How To Improve Your Volleyball Strategy

The question of how to improve strategically in volleyball is a very broad topic. There are many areas to consider and then also the question of perspective, whether you are a player or a coach. For this post, the perspective will be written for coaches although players may find it helpful and certainly follow the links to some of the posts more directly targeting specific concepts.

There are many different areas of strategy within volleyball, so you will want to prioritize the area(s) that you believe will result in the most meaninful impact for your team. A strong volleyball program will always be progressing and once an area of focus becomes an area of strength, move on to another area that offers more opportunity for growth.

Improving Your Volleyball IQ

At the basic level, developing volleyball IQ is really moving from playing volleyball for fun into the realm of playing competitively. As players, we can still enjoy the competition, but we are moving from thoughtless “fun” and casual play, into more mindful, strategic, and intentional play.

Volleyball IQ is the depth of knowledge and experience to be able to make good decisions during live gameplay, in a way that positions the player and the team for success. Players with a high volleyball IQ know how to position themselves in space appropriately, anticipate their opponents moves, coordinate well with their teammates and adjust to changes continually.

For players to truly gain volleyball IQ, they need to experience it on the court, it can’t just be a concept that’s discussed. There has to be feedback, combined with reptition of proper execution. Players that just seem to be in the right place at the right time aren’t just born that way, they are trained to know.

As a coach, here are some ways to build volleyball IQ within your players:

1. Identify specific behaviors or choices that need to change and identify scenarios where this is likely to occur often. A great habit once you’re into your season, is to take short notes during games to identify scenarios to work on in upcoming practices.
2. Create or review these real scenarios in practice and break down the options for everyone to dissect and talk through. You can use video if it’s available, but often the lessons and principles will really stick with players better if you physically re-enact the situation on the court. You can talk it through and then run it at half-speed and then full speed once everyone grasps the concepts.
3. In reviewing, make your players identify their options, identify what they chose to do, and come up with ideal solutions. Many people learn better when they are part of the discovery process. They also may accept criticism better, if they are allowed to express why they made the choices they did, first. Coaches and players can really learn a lot about each other and build trust, during these sessions.
4. Identify your preference as a coach, while confirming that there may be other viable options. When possible, provide the “why” for your choice. Identifying several options and then expressing why 1 in particular is the best, gives players a better understanding of the principles that should guide them. Simply teaching a blanket rule limits the player because they will run into scenarios that are different and they won’t know when to adjust your advice and when to stick with it.
5. Specifically identify what players should be seeing and watching for that should inform their decisions. A huge part of volleyball IQ comes from awareness and observation. It’s easy to forget that players may not realize what they should be watching for and what different things mean when they see them.
6. Create or modify drills to replicate similar scenarios to practice the better-handling of the situations you’ve addressed. Often you can reinforce the principles and skills you’ve taught by modifying another common drill that you use. I think it’s really effective to incorporate one of these at the next practice, and see if the players really internalized the message or if it may need to be reviewed again, possibly from a different angle.
7. Directly address careless or unintential play when it occurs. It’s human nature for players to revert to playing mentally lazy volleyball from time to time. Whether it’s during a game when things are going really well or really poorly, or they relax and “check out” during a long practice, it’s going to happen from time to time. Coaches have to confront that and stop it immediately. That may mean pulling a good player during a game because they’re not giving you their full effort. Or that may mean running some kind of ‘punishment drills’ during practice as a consequence. Other times, simply calling it out verbally will be enough to snap the player, or the whole team, out of it.
8. Encourage resources for further growth beyond practice (videos, books, websites, etc.). Players can really get long-term benefit from learning to be a student of the game. Encourage them to find media and resources that take their love of the game to the next level.

As a general principle, we want to have as much live gameplay incorporated into our practices, so we don’t want to spend a lot of time lecturing. It helps whenever we gamify skills and decisions into competitive drills whenever possible to keep our practices challenging and lively.

Volleyball Serving Strategies

One of my favorite parts of any sport that has serving, is the strategy involved in the service itself. Who will you serve to? Can you take advantage of your opponent? Can you fool them? Surprise them?

Serving in volleyball is one of the most critical parts of the game and has different areas of strategy involved, including; selecting your target, alternating your timing, choosing the type of serve to use, and communicating with your team so that everyone is on the same page.

Before we talk about different serving strategies though, it’s important to make sure everyone knows how to communicate about the positions on the court.

Volleyball Serving: Understand the Position Numbers

Whenever you are communicating about positioning on the court, whether you call them serving positions or the serving zones, it’s important that players and coaches are all referring to the same thing. Here’s an easy-to-understand video that describes the zones on the court.

