Inside the Coaches' Room: Brooklyn Deleye's Next Steps for Growth

Throughout her time at Kentucky, junior outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye has quickly evolved into one of the most dynamic hitters in all of college volleyball. While she struggled early in her career as a freshman to find the floor with regularity, DeLeye's terminal arm and incredibly high volleyball IQ have made those days a thing of the past. But heading into her junior campaign, what is the next area of growth to her game that the coaching staff is challenging her to approach this season? In our second edition of 'Inside the Coaches' Room', we're focusing on the Cats' reigning SEC Player of the Year and left side hammer, Brooklyn DeLeye.

It didn't take long for DeLeye to make a splash on the college volleyball landscape once she got to Lexington, especially considering the fact that she started for the Cats almost immediately. As a freshman, DeLeye averaged an impressive 3.69 kills per set on an efficient .287 clip, with her season highlight coming in a pair of back-to-back games at Georgia and at Alabama where she finished with 25 kills in each match. It was apparent from very early on that UK head coach Craig Skinner had once again brought an explosive outside hitter to Kentucky. 

As good as she was as a freshman, though, she somehow exploded even more as a sophomore, finishing her second year in Lexington by averaging an astounding 4.87 kills per set, good for 9th best in the entire country, on a .294 clip. She shattered her previous career high of 25 kills by registering 30 terminations on a sweltering .377 clip against Georgia in mid-November before finishing the season with three-straight matches with 22 kills in the NCAA Tournament. For all intents and purposes, there didn't seem to be a team the Cats faced that could realistically shut DeLeye down. And for only being a sophomore, that's something that almost assuredly terrified opposing coaches. 

So with that level of offensive output already present, what's next for Brooklyn? With two years left in Lexington, how much more growth can Brooklyn and the coaching staff realistically expect out of her? Well, if you ask them, the next step in her game is actually taking place on the defensive side of the court. 

For starters, one of the coaching staff's biggest goals for Brooklyn heading into the season is to find ways to become a more terminal blocker. While it may sound obvious, any time your left side hitter can shut down an opposing attack is a good thing. But, more specifically, the staff wants Brooklyn to improve at her ability to read opposing hitters so, at the very least, she can get a hand on the ball to slow down the attack. With Brooklyn's physical 6'2" frame, she's on the taller end of the spectrum when it comes to pin hitters in the women's game. The challenge, however, is that as a left side blocker you're defending against right sides and middles whose sets, and therefore attacks, are often in far better positions than what you might see as a right side blocker going up against an outside hitter that's being set more of the "garbage balls". It's why, more often than not, blocks made on the left pin are typically more rare than those on the right, where the opposing outside hitter is attacking from.

But what makes a good left side blocker? In Kentucky's recent history, one model for that stands out- Leah Edmond. Along with her powerful arm, Edmond evolved into one of the best left-side blockers in Kentucky's history by the time she left Lexington. Even now as a professional, Edmond's ability to read opposing hitters is still among the best in the game. But what makes Leah such a strong blocker? And what can Brooklyn do to model that for herself? If you ask assistant coach Merideth Frey, it all starts with the eyes. 

"It's a lot of eye work," Frey said. "What you look at the longest is what you get the most information from. So we talk a lot to her, we're not just watching the ball aimlessly, the ball's not telling us anything- the people that are touching the ball tell us things. So how long can we look at the setter's hands to understand what sort of set type is coming out? Is it a quick? Is it something that's going to die inside? Is it super high? Does it have tempo and shape to it? And then the other piece is just trying to, once you can answer that kind of question of where is the ball going to die and how fast is it, then it's, 'Do I have time to get my eyes on the attacker to be able to see and read what they might be telling me- whether that be a long arm looking for a tip, whether that be arm totally drawn and this ball is going to come hard at me.' All those sorts of things. But it's a lot of discipline and eye work and being patient to try to get better at looking at the right thing."

As you might imagine, it can be difficult to answer that many questions in such a short amount of time when lining up for a block, especially as a left side blocker who's going up against more complex routes and arms that come from middles on the slide or powerful right side hitters. But if Brooklyn wants to take that next step, it's going to start on the defensive end at the net. 

But the coaching staff isn't just asking for improvement at the net, they're also looking for defensive improvement in the backcourt, something that can be difficult for a bigger outside hitter like DeLeye. 

"She's really good at balls above her hips but we're really working on her being better at making those big collapse moves forward," Frey said. "You don't see her go to her knees to dig the ball a lot because it's just not something she's super comfortable with or had to train a lot in club and growing up. So we're spending a lot of time on those sorts of moves. You'll notice we'll get really excited whenever she does do one." 

We know how good Brooklyn is on the offensive side of the floor. That's something that's been apparent from the moment she stepped foot on the court. It's the defensive piece of the game that Brooklyn needs to hone in on now. And if she can find success on that side of the floor the way she did the offense, the Cats are going to be scary come the fall.