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Getting Rid of Doubles?
Updated: Jun 15, 2023
Someone on Facebook posted something about the need to get rid of the "doubles" call in volleyball. They apparently quoted 2 current D1 coaches; I say "apparently" because no context or reference was given). These two coaches apparently supported the idea of getting rid of the doubles call all together. Basically saying that the game had "evolved". I won't get into the coaches or their "arguments" in this blog post, I'll save that for my podcast, that you can listen to HERE :)
Instead, I'd like to look at this by asking the question that I think needs to be asked:
Are doubles really a problem in the game of volleyball?
Does this part of the sport need to change because it's a detriment to the success of the sport moving forward or as a whole? Is this something that is prohibiting the sport from being broadcast on television?
The 2nd questions I can answer easily, No. The issue of the "doubles" call is not something that is impacting TV time. I talked about this in my blog post "We Need More Volleyball On TV." But simply, there is nothing in the sport itself that is holding it back from being televised more often. All of the negatives with volleyball come from outside of the sport; ESPN and other outlets are the problem and Volleyball as a whole should stop bending to the will of these "admins" because we can do all they ask and it won't change their opinion on volleyball. Volleyball by itself is just fine for TV.
Are doubles really a problem in the game of volleyball?
Well, we could look at this objectively or subjectively right?
Subjectively, we think about that ONE match where a lot of doubles were called. Or maybe a lot of calls were made at the wrong time. Maybe there was a match where NO doubles were called all match and then at 14-15 a double was called by a ref that ended the game. Those are realistically the basis for a lot of this notion that we need to get rid of the doubles call. I can think of two matches off the top of my head that I coached in: One is where a ref didn't call anything until about set 3. Once she started calling them, it became REALLY inconsistent. This is a problem. The other situation was a 5 set match in which the match ended on a double call in our favor, which was a bummer. Not because we won but because it was such a good volleyball match that I hated it to end that way. The ref just started calling the match tighter and tighter as it went on and so she started calling more and more doubles. This is a problem. It's a problem when it's done inconsistently throughout a match. Now at qualifiers, you will get 4 different 1st referees in a day and so you could be all over the map.
To look at this objectively we have to look at how many doubles or BHE's are called over the course of a season. Taking a look at some quick statistics from teams at different levels across the country, I think we will see this is substantially LESS of an issue than we think it might be.
(Below you will see the combined totals for BHE for the team listed and their Opponents)
The "answer" is how many doubles, on average, were called per match (includes both teams).
Nebraska - 25 BHE / 34 Matches = 0.74
Texas A&M - 31 BHE / 28 Matches = 1.11
NOVA Southeastern - 55 BHE / 31 Matches = 1.77
Texas State - 58 BHE / 32 Matches = 1.81
Baylor - 58 BHE / 28 Matches = 2.07
CSU - Bakersfield - 60 BHE / 29 Matches = 2.07
Houston Baptist - 70 BHE / 30 Matches = 2.33
MIT - 84 BHE / 33 Matches = 2.55
Angelo State - 75 BHE / 29 Matches = 2.59
UT Dallas - 76 BHE / 28 Matches = 2.71
Tarleton - 80 BHE / 29 Matches = 2.76
West Texas - 97 BHE / 31 Matches = 3.13
Remember that the numbers on the right are the average times a double was called in the entire match; this includes both teams. I would argue that if we are talking about 1 double being called per team in a match, then this isn't as much of an issue as we are making it out to be at the college level. Considering many of these calls are going to be called against non-setters potentially. I also think that 3 doubles being called in a match (potentially 5 sets) isn't a lot either. It's certainly not enough in my mind to say we should throw out the call completely.
Could refs be better? Yes. Could refs be more consistent? Yes. Luckily at the college level the head coach has the ability to score the referees based on their performance. So college coaches are in a position to give feedback to the region in this regard.
I hope that your next volleyball tournament is NOT riddled with double calls though :)
This is an interesting topic for sure! I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
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