Managing First-Set Blowouts

I recently saw two matches that had something in common – first-set blowouts with the team that easily won the first set losing the second set.

In the first match, Team A won the first set handily, winning the set in less than 20 minutes. They lost a close second set before regrouping and winning the third. In the second match, Team B lost the first set 2-6 in short order before making a tactical change to come back and win the second.

Based on years of watching and charting matches, I have found through match charting the reason why so many teams who lose a first set badly come back to win the second. Knowing this reason will help you coach your players in advance to better deal with a first-set win or loss in a blow out.

Conventional wisdom says that when one team loses a first set badly, then wins the second set, it’s because the wining opponents relaxed, or the losing team started playing better (hitting more winners) or the team that won the first set get overconfident and started going for more winners. In order of truth, my experience watching and charting matches shows that only the first reason effects matches to any degree of significance, and even then largely trails the true reason for turnarounds.

If you were to chart all of the matches in which high school players lose a first set badly, then win the second, you will find that the most common reason is that the team that lost the first set made fewer unforced errors in the second set.

Even though a team may lose a set 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2, charting the match may show that more than half of those games went to deuce and/or advantage losing team. Had the losing team not made as many unforced errors as they had, a 1-6 score could easily have been a 3-4 score and a much tighter set.

Here is how I have handled first-set blowouts from a coaching perspective.

When one of my teams lost a first set 2-6, I pointed out to them that all but two of the games had gone to deuce, with several going three or four deuces before the other team won. I told my players not to hit one “winner,” but instead to make sure every ball they hit was based on depth, direction or restarting the point. I told them to keep playing offensively, but not to try to end every point. I told them to stop going for acute, angle “winners” on their volleys or down-the-line winners from the baseline. I reminded them that they could still win by making their opponents lose. The change in their game the second set was immediate. They stopped making more errors than their opponents and won the second set. Afterwards, their opponents told me that when they had won the first set so easily, they asked each other, “What just happened? How did we beat these two 6-2? These opponent are good, and it doesn’t seem like we did anything special.” During the second-set turnaround, they talked to each other and said, “They’re making us hit one more ball every point! Hang in!”

In another match, I had two players beat good opponents 6-2. I told them at the break that the next set would most likely be closer, but not to panic – it would not be a function of my players who had just won playing worse or the other team playing better – it would simply be a result of the other team not making as many mistakes. I told them not to panic if the score stayed within one game during the set, and not to get too conservative or tentative.

Sure enough, my players lost the next set by one break. They understood, however, that they were simply in a competitive match, equally matched against two good opponents, and they stayed with their game and won the third set 7-5.

Had they not been mentally prepared from the momentum shift from a blow-out first set to a close match the rest of the way, they may have panicked.

Letting my players know in advance the reason for a momentum shift allowed them to be confident that the close score was not a result of their doing anything wrong or the other team suddenly raising their game to a new level, resulting in a panicky change of game style.

Prepare your players to come back from a first-set blowout loss or to maintain their confidence in a close second set after a first-set blowout win by letting them know what is happening and how to deal with it in advance.