Volleyball Serving: Selecting Your Target

When you’re selecting your target there are many different reasons to choose a spot on the court or a particular player. You want to try to force a player to play the ball, that’s going to have the worst impact on your opponents’ chance to run an effective offense.

Here are some of those spots and players to target:

1. The Seam. More important than all the following points, try to never serve directly to a player. You want to serve the space between 2 players or between the player and the sideline. In each of the following points, don’t feed it to them on a silver platter, but place it where THEY have to be the one to play it, but they have to move to get it.
2. The Weakest Passer. This means you usually don’t want to serve the libero – they are usually the strongest passer on the team. Remember that this may be a player who is really strong in other areas, but weak at passing.
3. Their Setter. This is a very common tactic because if the setter takes the first touch, then they aren’t able to set – someone else has to run the offense. While most teams will hide their setter to prevent this, sometimes you may have an opportunity. For example, if the setter is tucked in beside a hitter, can you place the ball where the hitter can’t reach it because the setter is in the way?
4. Their Best Hitter. Often, the outside hitter will be lined up to receive and if you can serve it to them either deep or short, it ruins their chance to make a good approach. This forces the setter to choose a weaker hitter.
5. Serving the Sideline of Position 1 & 2. When you serve to this sideline it makes it more difficult for the setter to get to the pass and turn their body to face the outside hitter. This limits their options and makes it more awkward to run the play that they would really like to run. If you serve it deep, it may take the middle hitter off the table as well.
6. Serving the Front Row Players. By serving the front row, it can really limit the offense. Setters often won’t set whoever received the serve because they don’t have time to transition and approach. Also, whoever receives may get in the way of other potential hitters.
7. Serving the Endline Hard and Low. When you serve the endline low, especially at younger age groups, passers have a hard time judging whether the ball is in or out. They also have to pass from a higher platform (which is more challenging), or take it overhand, which is challenging to push all the way to the front on a hard serve.
8. Serve the New Player. When players sub in they may be nervous, or excited to get in the game, or cold or stiff from sitting out. Sometimes they make a good target. If you are on a serving streak and they sub a player in, consider serving that player next. These players may not be mentally prepared to receive and they are probably not the strongest passer, because if they were, they would already have been on the court.
9. Serve the Last Error. If the last play ended with an error, consider serving whoever made that error. They may still be thinking about that play. If they are interacting with another teammate or coach, you definitely want to serve to them quickly, before they settle down.
10. Serve the Distracted Player. If you notice a player just doesn’t seem focused on your service, take advantage. They may be communicating with the coach, mad at the ref, looking at their teammate, these are all prime candidates to target. Even if you don’t serve directly to this player, putting it close enough that other players expect them to get it may cause enough of a problem for them to score an ace.

Regardless of whether you’re targeting a player or a spot on the court, the server should always serve with intention. While younger players may struggle, they should still attempt to be specific when targeting. As players mature they can become snipers that really pinpoint the ideal placement.

Would you like to learn about creating a practice plan?

Volleyball Serving: Alternate Your Timing

This is a simple trick if a player has a very deliberate and methodical serving routine. After the opponents have seen several serves they relax, expecting the same routine. If the server notices that they are not ready, they can jump the timing by being ready to serve immediately after the whistle.

Volleyball Serving: Alternating Types of Serves

If a player has a variety of serves, they should try to mix it up depending on the situation. While hard and low to the back corner may usually be their go-to weapon, after several of those, they may score an unexpected ace by dropping a high and short shot to the front row. Mix it up by switching between hard and soft, topspin and floater, and selecting different areas on the court.

Players and coaches should also consider the other past serves from their team. It’s unreal how many times I’ve watched coaches signal the same number over and over to their players, one after another. Or I’ll watch one player after another on one team serve topspin hard and low, to the back line. Any time we’re predictable, whether as a player or as a team, we’re giving the other team the advantage of anticipation.

To learn more about how to master the 4 different types of serves in volleyball, check out this post.

Volleyball Defensive Strategies

When you begin to consider volleyball strategy, nearly everyone jumps to thinking about the offense, but building a strong defense can carry your team much further sometimes. While offenses may run hot and cold when 1 or 2 players have a good game or bad, a solid defense is a foundation that relies on everyone to do their job.

Volleyball defense is what players on one team do to prevent the other team from scoring. This includes reading their offense, anticipating their attack, blocking, digging, diving, and reacting.

Unlike most sports, the transition between offense and defense is very quick in volleyball, and not noticeable to the average spectator, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. Coaches and players should definitely be intentional about training to defend well as a team.

Reading Your Opponents’ Attack

Defense really begins as soon as your opponents begin to play the ball. Watching as their play unfolds, your team should be alert to what they are attempting to do with their attack and the adjustments they make as the play goes on.

