There are many aspects of offensive volleyball to watch for as a defender as you attempt to line up your defense to terminate an offensive attack. However, setting up your defense to ensure success takes forethought, early reading, and court awareness to increase your chances of forcing the turnover.

1. Pay Attention During Warmups

While the opposing team is warming up, this is a great time, as a team, to pay attention to the hitters. Sometimes they will wear warmup shirts, hiding their jersey numbers. They do this so they are harder to identify during the fast-paced movements of the game. However, whether they are covering their numbers or not, do your best to identify their hitters and setters. See how the hitters swing, who are the big hitters? What zones are they attacking? Do some tip more than others? How proficient is the setter? Do they give any clues when setting the various zones?

If you pay attention during warmups, this will give you a heads-up on how to defend against them.

2. Identify the Front Line

Oftentimes you’ll hear front-row defenders yelling something as they stand at the net with their hands up ready to defend against the serve-receive. They are usually identifying how many hitters there are and where the setter is. It will sometimes sound like this: “Set’s back, 3 hitters!” or “Set’s up, 2 hitters!” This gives your team an early idea of not only how many hitters to track, but also if you should block the setter as well, since they can only attack the ball if they are in the front row.

3. Read the Ball off of the Passer’s Platform

If you pay attention to the angle, movement, height, and speed of the ball passed, you can get an early read on not only where the set will go, but also who will be attacking the ball.

For example, if the pass is shanked, forcing the setter to leave the target zone to chase it, most likely, the front-row hitters will not be able to make aggressive contact with the ball. It will often end up in a free ball, or a back row attack, which means your blockers can move off the net to receive the dig.

If the pass is good, but maybe a bit high, this will give the blockers time to watch the body movement of the hitters so they can line up their double or even triple block on the hitter who comes in to attack.

If the pass is short and quick, the blockers will want to keep their eyes on the setter to try and understand who they are going to set before making their blocking transition to another zone.

Reading the pass off the passer’s platform can tell you a lot about how that ball is going to come back over the net.

4. Learn the Setter’s Movements and Tells

Setters give us clues in every movement they make. The key is learning them early in the match so the defense can angle themselves correctly to stop or proficiently defend against the ball.

Watch how the setter sets to the outside hitter. Do they put one foot back to get enough force to push it out to that zone? When setting middles, do they stand directly under the ball before making contact? When setting back sets, do they arch their back? These movements and more can often give defenders an early read on where to move in order to put up a big block against a hitter, as well as giving your back row a chance to angle against the zone being set.

5. Keep your Eyes on the Hitters

In high-level volleyball, all hitters will transition off the net, call for the ball, and take their approach every time as if they are being set. However, that is not always the case. Some hitters will stop their approach after learning they’re not being set. Some hitters will go through the motions, without taking an aggressive approach, and some hitters aren’t able to get back to hit, and therefore, take themselves out of being an option to their setter. These are all hints that they are not planning on hitting the ball. Reading the hitters, watching their approach and their eyes can often tell the defense whether or not to block or defend against them.

Some teams will run a more dynamic offense, putting up sets outside of the normal zones. They could run plays, put the middle in motion, or set shoots (quick, low sets aimed at taking away the chance for a double block). It’s always a great idea, as a blocker, to “lock in” to your hitter. For example, as a middle blocker, you’ll want to clue into your opposing middle; follow them, no matter where they go, so they’re never left with an open net. The pin blockers should do the same, especially when facing a team with a dynamic offense.

6. Line up your Blockers for Maximum Execution

As a blocker, there are numerous aspects of a hitter that you can read to ensure success at the net. The biggest, and most important trait of an effective blocker is to read the setter and find out early on who they’re going to set. Now that you’ve identified who is going to be set, take your eyes OFF the ball, and place them squarely on the shoulder of the hitter’s swinging arm. It’s imperative that you do not try to block the ball, rather, you want to block the hitter instead. Why? Because if you try to block the ball, you’ll often find yourself late to the block, and usually, not lined up to stop the attack.

As a pin blocker, it’s your job to set the block so that your middle blocker knows how far to go to close the block. To do this successfully, you’ll need to read the set. Is the set inside pin? Then you’ll want to move out to take away the line shot. Is the set outside the pin? Then step in to take away the cross-shot. This will help to always guarantee your blocks are closed, leaving no openings for the ball to go through. And always remember, once you’ve identified where the set is going, and what hitter is going to attack, put your eyes directly on the hitter’s swinging arm, center your body in that angle, and you will almost always get a touch if not a point-ending block.

7. Be Willing to Change your Defense according to a Hitter’s Target

There are two different types of defensive formats. The first is perimeter defense. This can also be called a “zone” defense, where the middle back stays deep in the center of the court, and the two wings (usually setter and libero) pinch in to cover the sharp angles. The second type of defensive format is called rotational. This is specifically to cover hitters who are continuously hitting down the line. This type of defensive setup occurs against pin hitters; where the wing defender pulls up to cover tips behind the block, and the middle back cheats towards the deep line, leaving the other wing to cover a wider angle of the court. The off-blocker also pulls off to cover short pushes and tips at the sharper angle between the 10-foot line and the net.

Oftentimes a coach will switch up the defense based on where a hitter is hitting, and sometimes against a specific hitter. It’s important to be flexible with your defense and be willing to shift and flex with the movement of the ball.

Volleyball is a fluid and ever-changing sport. High-level offenses will often change up their tactics based on holes they see on the court, or weaker players they identify early on. If you follow the previous tips and tricks, you will sufficiently close any possible holes, and force the hitters into making mistakes, or even better, giving you an easy ball you can quickly turn around into a kill.