Howdy 🤠 

I might be making my STS tournament debut in May, so I tried to bribe my experienced friend into playing. He wouldn’t even take money for the embarrassment he would have to endure. Somebody tell them I’ve been practicing my cuts. 

Today we’re talking about:

• Footwork around the NHZ

• College Sectionals

• Quick hits

Let’s get into it!

👣 Fancy Footwork

We know how mad you were when the NHZ was announced and we also know that you love it for the game now, don’t lie. The no-hit zone was an addition that aimed to help defenders and now we’re going to talk about the keys of hitting around it, courtesy of Scott Beeks. 

Specifically we’re talking about footwork. This one's for you because me, on the other hand, I move like a gazelle. One that is getting hunted, caught, and eaten… but a gazelle no less. 

Anyways let's get into the four footwork techniques for the NHZ.

1. Athletic/Power Stance to be ready and loaded for a powerful hit without having to worry about shifting your feet. This stance limits movement and range around the net but is ideal for a simple set that’s right to you. 

2. Cross Step. This is when you step one foot over the other and let your momentum take you as you hit the ball. You start leaning and distributing the weight forward on the leg that will get crossed over to get a better angle and more power on your hit. The better cross step you have, the more range and ability you have hitting. It’s mainly used for over the net hitting. 

3. Shuffle Step. This is when you move laterally and replace one foot's position with the other. This will give you a great reach but it’s most effective in off-net hitting. 

4. Diving. Diving is used when you don’t have enough footwork to solve certain hitting problems. There is a time and a place for diving either when you don't have enough time to get around the net or to get a quick angle. However, you want to avoid diving so you stay in points and take less of a toll on your body throughout a tournament. 

Work on 1, 2, 3 so you can avoid using 4 as much as possible. Use these techniques to solve problems in the offense games. 

🏀 March (April) Madness

Congrats to UConn on their second straight natty champ–a true blue blood. But for us roundnet folk, the Final Four wasn’t the only big collegiate event taking place this weekend. College Sectionals got started this weekend, and from everything we heard, the events were a great time. But before we dive into this weekend’s results, check out our breakdown of the Collegiate Roundnet Landscape. 

We had four Sectionals taking place this weekend–Southwest, South Central, East Bay, and Central. Here are your four winners from the weekend:

• Southwest: Grand Canyon University Lopes

• South Central: Texas Longhorns

• East Bay: Northeastern Huskies

• Central: Ohio State Buckeyes

While there were many fantastic storylines from all the tournaments, one stands out above the rest. 

Northeastern’s Lucas Pruett dislocated his right shoulder in pool play of East Bay Sectional. But did that stop him from leading his Huskies to victory? No sir it did not. 

Pruett’s elite athleticism was on full display the rest of the tournament–receiving serves and making defensive touches across his body with his non-dominant hand. Every club we spoke with was in awe of Pruett’s performance. 

We would also like to shout out all the clubs and players who helped us figure out all the storylines from the sectionals–without you, we would have a very mediocre newsletter this week. 

Special thanks to:

• @kuroundnet

• @boilermakerroundnet

• @neu.roundnet

• @uconnroundnet

• @csu_roundnet

• @umdroundnet

• @psuclubroundnet

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend of roundnet across the USA 🦅 

👊 Quick Hits

🍁 Waterloo wins the Ontario Collegiate Championship

🤮 Watch at your own risk

🥇 C/S wins March Spikeness 

🐐 It seems like Jacob designs every graphic ever in Roundnet so just follow him