{"id":2215,"date":"2016-04-27T11:17:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T15:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=2215"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:18:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:18:51","slug":"seton-hall-a-powerhouse-of-liberos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2016\/04\/seton-hall-a-powerhouse-of-liberos\/","title":{"rendered":"Seton Hall: A Powerhouse of Liberos"},"content":{"rendered":"
Above: Junior Tessa Fournier demonstrates the prowess that earned her back-to-back BIG EAST Libero of the Year honors.<\/div>Those who aren\u2019t avid volleyball fans may not know what a libero is, or its vital importance to a team\u2019s success. But at Seton Hall, the unique defensive position has been given its due, and the Pirates have nearly perfected it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made it our goal to excel on defense and produce strong liberos,\u201d said head coach Allison Yaeger. \u201cThere are tons of libero and defensive specialist recruits, but being former liberos ourselves, we\u2019ve done a good job of being able to spot the rare standouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

A libero is a defensive specialist who is not limited to volleyball\u2019s usual rules of rotation or substitution. She is on the court more than most players, manning the team\u2019s back row, and often replaces the middle blocker or weaker defensive players when that position rotates to the back. Because of her extended court time, she is often the team captain and vocal leader on the floor. A libero wears a different-colored uniform so she stands out from her teammates.<\/p>\n

In each of the last four seasons, a member of the Seton Hall women\u2019s volleyball team has won BIG EAST Libero of the Year. In 2012 and 2013, the honor went to Alyssa Warren \u201914. Since then, current junior Tessa Fournier has won the prestigious title in back-to-back years.<\/p>\n

So how does a school become so impressive at one position? It helps when its head coach, Allison Yaeger, was an All-American libero while at Wright State. Assistant coach Allie Matters \u201910 was a libero at Seton Hall and graduated as the Pirates\u2019 all-time digs leader. The current career digs leader? Alyssa Warren. Fournier ranks third, right behind Matters.<\/p>\n

Clearly, in a relatively short period of time, the program has built not only a reputation, but a tradition of excellence at the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to find players that were similar to ourselves, in mannerisms, skill and leadership,\u201d Matters said. \u201cI remember when I was recruiting current sophomore Sarah Kenneweg. I was walking out of the gym and I saw her fly across the floor \u2026 really sacrificing herself, and I was like, \u2018I want that kid.\u2019 Recruiting that position comes easy to us, and fortunately it has paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"warren\"<\/a>
Alyssa Warren ’14, Seton Hall’s career digs leader, was also twice selected BIG EAST Libero of the Year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Warren, now a volunteer assistant coach with the Florida Atlantic University beach volleyball team, also credits keen recruiting as Seton Hall\u2019s primary reason for becoming a breeding ground for standout liberos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coaches know how to find players who have a very hungry attitude, can compete at a high level, and are willing to grow and be coachable,\u201d Warren said. \u201cLiberos must have a winning attitude and the coaches know how to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The libero is often the unsung hero for a successful team. Offensive players, responsible for scoring points with a timely block or a thunderous spike, typically garner the majority of praise for a team\u2019s success. The Pirates, however, understand that without a reliable defensive back row, offense would be impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that the libero and defensive players are the underdogs,\u201d Yaeger said. They\u2019re not in the spotlight; they rarely get the credit for a big point. That\u2019s why we go out of our way to celebrate the big dig or the perfect pass, just as much as we do the kill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat grit and all-out defense has really been something that\u2019s defined us,\u201d Matters added. \u201cWe\u2019re perfectly fine with defense being our identifier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next season, Fournier has an opportunity to achieve an honor that so far has been accomplished by only one player in BIG EAST history: to win Libero of the Year honors three times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coaches have taught me how to be a leader on and off the court,\u201d Fournier said. \u201cThey have given me so much advice on how to become a better player and improve my volleyball skills. I would not be where I am without them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as in basketball, where Seton Hall\u2019s outstanding string of premier point guards led to the moniker \u201cPoint Guard University,\u201d perhaps now a new nickname is appropriate in volleyball: \u201cLibero University.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those who aren\u2019t avid volleyball fans may not know what a libero is, or its vital importance to a team\u2019s success. But at Seton Hall, the unique defensive position has been given its due, and the Pirates have nearly perfected it.<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingSeton Hall: A Powerhouse of Liberos<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":2242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[258,10,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-2015-2019","category-sports","category-students","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2215"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2255,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions\/2255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}