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Meyer ‘digs’ playing D
GHS junior focuses on defense from libero spot
Sitting in a folding chair after a mid-week practice, Maggie Meyer’s knees are visibly bruised and nicked up.
The kneepads the Greencastle junior wears are somewhat effective in protecting her joints, but a few battle scars are inevitable when you spend your matches repeatedly diving onto the court to prolong a point.
Meyer surpassed the 1,000 mark in career digs over the weekend in the Cascade Invitational tourney, and similar to basketball players who are honored for scoring 1,000 points she was given a special painted ball to commemorate the occasion.
Making mostly defensive contributions in volleyball hardly qualifies as glamorous work, and certainly isn’t easy.
What is the key?
“You have to have good form, you have to be in good position and you have to be able to see where their arm is going,” Meyer said. “You have to watch exactly where they are turning their wrist [when spiking]. A simple turn of the wrist changes where the ball is going.”
Meyer said the task is complicated by the better players being able to appear to be aiming the ball somewhere, only being able to change their wrist action at the last second for a different kind of hit.
“Some of it is instinct,” she explained. “Mostly it’s experience. You see different hand motions and can see key factors too.”
Meyer had set a personal goal for eventually reaching 1,000 digs, but didn’t think it was achievable this season.
“I set a goal for this year to get 450 digs, and if I got that I would be able to get 1,000,” she said. “I have been in the 300s the past two years, so it was going to be tough to do.”
Meyer admits that getting digs is not an easy thing to do, but it’s important to the team’s success.
“Your setter is counting on you to give them a good pass, so they can get a good set to our hitters,” she said. “Digging and serve-receive are two of the most important parts of game, because that’s what starts off the play. With that dig, you have to be able to get it high enough for the setter to be able to do her job well.”
Her coach, Maggie Walters, played collegiately at Division II St. Joseph’s in northern Indiana and recognizes Meyer’s value to the defense.
“Maggie essentially is in charge of running the defense,” Walters said. “She has to communicate every play. Maggie is constantly telling her hitters what is open on the other side of the court.“
Walters credits Meyer’s knowledge of the game for her success.
“As a defender, she has to rely on reading the other team’s offense and adjusting to what shots they hit,” Walters said. “Maggie competes at such a high level simply because she has a high IQ of the game and is able to read and adjust to other teams’ systems of play. “
Meyer plays the libero position, which she describes as getting a “free pass” to come in for anybody in the back row, and it doesn’t count as a substitution.
A big part of Meyer’s development as a player has come as a result of her year-round dedication to the sport, which includes an extensive travel season with the Crossroads of America program based in Terre Haute.
Last summer, Meyer’s team finished fifth in the national tournament in Florida.
Her role on that team was different.
“For my COA team I was a defensive specialist, and not a libero,” she said. “I just came in for three rotations instead of five. I was lucky enough that my coach was able to put me up for honorable mention for the All-American team.”
Meyer’s teammate, Purdue-bound Caitlyn Newton of Terre Haute South, received All-American honors. Meyer was an honorable mention selection.
“That was so cool,” she said. “Taylor Nauert [a North Putnam grad now playing at Marian] was a big part of our team too. It was a great summer.”
She agrees that her summer team provides benefits to supplement her school experience.
“It’s all about contacts and the more reps you get the better you are going to be,” she said. “With people who play club volleyball, whatever position you play, you get those extra contacts and reps. You can can see the difference in some of our eighth-graders who play on a club team; their skills are better than the ones who don’t.”
Not surprisingly, Meyer’s top goal is to join a college volleyball program when her high school career is over.
“I want to put myself out there and fit myself with the program that suits me best,” she said. “I have heard from some schools, but nothing too serious yet. I’m very positive that this summer is going to be a good recruiting season for me.”
The Tiger Cubs finished third in the West Division of the Western Indiana Conference, and play at Cascade on Saturday in the fifth-place crossover game.
They drew Frankfort in the first round of the North Montgomery sectional and will play the Hot Dogs next Thursday in the first round.
“They are 8-15, but they play a lot of good teams,” Meyer noted. “We’re about even.
“Tri-West and Western Boone will be two of the top teams in our sectional, but in volleyball you never know.”
Once the high school season ends, Meyer will have a little break before COA tryouts take place on Thanksgiving weekend.
“The club season ends the last week of June,” she said. “When we get back from Florida, it’s back in the gym for the high school season.”
So do honorable mention All-Americans have to try out for the team again?
“Yeah, I think so,” she said with a smile.