I attended my first volleyball match yesterday at Reed. I've been watching our team on TV since their run last year. I'll admit the rotation/substitution/libero thing is still a mystery to me. I thought that seeing a match in person instead of on TV so I could see the whole court would help, but I can't really say it did.

I have a few questions I would like to ask one at a time (baby steps). Here's my first:

Early in the 3rd set Morris made a perfect kill shot. Then she trotted off the court for the next point, then came back in. What was happening there?

She subbed out for I think Lacewell to serve in her spot of the rotation, then came back in once Miss St was serving again.

If you haven't seen it this is a really good intro Kay put together covering a lot of basics and using Aggie players as examples:
https://texags.com/s/79247/the-set-class-is-in-session-with-volleyball-101

Oh thank you for that answer, and the video link. I watched it from start to end. Some of it was kind of over my head, no way can I explain what I heard about a 5-1 vs a 6-2 offense.

It did address one of my questions, but still not sure about something. I think I understand that for a back player to attack (I guess that means to hit the ball over the net?) they must "launch" from behind the line. Does that mean they must start their leap behind the line and hit the ball before their feet touch the court?

I plan to keep learning, starting Wed. night. Volleyball's fast pace makes it fun to watch, but for me, kind of hard to digest what you see in one point before the next one starts.

Correct - if in the back row player can't hit the ball over the net unless they left the ground from behind the line.

KLB93 said:

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Correct - if in the back row player can't hit the ball over the net unless they left the ground from behind the line.

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for my clarification, the back row player can't hit the ball over the net or they can't attack the ball above the net unless they left the ground from behind the 3-meter line (10-foot for us 'mericans)?

So then the definition of attacking is to hit the ball over the net by striking it above the net - ??

In the diagrams I see explaining the positions and zones I see an outside hitter in zone 4 so this seems like a pretty big drawback for that player. I guess she would have to have pretty good defensive skills too?

Which brings up a question about the video posted above. She said that Kyndal never comes out of rotation because she's an elite passer. Is that unusual? Even with my limited knowledge it was pretty easy to tell who the best player on the court was Sunday. Did Logan play in the back row when she was here?

unsure what you mean with your first question.

But as for Kyndal being a 6-rotation player, it's not rare for a player to do that. In fact, you kind of have to have 1 or 2 players who can do that or you will run out of substitutions. That player will usually be good on defense as well as a threat to hit from the back row.

The ones who aren't as good on defense or passing will be "hidden" during serve receive. That mean they stand (they still have to be in rotation) where they can't be a target on serve receive. Lednicky did play all-around as she is a big hitting threat but never received a serve. I would say her defense isn't elite though it got better through the years.

Stowers is elite on offense and good on defense so she does serve receive. She is often a target though because you generally target the weakest passers which are not the liberos and defensive specialists.

It seems to me Jamie doesn't like to substitute much either (he coached internationally) and wants players to be well-rounded. In our current team, Stowers and Fitch (when she is starting) play all around and both serve receives. Ring and Morris also spends time in the back row but mainly for their attacking.

OK, thanks, that helps. Maybe I didn't word my first question as well as I could have, it was really a follow up to the post above mine. Question is, can a player in the back row ever hit the ball over the net if she is standing in front of the line.

you just can't jump which means it's just a roll shot

Stowers was our best passer last season...Applegate number 2

Stowers and Applegate have had moments where they have been targeted more so than usual...likely due to a poorer performance than usual or more importantly they are not serving Gabi so they have to go after someone else

Last year they targeted Hellmuth if in front row or Underwood...not options this year

We'll see if they start targeting Gabi due to poor passing performance this past week, but I have faith that she will be back to form this week!

God do I hope they target her....we will have some quick matches!

McInnis said:

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OK, thanks, that helps. Maybe I didn't word my first question as well as I could have, it was really a follow up to the post above mine. Question is, can a player in the back row ever hit the ball over the net if she is standing in front of the line.

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As long as the ball is partially below the plane of the net anyone can send the ball over. Certain restrictions exist if ball is above the plane of net completely

Yup. A type of setter dump is when setter in the back row jump sets but instead of setting the ball, she will two hand set it over the net just before she lands on the ground. It's a tricky play and sometimes refs will call it a back row attack assuming a tall setter with arms up is above the tape. The Nebraska setter was called on it recently.

My daughter who is short loved to do this and refs will randomly call it a violation and us parents are like, no way is that ball above the tape with a short setter.

I meant to clarify that a player in the back row can be in front of the 3-meter line and hit the ball over the net unless she does so AND contacts the ball while it's above the plane of the net. I'm sure someone knows the history, I assume it's to prevent teams from always having the same players camp at the net and spike, no matter where they started when the ball was served.