Setting and spiking

1Why this matters

Most volleyball points are won in three touches: a pass to the setter, a set, and a spike. The set is the most precise touch in the game and the spike the most powerful. Together they turn a defensive rally into a point for your team. Both can be practised against a wall with one ball.

2Rules you need for the attack

• A team may touch the ball at most three times before sending it over the net.
• A player may not touch the ball twice in a row (a double hit). The one exception is a block: a block touch does not count as one of the team's three hits.
• The ball must be hit, not caught or thrown. Catching is a fault.
• Touching the net during play is a fault, and the ball must cross the net between the two antennae.
• The attack line, 3 m from the net, divides each half into a front zone and a back zone. A back-row player may spike the ball from above net height only by taking off from behind the attack line.
• The court is 18 m × 9 m. The net is 2.43 m high for men and 2.24 m for women, and lower for younger players.

3The set (overhead pass), step by step

1. Move early so that the ball will drop just above your forehead. Face the target, usually the left-front attacker.
2. Hands up before the ball arrives: fingers spread, thumbs and index fingers making a triangle (a "window") you can see the ball through.
3. Bend your knees and elbows as the ball arrives, and contact it with the pads of your fingers of both hands at the same time, never with the palms.
4. Extend your legs and arms together towards the target and finish with your arms high, pointing where the ball is going.

A back set sends the ball behind your head to the right-side attacker. A jump set is used when the pass is close to the net.

4The spike (attack hit), step by step

1. Approach: start about 3 to 4 m from the net and take three or four steps, getting faster. A right-hander's last two steps are right then left, a quick "step-close" that stops the forward run and turns it into upward force.
2. Arm swing: on the last steps swing both arms back, then drive them up hard as you take off from both feet.
3. Draw the bow: in the air, pull your hitting elbow back high, beside your ear, like drawing a bow, and point your other arm at the ball.
4. Contact: hit the ball at the highest point you can reach, slightly in front of your hitting shoulder, with an open hand. Snap your wrist so that the ball spins forward and dips into the court.
5. Land on both feet with soft knees, without touching the net.

Attack choices: a line shot straight down the sideline, a cross-court shot at an angle, or a tip: a soft touch just over the block into an empty space.

Worked example: legal or fault?

5Drills with one ball

• Wall setting: set against a wall 30 times in a row, aiming at a chalk mark above head height.
• Self-set, catch, check: set to yourself, catch the ball above your forehead, and check that your hands form a clean window.
• Approach footwork: practise the step-close and jump with no ball, 10 times.
• Down-ball against a wall: from a standing position, hit the ball down into the floor so that it bounces up off the wall, using the full arm swing and wrist snap.

Practice

Solution. The pads of the fingers of both hands at the same time. They give a soft, controlled release and avoid a held (caught) ball or a double hit.

Solution. The last two steps: a quick right-left step-close with the heels planted turns forward speed into an upward jump.

Solution. No. That would be a fourth contact by the team, so it is a fault.

Solution. The wrist snap puts topspin on the ball, which makes it dip steeply into the court even when it is hit hard.