Posted by I have written four different stories on ‘non traditional’ lineups (here, here, here, here) and it was inevitable that I would end up here, with the King of Alternative Lineups. Again the star of the story is Angelo Lorenzetti, who in the 2006-07 inherited a poorly performing team and left no stone unturned. The second star in Australian middle blocker Dan Howard, an extremely versatile player, who could literally do everything. In this lineup Lorenzetti turning over every stone, finds Howard under all of them as he plays as a receiver, middle AND opposite, all the same match. There are probably only two other players of the last thirty years who could have fulfilled that ‘role’.
I actually coached in this match and I had forgotten just how complicated it was to plan for and to play. There are some formations here that were mistakes, ie players forgot where they should stand, and some that in hindsight I am sure were spontaneous, provoked by subsitutions. There was a line, in bold and capitals, in the original match plan. STARE SEMPRE ATTENTI ALLE VARIE FORMAZIONI If you follow from here you will see why. I can tell you this took a lot longer to prepare than I was expecting.
The lineup, starting with position 1 was: 1 – Dante Boninfante (setter), 2 – Rob Bontje (MB), 3 – Peter Veres (OH), 4 – Francesco Biribanti (OPP), 5 – Zbigniew Bartman (OH), 6 – Dan Howard (MB). The other main characters in this play were the libero Guiseppe Sorcinelli, setter Marlon and Gabriele Maruotti who comes on as a sub in different places. In the 4th set, they changed the lineup. I haven’t ‘analysed’ that particular lineup but you can see it in the video if you scroll down.
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