For Herman, Learning Who Led to Knowing What
Transfer setter has offense trending upward
Mike Brohard
The quirky little life advice everyone has heard can be helpful when applied in the right situation.
The messages, which normally make for a nice motivational meme or bumper sticker, can be applied to specific places.
Like being a setter. For instance, it’s not what you know, but who you know.
At least that’s the way the Rams break down Emery Herman’s arrival on campus.
As the Colorado State setter, she has to be the people pleaser. There are three pin players and a pair of middles who all want the same thing, and they want it sometimes more often than is actually realistic – the perfect set.
Every time. Specifically, right now.
To understand the hitter, she had to know the person, so she started by building relationships which are vital to open lines of communication.
Everybody is familiar with another saying – more often than not … -- and when those moments happen on a volleyball court, a setter has to have the ability to take the right approach.
“I think it’s important, because if you have the relationship, it’s easier to get through the hard questions and the frustrations that come with things that aren’t perfect,” CSU assistant coach Jess Aschenbrenner said. “When things aren’t going well or it’s not perfect, if you don’t have the ability to look each other in the eye and say, ‘I need this,’ or ‘I’m going to provide this for you,’ then it makes it harder to establish that perfect set.
“Every setter’s goal is to have the perfect set. Every hitter’s goal is to have a perfect hit. There’s always the chaos of volleyball and the first and second touch which make it a little bit harder to be perfect all the time.”
Herman, who transferred in from Arizona in January, has long understood perfection is not her end game. There’s no need to pursue the impossible when adopting a persistent approach will get her and her team where it desires.
Like this moment in time, as the Rams are hitting at a .276 rate, ranking 17th nationally. To get there was going to require more than a deft touch of a ball off her soft hands.
“It was trying not to get too frustrated. I knew that was the case coming in,” Herman said. “I knew I was going to have to adjust to everybody, and I knew that because I’ve been setting for a while. You know that hitters like different balls. It was taking it day by day and she likes this, so let’s focus on this for her. I did that for everybody, and I didn’t want to speed up the process, just take it as it was. It can be hard, but the coaches and my teammates have been great about, ‘hey, we’re going to get this,’ especially during the spring. I think we’re producing pretty well now.”
The process never ends, which all of the Rams understand. This is a constant polishing act, because not every game situation is the same, not every match is played at the same pace. Hitters can have more than one strength, but particular ones shine brighter in certain situations.
Colorado State’s hitters see that comprehension from the person who is feeding them. Malaya Jones, who leads the team with 227 kills and is collecting 3.24 per set, said the goal of team was not to overload Herman with an immediate list of wants and desires upon her arrival. As she put it, they weren’t going to “chirp-chirp” her with their goals, but rather allow her to settle in and find a comfort zone.
What they did appreciate was her desire to go to them and ask questions, so they never really had to produce a list of demands.
“I think she is really open to changing things and has a really good streamline of communication. I think that’s one of the biggest things,” Jones said. “(Head coach) Emily (Kohan) was talking about how we were looking for someone who takes feedback and applies it and is open to it. It’s not always one or the other, it can be both. Emery asks us questions all the time, because maybe sometimes we’re a little too scared to come up and say, can you fix that? She comes up and is like, ‘talk to me about that, what do you need on that?’ We all trust her because she does that.”
Defense is probably my favorite thing to do on the court besides setting, but there was always something where I said I’m never letting this go, I always want to make sure I can do everything to help my team.Emery Herman
When Kohan hit the transfer portal looking for a setter, Herman provided exactly what she was looking for, and all the feedback from phone calls was about how great a teammate she was and how positive she is on the court.
Herman prefers positivity when delivering feedback, for she knows that’s the realm from which she performs best. In some ways, Aschenbrenner would like her to develop a few rough edges at times without changing who she is at the core.
“I think there are points where I encourage her to be more direct. In doing so, it’s actually taking ownership and saying I’m going to get you this ball and this type of set instead of asking what they may need,” she said. “Her friendly approach is, what do you need instead of, ‘hey, this is what I’m going to provide for you on this next set.’ I’ve challenged her to be a little more forward in her communication, but it’s beneficial either way to still have that back and forth.”
In watching film, Kohan was understandably looking more at how a future Ram could deliver the ball. What isn’t always seen is the overall game, and quite honestly, Herman has provided a bit more than some may have anticipated.
She already has 61 kills on the season, an average of .83 per set, quite a nice number for a setter and the best pace since Ashley Fornstrom averaged 1.00 per set in 2007, when the scoring was different. She digs balls at a rate (2.47) better than the most recent setters, her blocking is a bonus, not a detriment, and her work at the service line has produced a team-best 21 aces.
“She’s an unbelievable hustle player. She plays defense,” Kohan said. “A lot of times there are knocks on setters and the way they play defense, but she plays defense hard. She runs down out-of-system balls hard.
“I think her serving is something that, dang, she’s a nice server. Maybe somewhere down the list, it’s not what we spend a lot of time in video eval on, but it was a nice surprise to see what a lethal server she can be.”
Most of Colorado State’s good setters – a tradition in the program, really – have offered more than balls hitters can deliver terminally. Deedra Foss was good defensively (2011-14) and averaged about 77 kills per season. Fornstrom was good all around, and so was three-time Mountain West Player of the Year Katie Oleksak.
Herman’s numbers are comparable in those bonus areas, and her setting numbers are on the rise. She leads the conference in assists per set in conference games at 10.17. Those figures have only been improving, as she’s averaged 10 or more in six of the past eight matches.
Contributing in every facet is something she carries with great pride.
“My freshman year in high school, I was an all-around outside, so I didn’t really start setting until my sophomore year. I love to hit, so I was like I don’t want to lose this,” Herman said. “Defense is probably my favorite thing to do on the court besides setting, but there was always something where I said I’m never letting this go, I always want to make sure I can do everything to help my team.”
Herman arrived before Aschenbrenner was hired, but what the assistant coach has come to appreciate most of all is not only the way she delivers a ball, but from the places she can deliver sets. Herman’s strength enables her to go to the back line of the court and hit a pin player, which is not easy.
Not all of the Rams are surprised however at the player who joined them. Hitters don’t like surprises, so when they found out Herman committed, they stalked her.
“When Emily told us Emery is joining our team, we were like, let’s go check her out,” Jones said. “I was like, Emery is sick. We knew she had been to the Olympic tryouts, so we know she’s going to be good. Then she got here, and she has some of the most incredible workouts. It wasn’t, ‘I don’t know the system,’ she was working her butt off.”
It’s working, but it’s been a process. It will continue to be a process because the chase for perfection is frustrating and necessary rolled into one, and communication can always improve. She has to keep an eye on her hitters, because they are always evolving, adding new skills as the season progresses.
Setters are trained to expect the unexpected and actually deliver the latter. To do so, one may never lose the perspective the journey is forever.
“Never, and it’s very important for me to know. Otherwise, I’m going to be in my head all the time and not get past the last play,” Herman said. “I’ve learned, and it’s pretty hard. I don’t think I got the hang of it until last season, so it took a while.”
All she had to do was repeat the process at a new school, with a different set of hitters, all expecting something a bit different. What she knew helped. Who she’s come to know has allowed it work.