Volleyball Basics: Serving, Passing and Digging

Serving

Serving is one of the more underrated skills in the game (second only to setting). Most people still think of serving as just one simple skill to start off the game. What many people fail to consider is serving is essentially an attack attempt already - albeit very much further from the front court and the net. Remember that volleyball is a rally point system, so teams should be taking advantage of any chance of scoring a point.

There are many types of service: a floater (hitting the ball in the center, causing ball flight to be erratic/unpredictable and no spin), a top spin serve (very quick ball movement, hit on top of the ball), a jump serve (usually a top spin serve but struck after a toss and jump), and others.

There are three possible outcomes after a serve is carried out:

• Service ace - if the ball lands on the opponent's court or the ball is not kept in play after the first touch, an ace (point for the serving team) will be registered. Furthermore, any violation called on the receiving team such as a player out of bounds during service or a receiving team out of rotation is counted as a service ace as well.
• Service error - if a server commits foot fault, serves out of rotation, serves out of bounds or doesn't go over the net, a service error will be counted and a point to the receiving team.
• Ball is kept in play

The standard stat to measure the serving skill of a player is computed as follows:

Passing

Passing is the first contact on the ball after a serve. Service reception is very important for the receiving team because this dictates how well they will be able to set-up their offense and how they can handle the resulting rally. There is a reason why passing is important and is analyzed outside the realm of digging (which is primarily a defense skill). A good pass (receive) is the main pivot of a team's quick transition from a good defense to a good offense.

It is important for a receiving team to get the rally point. Think of this as similar to "breaking the serve" in tennis. In volleyball, a point earned by a team from an opponent's serve is called a sideout. Sideouts are important (despite the fact that the term is an old volleyball term, it still applies and is important today) because this signals a break in momentum for the serving team, and shows how well the receiving team is running its offense [more on sideout analysis later in advance metrics].

The standard stat to measure the passing skill of a player is computed as follows:

Digging

Digging is a skill executed when a player receives an attacked ball and keeps the ball in play. It is important to note that digs only count for receiving a ball attacked by the opponent (i.e. passing a free ball is not counted as a dig attempt).

As with any other sport, the saying that 'defense wins championships' also holds true in volleyball. Digs, along with blocks, are important cornerstones in game play and are the only skills to contribute to defense. Remember, volleyball is not just about the offensive stops - the 2 other ball touches (defense and setting up) are very (if not more) important than that.

The standard stat to measure the digging skill of a player is computed as follows:

Next two skills that will be described are blocking and attacking.