Good defenders are watching throughout the play in case the ball comes back early, after just 1 or 2 touches. They are alert to a bad pass, because the second touch becomes unpredictable. They are watching the setter’s movement to indicate which hitter they are most likely to set. They watch the middle hitter early in the play, to see if they are loading up for a quick hit.

As the hitter(s) begin to approach, defenders should be lining up, and watching the path of their trajectory. Blockers will be attempting to intersect the path of the ball as the hitter is driving it across the plane of the net, so they need to be timing their jump by watching the hitter’s launch. Defenders should be watching the hitter’s hitting shoulder to anticipate where the ball will be sent.

Adjusting Your Position to Defend

Blockers will be close to the net, shifting their movement to prevent the attack while the opponent is setting up to hit. Their correct position must be reached before the hitter makes contact with the ball. Blockers are attempting to interfere with the flight of the ball before or as the ball is crossing the plane of the net.

Would you like to become a blocking maniac? Check out Six Steps To Dominate In Volleyball With Incredible Blocking

Midcourt players may be positioned to cover the area beside or behind the blockers to dig tips or react to deflections.

Backcourt players should be on the balls of their feet, in a ready position, with their body leaning forward, arms out, and ready to play the ball with their platform if it’s low, or with their overand dig or volley if it is high.

All players should be ready to react and adjust throughout the play, not stuck to a spot on the court, but ready to line up in the path of the ball as quickly as possible as the line of attack becomes clear.

At the higher levels of play, there are 2 massive challenges that become a huge part of defending:

Blocking the ball into their court. In the earlier years and lower levels of volleyball, players and coaches are just trying to block the ball in any way possible. Eventually the attackers will get very good at intentionally driving the ball off of your blocks and out of bounds, which of course scores them a point.

Digging the ball under control. As hitters develop more power and control, defenders have to develop the ability to control that hard-driven ball and take the power out of it.

In the early years of volleyball, defenders need to be taught NOT to swing as they use their platform to dig the ball, but later on that won’t be enough. More advanced players learn to let the spike “break” their platform, letting their arms give way as the ball makes contact to reduce how much the ball rebounds.

Proper Defensive Spacing

There’s a tendency for midcourt and backcourt players to congregate near the center of the court. It is much more effective to assign positions closer to the sidelines and endline and let players cover the lines first and move toward the line of attack. This helps players focus on a specific area, but then work together to cover the middle.

A second benfit is that if the player is moving toward the center of the court, that makes it easier to bring the dig under control and keep it within the space of the court, than if they are shifting their body toward the boundary lines as they play the ball.

Volleyball Offensive Strategies

In volleyball, every rally results in a point, so you may think that every rally is won by the offense. The truth is many of the points scored by a team will be from mistakes or infractions of the other team and don’t really count as offense.

Offense in volleyball refers to the purposeful actions that one team takes to score a point on the other team. This is usually done be creating a play through multiple touches that purposely send the ball to land on the opponents’ side of the court.

Strong volleyball offense doesn’t happen by accident. Successful coaches and teams spend a considerable amount of time training to implement specific plays and strategies that they believe will results in their team scoring.

The basic plan is to always pass, set and kill the ball, but don’t get stuck into the same routine. With all of the possibilities available, coaches should be training their players to mix up their play enough to keep defenders guessing.

Setters can alternate between setting outside, setting middle, back-setting the right side, and even setting the back row. They should mix in a quick set from time to time, they can really be effective at catching the blockers off-guard. If you have a strong middle, get comfortable running a slide, this gives the defense even more to handle. Finally, I love to see the setter dump to catch a defense that’s not on point – any pass that’s a little too high and tight to the net is a good opportunity for it!

Hitters should become comfortable taking different shots. Not only in direction, whether they are hitting “line” (the sideline), or “cross” (into the middle of the court), but also with different types of hits. Do your hitters know how and when to hit a roll shot, a cut shot, or a tip? How about a power tip or a deep tip?

Volleyball Lineup Strategies

When you’re considering your lineup there’s more than you may think that really comes into play. Coaches submit a new lineup for each and every set, which allows for adjustments to your lineup strategy throughout a match.

Here are some lineup concepts to consider:

Serving Lineup

One of the considerations is that you want to give your strongest servers the most opportunities to serve and your weakest servers the least opportunity for damage. Many coaches simply choose their strongest server and make them the serve first every time, but I would look at the lineup overall. If you have a group of 2 or 3 strong servers in a row, I would consider getting them all in the beginning of the set, even if the best server is somewhere else in the list.

Lineup Balance

You want to create balance in your lineup to keep from having a very weak rotation. These create the possibility that you get “stuck” in a rotation and give up a ton of points. This means making sure that you always have one of your strongest hitters on the front line and if you’re using more than one setter, that your weaker setter has the best hitters to work with.

