Non-Setter Setting
This week we’re discussing Transition play. Transition is the third point of The Triangle, along with Terminal Serving and First Ball. It’s an area of the game that I find can swing between wildly over-trained or wildly under-trained depending on the team or the coaching philosophy of that program. Last week, we talked about how “players wear their coach’s attention,” and that seems to be the case for Transition more than some other areas of the game.
Next week is Beach Week at Smarter Volley. Each month I dedicate the first 3 weeks of the month to indoor volleyball and the fourth to beach. I’m hosting the fantastic Betsi Flint for a Q&A on Thursday, Dec 30, 1pm Eastern Time. We’ll be talking Terminal Serving on the beach. We’ll talk some passing, but when you have a chance to ask the only player in recorded AVP history to average over 1 ace per set1 about serving, you do it. This Q&A will only be available for premium subscribers, so join up!
Some programs really value Transition play. They pride themselves on being scrappy, keeping balls alive, and making smart shots as Transition attackers. The downside is that sometimes these teams focus too much on that area and they under-train serving and passing. Their in-system offense also might not be as good as a team that doesn’t spend as much training time in Transition. On the flip side, some programs really like to be precise with their in-system offense and aren’t as good when both teams are scrambling and the rallies get ugly.
It’s also worth noting that Transition isn’t just about digging and attacking, there’s a big blocking element as well. Hitters make more mistakes in Transition, so blockers have more opportunity to punish a mistake with a big stuff block.
Getting the amount of training “just right” in each aspect of the game is the whole point of using The Triangle. So let’s assume that you’re going to know how much time you need to devote to Transition. The next question is what you’re going to get good at.
Non-Setter Setting
Regardless of level, one thing is clear: setters are a bigger part of the First Ball offense and a lesser part of Transition offense. At any level, the primary setter is still going to set the majority of balls in Transition. But the proportion of balls that are set by somebody other than the setter increases significantly in Transition. At the NCAA level, under 10% of First Ball attacks are set by a non-setter, but about 25% of Transition balls are set by a non-setter. Being good on these balls can make or break Transition offense and your ability to win this phase of the game.
Who Sets?
When I first started playing and coaching, teams didn’t use their libero as the second setter. Let me be more specific: when I first started playing and coaching: there wasn’t even a libero to be the second setter! Since the libero was created, more and more teams have adopted a system in which the libero is the preferred second setter.
There’s some really good reasons behind this: a libero is on the court specifically for her ball control, it makes sense that she’s going to take care of the second ball. Moreover, since the libero is “always” (not quite as much as you think, actually, more on this another time) on the court, there’s more continuity to a system where the libero is designated as the second setter, rather than relying on a possibly-changing group of other backrow players. This is especially the case in American high school or juniors volleyball, which employs more subs than International volleyball.
A final reason is that opposites have gotten better, especially in international women’s volleyball. A libero setting crosscourt to a dominant opposite is a really nice option when your setter digs the ball.
However, coaches, especially of younger teams, should understand the why and not just emulate high level teams. The libero might be a good setter, but she might not be. For some high school teams, a front-row opposite might be a better option if she is a good ball control player- or even a setter herself, playing front-row in a 6-2 system.
Hand-Setting vs Bump-Setting
Related to this debate is the difference between attacker success from a hand-set or a bump-set. Hitters hit for a significantly higher efficiency2 when they are hand-set than when they are bump-set. It’s reasonable to expect a strong libero to be a good hand-setter. Many are. And many liberos have the mentality and work ethic to get good at it pretty quickly. But make sure they are! Every now and then you’ll have a libero who isn’t comfortable using her hands. Sometimes this can be a physical limitation; a 5’-tall libero with small hands might struggle to set in a way that a 5’10” back-row outside might not.
Regardless, when training your non-setter setting, prioritize the ability for everybody to set with their hands. Train this every day. And if you have a libero that wants to take the second ball and she isn’t comfortable hand-setting, devote extra time to it.
Digging In Front Of The Attack Line
Even if you prefer your libero to hand-set the ball, she can’t do that if you dig in front of the attack line. You might train her to be comfortable setting as she steps across…
but that’s only a small piece of the puzzle. The two main solutions here are: (1) dig behind the attack line and (2) be effective when the ball is dug closer to the net than you hoped.
#1 is self-explanatory. If players aim behind the attack line, they make it easier for a libero to step in from the back-court and set the ball. Since she’s likely standing 15-20’ back from the net as the ball was dug by your setter, there isn’t much difference between her setting from 11’ and her setting from 14’. It’s a similar entry angle for her and a similar distance to the hitter. So get your setters to dig off!
Next, have a plan for those digs that go in front of the attack line. The first step is for your libero to just step there and bump-set the ball. We’d rather hand-set, but we can still be effective attacking a well-placed bump-set. However, as digs get closer and closer to the net, it becomes harder and harder for the libero to run into the front-court, stop her momentum, and set the ball to a pin attacker. So you’ll need to (1) train that play, (2) have the ability for a front-row player, especially a middle, to step in and set, and (3) have your front-row players, especially middles, know when the dig is so tight that they need to stop, get to the net, and play a little Jamball on the second ball.
Training It
Transition gets messy, particularly when your setter isn’t there to sort out the second ball. The first step is to get comfortable when your setter digs in a controlled fashion. For many teams, even high-school teams, this can become a routine play. Many teams, even good ones, give the opposing setter easy digs because they are trained to shoot the ball to deep zone-1 when the hitter is out-of-rhythm. This will work if you can’t transition out of those plays effectively. But you can punish these teams by having your setters dig controlled balls to the center of the court and attack effectively out of those situations.
But once you get good there, you need to spend time in tougher situations. Maybe your setter doesn’t dig so well. Maybe somebody else digs the ball, but it’s too far from the setter and somebody else needs to step in and set. Maybe it’s a tweener ball that your setter and back-court need to communicate on, or else the ball will land! The only cure for this is reps and feedback, but just getting into these situations allows you to start teaching.
So if you need to get better in Transition, make sure that you aren’t just having your setter be the only Transition setter.
They have only made these statistics publicly available for 3 seasons. :)
I studied this pretty extensively when I was with USA WNT. You have to adjust for quality of dig (better digs tend to be hand-set more), but it seems that hand-setting a ball is worth close to 0.100 extra points in efficiency.