LSU volleyball coach Fran Flory was pleased with her team’s breakthrough season last year but feels there is one major area the team can work on to pick up more wins: ball control.”Our passing has to be solid, and our setting has to come around,” Flory said. “We want to be the best serving and passing team in the country.”Ball control will have to be “solid” with some of the recent changes made to NCAA volleyball.Officials will now place more emphasis on double-touches, which is when a player touches the ball two times consecutively, and second ball contact, which is when the setter sets the ball up for one of the outside hitters to spike. The violation — called a “carry” — occurs when the setter comes in contact with the ball for too long when tapping it into the air. The call made by the official will be based on whether or not the setter performs an “athletic move.” But the vagueness of “athletic move” is what can cause a debate.”Second ball contact is going to be an adventure,” Flory said. “Sometimes what the officials feel is athletic and what the coaches feel is athletic can be far apart. So far there hasn’t been much controversy. There’s a whole lot more talk about it than there is player implementation of the rule.”Flory is not worried about this emphasis because of the presence of sophomore setter Brittney Johnson, whom Flory called a “welcomed surprise” because of her progress over the offseason.So far, Johnson has yet to be called for a double-touch, and she feels the new rule has helped her to become a better player.”[The new rule] helps me to use my athleticism to contribute to the team,” Johnson said. “I feel like the call was made for me.”In addition, games will now be called sets. These sets will now be played to 25 — rather than 30 — points. The if-necessary fifth set is still to 15 points.The change was made to quicken the pace of the games, Flory said, adding that points 12 to 18 were considered “dead periods” during which teams would put the game on “cruise control.”Senior libero Elena Martinez said the team has done “fine” with the new rule changes so far.”There’s a sense of urgency now,” she said. “You can’t wait until the last 10 points to come back into the game. It’s taught us to attack early on in the matches.”Junior setter Samantha Dabbs agreed with Martinez and said those points can make a big difference in the game.”It’s only five points,” she said. “But then again … a couple of points here and there is critical now.”Flory said some coaches are worried parity will rise because smaller teams can stay on the court with the more physical teams because the match will be less “long and grueling.” But she is not worried about her team.”There is some truth in [the parity],” Flory said. “The best team is going to win in the end anyway.”—–Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]