Lineup Size

This concept has to do with the front row players. If you have a strong, and dominant blocker, you would like to maximize the amount of time they spend at the net. If you have smaller players – like a setter that’s playing all the way around, or a smaller outside hitter, you would rather they spend the least amount of time on the front row as possible. So when “hiding” a smaller player, you may want to start them out in position 1. When “featuring” a big blocker, you would start them out in position 4.

Lineup Match-Ups

You may from time to time have a particular match-up that you want to create or avoid. Maybe they have a dominant server and you need to adjust so that they don’t line up against your weaker serve receivers. Maybe they have a powerful outside hitter and you want to adjust so that your best blockers can shut them down. Unless you have recent history with your opponent, these tend to be adjustments that you make from one set to another based on how things have played out so far in the match.

Volleyball Stacking Strategies

“Stacking” in volleyball, refers to shifting your players around prior to the serve to position them strategically. Players must still adhere to the rules of being in front or behind, or to the left or right of players that are occupying the zone next to them.

The main objective when you are forming your stacking plan, is to get your key players as close to their attack positions as possible, within the rotational rules, while still properly covering the service defensively if your team is receiving. Depending on your players and their strengths and weaknesses, some coaches prioritize the middle blocker or the setter and they arrange the players around them.

The middle hitter is a common choice because they are statistically the most frequent first player that needs to engage defensively on the play after the serve – this is particularly relevant when your team is serving. When you’re receiving, the setter may be a higher priority to anchor your stacking, so that they are as close to their usual setting position as possible, reducing the distance to travel to play a good pass.

Learning about stacking and rotations can be difficult to grasp. If you still have questions after reviewing this post, this previous post describes all the different parts of rotation AND stacking in volleyball.

Volleyball Rotation Strategies

Coaches need to scheme their strategies around the players that they have available to them. While coaches may have a preference, they may need to be flexible and adapt their rotation preference from year to year based on the characteristics of their players.

5 1 Volleyball Rotation

The 5 1 volleyball rotation is simply the strategy that you will have 1 designated setter on the court at all times, leaving 5 potential attackers.

If you have a very strong setter, your setter may play all the way around the court and be the constant leader through which the offense flows. If your setter struggles to play the front row, many coaches choose to substitute the setters and the opposite (right side) hitters out so that the setters are always working their way across the back row.

Advantages With a 5 1 Rotation

1. Create consistency throughout your offense. We’ve all seen teams that thrive while 1 setter is hot, but then as the next setter takes over, the offense dies. Using your best setter wherever they are on the court may provide a consistent flow to your offense.
2. Capitalize on your best leader. Often, the setter is your main leader on the court because the entire offense flows through their hands. If you have a setter that is an exceptional leader, having them run the offense the entire time can be such an advantage.

Disadvantages With a 5 1 Rotation

1. Offensive weapons are limited while the setter is on the front row. Front row players cannot attack, so that means during 3 out of the 6 rotations on the court, your setter only has 2 front row hitters to work with. They can still set the back court, but until you’re in the higher levels of the sport, players are usually not very effective at attacking from the back row.
2. Opponents will get used to your setter. As you play your match, the opposition will learn how your setter plays, their tendencies and preferences. This will help them be able to anticipate and possibly better defend your attacks. Knowing this, coaches may need to spend considerable effort to vary the offense and teach their setter a broader variety of tactics.
3. Opponents will target your setter. With a single setter on the court, teams know that if they can serve or hit to the setter, they force them to take the first touch, then the setter cannot perform their primary role. This is where having 2 setters on the court at all times can pay off.

4 2 Volleyball Rotation

The 4 2 volleyball rotation is not as common anymore. This would be having 2 setters playing opposite one another on the court at all times. Unless a team is very shorthanded, coaches usually use substitutions to optimize their offense for more attacking by swapping the front row setter for a hitter.

6 2 Volleyball Rotation

This has become what most coaches consider the ideal scheme in volleyball. If you have 2 setters that can both hit and block effectively, you have the best of both worlds.

Advantages With a 6 2 Rotation

1. The back row setter can always have just as many offensive weapons as if they were running a 5 1 rotation. You have the maximum amount of potential hitters (and blockers) at all times.
2. Prevents opponents from targeting the setter. It’s not very effective to target the setter when there’s another very proficient setter on the court.

Disadvantages With a 6 2 Rotation

1. It requires setters who are very strong in every area of the game. In today’s world of specialization, it can be difficult to find setters who are also effective at hitting and blocking.
2. Offense can struggle with consistency. In some cases, it can be difficult for the setters and hitters to adjust continually back and forth because setters have a relationship with their hitters. Especially early in the season, this can be a challenge.