifting. Like Sophia (Overholt) saying ‘come on, next point, you can do this. You’re a great passer.’ Those are the kind of little comments that make it like ok, I’m good, and then you get the next ball and you move on.”
Overholt, along with hitters Morgan Yoder, Mia Bradley and Kylie Lewis, are part of what makes Blackwell so eager to put her body on the line for a dig. She knows that with the talent around her, any live ball can be trouble for the opponent.
“They’re all very good,” she said. “Two of them are committed (to play in college). I really trust that they’ll do something good with the ball if we can just get it to them.”
That short memory is something Hill knows a good libero has to have.
“It’s fun to coach that position, but I am very hard on them, and I think Hayden would say that, too,” Hill said. “There are moments where I know she’s beating herself up and I’m telling her to get over it and move on to the next point. But that’s because I put a ton of pressure on her and she wants to do a good job.”
The commitment to doing a good job and the desire to get it right is something that Hill sees in Blackwell, and something she appreciates.
“First of all, liberos WANT to be liberos,” Hill said. They want that jersey, and it kind of comes with a spotlight. You have to find people who are mentally tough enough to handle it. If there’s a big hammer hit from the other team, you’re immediately going to look at that libero and want to know why she didn’t pass that ball. People aren’t going to look at all the other different aspects that could have gone wrong.
“A lot of times, it’s blamed on a pass when in reality there are a lot of different aspects to the game of volleyball that people don’t know about. When the puzzle pieces all go together, it works out, but the times they aren’t together, there’s kind of a spotlight on them to fix it.”
Blackwell embraces that spotlight.
“It really is fun,” Blackwell said. “In games like (Wednesday’s five-set thriller against West Henderson), it’s point-for-point and we’re all coming together. If we score, let’s celebrate. If we mess up, next point. It’s just so much fun.”
Hill said she’s pleased with Blackwell’s progress, and eager to see her continue to grow. She also recognizes the mental fortitude it takes to play the position and to meet her stringent requirements.
“You have to have somebody who has a good volleyball IQ, but more than that, they’ve got to have that commitment,” Hill said. “I put you in that jersey for a reason. I call my libero the quarterback of the back line just like my setter is the quarterback of the team. They’re the people touching the ball the most. They’ve got to run the show. And that’s the reference I make a lot of the time. YOU have the jersey. YOU run the show. You’re one of the best passers on the team, act like it. Take control. Make the play.
“To have so much experience in it myself, and then to put that in another girl’s shoes and train her up in that, it’s fun to see that. But it’s got to be somebody tough enough to handle it, because it’s a lot.”
Blackwell seems more than happy to embrace “a lot.”
“You’ve just got to push forward,” she said. “I get in my head a lot, but my team is always there. You make a mistake and you move on. Everything will be ok.”
