Volleyball plan

Skills

Competitive teams master six basic skills: serve, pass, set, attack, block and dig.^[3] Each of these skills comprises a number of specific techniques that have been introduced over the years and are now considered standard practice in high-level volleyball.

Serve

A player making a jump serve

3D animation floating serve

A player stands behind the inline and serves the ball, in an attempt to drive it into the opponent's court. The main objective is to make it land inside the court; it is also desirable to set the ball's direction, speed and acceleration so that it becomes difficult for the receiver to handle it properly.^[3] A serve is called an "ace" when the ball lands directly onto the court or travels outside the court after being touched by an opponent; when the only player on the server's team to touch the ball is the server.

In contemporary volleyball, many types of serves are employed:

• 
  Underhand: a serve in which the player strikes the ball below the waist instead of tossing it up and striking it with an overhand throwing motion. Underhand serves are considered very easy to receive and are rarely employed in high-level competitions
  

Pass

A player making a forearm pass or bump

Also called reception, the pass is the attempt by a team to properly handle the opponent's serve or any form of attack. Proper handling includes not only preventing the ball from touching the court but also making it reach the position where the setter is standing quickly and precisely.^[3]

The skill of passing involves fundamentally two specific techniques: underarm pass, or bump, where the ball touches the inside part of the joined forearms or platform, at waistline; and overhand pass, where it is handled with the fingertips, like a set, above the head.^[3] Either are acceptable in professional and beach volleyball; however, there are much tighter regulations on the overhand pass in beach volleyball. When a player passes a ball to their setter, it's ideal that the ball does not have a lot of spin to make it easier for the setter.

Set

Jump set

The set is usually the second contact that a team makes with the ball.^[3] The main goal of setting is to put the ball in the air in such a way that it can be driven by an attack into the opponent's court.^[3] The setter coordinates the offensive movements of a team, and is the player who ultimately decides which player will actually attack the ball.

As with passing, one may distinguish between an overhand and a bump set. Since the former allows for more control over the speed and direction of the ball, the bump is used only when the ball is so low it cannot be properly handled with fingertips, or in beach volleyball where rules regulating overhand setting are more stringent. In the case of a set, one also speaks of a front or back set, meaning whether the ball is passed in the direction the setter is facing or behind the setter. There is also a jump set that is used when the ball is too close to the net. In this case, the setter usually jumps off their right foot straight up to avoid going into the net. The setter usually stands about ⅔ of the way from the left to the right of the net and faces the left (the larger portion of net that he or she can see).

Sometimes a setter refrains from raising the ball for a teammate to perform an attack and tries to play it directly onto the opponent's court. This movement is called a "dump".^[34] This can only be performed when the setter is in the front row, otherwise it constitutes an illegal back court attack. The most common dumps are to 'throw' the ball behind the setter or in front of the setter to zones 2 and 4. More experienced setters toss the ball into the deep corners or spike the ball on the second hit.

As with a set or an overhand pass, the setter/passer must be careful to touch the ball with both hands at the same time.^[3] If one hand is noticeably late to touch the ball this could result in a less effective set, as well as the referee calling a 'double hit' and giving the point to the opposing team.

Attack