bassethoundag said:

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I wonder if they could factor in how far the passer had to move, like how far soccer players have run, though just on that initial play. Probably such a small distance it wouldn't be useful.

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Jamie keeps advanced analytics (far beyond what is reported to the NCAA) and I bet he has a stat that provides him with that information plus how close the first touch pass is to the setter triangle.

insulator_king said:

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I was most impressed by the foot save dig!

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Haha, you saw that? Yes, that was impressive.

tldr: passes get rated based on how well the setter can then run the full offense or not off the passer's serve-receive pass to the setter; 2.50 (on a scale of 0-3) is very good or elite; rally passes don't factor into this rating, only serve-receive passes; digs cover rally passing

I assumed the passer rating previously discussed included the accuracy of the pass to the setter and the triangle you reference, so went and looked at what the interweb had to say. There's probably some discretion (as in baseball when a scorer rules a hit or error in a biased way), but the descriptions below seem reasonable to me.

A volleyball passer rating (or passing average) is calculated by assigning a point value to each serve-receive pass based on its quality, adding up the total points, and dividing by the total number of reception attempts.

The 3-Point Passing Scale Formula

passing avg = (3 x perfect passes) + (2 x medium/good passes) + (1 x poor passes) / total pass attempts

Point Values (3-Scale)

• 3 Points (Perfect): A precise pass right to the setter, allowing the team to run a full, fast offense.
• 2 Points (Medium/OK): A decent pass that gets high in the air, allowing the setter to run an offense, but usually out-of-system.
• 1 Point (Poor): A bad pass or shank that severely limits the offense and keeps the team scrambling.
• 0 Points (Error): An ace allowed, a direct passing error, or an overpass.

What is a Good Passer Rating?

• 2.50+: Elite, consistent collegiate/international level.
• 2.10 2.40: Solid varsity or college starter.
• Under 2.00: Struggling to keep the team in-system consistently.

Only serve-receive passes are included in the standard rating?

Yes, standard passer ratings strictly include serve-receive.
In competitive and collegiate volleyball analytics, a pass during a live rally is called a dig or a free-ball pass, rather than a reception pass. Once the serve is completed and a live rally is ongoing, no additional passes are counted toward the traditional "passer rating."

The distinction matters because of how coaches evaluate different phases of the game:

Why Rally Passes are Excluded

• Serve-Receive (Passing): This evaluates a player's ability to handle an aggressive, un-deflected ball from a stationary server. It dictates a team's in-system offense percentage.
• Live Rallies (Digging/Free Balls): Live rally passes are categorized under defense. If a player successfully passes a hard-driven attack from an opponent, it is recorded as a dig, not a pass.
  
  

How Coaches Track Live Rally Passes
While they don't count toward the official "passer rating," advanced coaching staffs do grade live rally passes using the exact same 0-to-3 scale to see how well the team transitions into an attack. They group these metrics separately:

• Free Ball Passing Average: Tracked specifically when the opponent struggles and gently hits or loops an easy ball over the net. (Coaches expect a near-perfect 2.80+ average on these).
• Dig Quality: Tracked on defense to measure how many digs stay on the court or go perfectly to the setter.

What is dig efficiency?

Dig efficiency measures a defender's net impact on the court by factoring in both successful digs and defensive errors.

While a basic "dig count" only tells you how many balls a player kept alive, dig efficiency tells you how reliable they are. It subtracts a player's mistakes from their successes and divides that by their total defensive opportunities.

dig efficiency = digs - dig errors / total defensive attempts

To calculate this accurately, you need to understand what counts as a defensive attempt:

• Digs: Successfully passing a hard-driven, tipped, or blocked attack from the opponent, keeping the ball alive on your side.
• Dig Errors: Missing a ball that completely hits the floor in your defensive zone, or shanking a ball so badly that your teammates cannot make a second contact.
• Covered/Continued Plays: Balls that a defender touches but doesn't cleanly dig, which are still kept alive by a teammate.

Dig Efficiency vs. Dig Quality

Coaches look at two different things when evaluating a defender:

• Dig Efficiency (The "Did It Stay Up?" Metric): This is the formula above. It tells a coach if the defender is a net positive or net negative on the floor. Anything above .500 (50%) is generally considered good, and elite defenders hover around .650 to .700.
• Dig Quality (The "How Good Was It?" Metric): Similar to the 0-to-3 passing scale, coaches will grade clean digs. A "3-dig" goes right to the setter's hands, allowing a fast counter-attack. A "1-dig" goes high into the middle of the court, forcing a high, slow out-of-system set.

Example Calculation

If a libero has the following stats in a match:

• 15 clean digs
• 3 dig errors (balls dropped or completely shanked)
• 2 touches that teammates chased down and saved
• Total Attempts: 15 + 3 + 2 = 20 defensive attempts
• Net Digs: 15 (digs) - 3 (errors) = 12
• Dig Efficiency: 12 \ 20 = 60%

At the maroon club event, someone asked Jamie about using AI on video of matches to scout/grade.

1) he said they will probably need to bring someone in to train them on AI video stuff, suggesting that they have already played around with it.

2) he mentioned the service they use (and everyone else) to get video, stats, etc. said they use a combination of machine and human. Said the machine is pretty good at getting who the players that contact the ball, but that the humans mostly correct the quality.

You explanation of passing grading is interesting and helpful to understand what Jamie means by "medium pass"

Towards the end of my daughters' club days, automated stats gathering with AI on videos uploaded to services was getting to be the rage. Schools and club teams just needed someone to video and upload. After a few minutes, every player stats are displayed. Highlight videos automatically created as well. It wasn't perfect back then especially if two girls looked similar from the back or the jersey number wasn't clear so manual adjustments were needed.

It removes the tedious work but it's just numbers unless you actually watch what happened.

It makes sense that a pass that allows the setter all the options in the offense is better, I'd be interested in seeing film and hearing explanations by a coach describing how they'd grade the pass. I'd been thinking of this more from the passer's perspective (how much they have to move, speed of the serve, etc.). It sounds like (and makes more sense) it's all about the result of the passing effort. Not recommended, but I guess if you bounce one off your face and it goes in the right place to run the offense it gets a '3'.

I typically hear 2 explanations for grading a pass. The one I don't think is correct is how many steps a setter has to take from the ideal spot. 0-1 step is a 3. 2-3 steps is a 2. 4+ is a 1. A shank/ace is a 0.

I think the more common method is how many choices a setter has in set location. Perfect 3 pass the setter can set all three (outside, middle, right side) which keeps the other team guessing. A 2 pass usually means the pass draws the setter off the net which eliminates the middle as a target. A 1 pass forces the setter to only have one option which is usually the outside.

Makes sense; the more options available to the setter, the better the grade. It sort of works out the setter won't have to move much for a really good pass as opposed a not-so-good pass.