The Milan News-Leader
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Thomas shines as Milan libero
Junior helps lead Milan defensive effort in key back line role
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2007
It's not difficult to tell that a volleyball team's libero plays a little different role from her teammates.
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For starters, there's the different-colored jersey. There's the fact that she never plays on the front line. And that she seems to come on and off the court almost at will while other players pause at the scorer's table to substitute.
So it's not surprising that a player who takes the libero's jersey has to have a little different mentality. For Milan, that player is junior Chelsea Thomas.
"You're defending the whole backcourt all match. You have to be on your guard the whole time," Milan head volleyball coach Andrea Marshall said during a recent practice. "It's a huge role. And she's stepped up and taken it."
Thomas's solid defensive work has been a big part of the Big Reds' improved play and recent three-match Huron League winning streak. In an interview last Friday, Thomas said that those contributions are worth the floor burns and bruises that come with diving for every possible dig and facing the opponent's biggest hits.
"You always have to have your teammates' back," Thomas said. "You have to be able to read the ball and know where it's going, and then you have to get there … I like letting (my teammates) know that you'll be there for them."
It takes a certain tenacity to continue to hit the floor for digs and stand strong in the face of hitters like St. Mary Catholic Central's Purdue-bound Kristen Arthurs, whose spikes Thomas saved a handful of times in the teams' recent meeting.
"You can see that she doesn't back down," Marshall said. "She's got a great work ethic. It's always 'go, go, go, go.'"
"The biggest thing is to be quick," Thomas said of her success in the role. "You have to always keep moving your feet and read the ball … it's pretty hard."
The combination of difficulty and importance to the team means finding a solid libero –– who is marked by wearing a reverse-color jersey and in Thomas's case black numbers on a red background at home –– is essential to many teams, Milan included. The libero can rotate on and off the back line, for any player, without using one of the team's allotted 18 substitutions per game.
"We would always run out (of substitutions). Sometimes we come close anyway," Marshall said of the importance of using a libero, adding that being able to bring Thomas in for whichever player might be struggling at a given moment is a big plus.
In exchange for the substitution flexibility provided by the libero, liberos are prohibited from making any attacking play "above the net" and cannot rotate to the front line.
That's a sacrifice most teams are more than willing to make.
For Thomas, that means plenty of time on the court, plenty of digs, and a continuing drive to see Milan finish the season with strong performances down the stretch and in the district tournament.
"We've played pretty well," Thomas said, "but there's always room for improvement."
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