This is a series about volleyball written from the different perspective of each position on the court. I’ll write about setters, middles, left side hitters, right side hitters, liberos and coaches. We’ll discuss how they approach the match, what they practice and their role on the court.
When I start to teach anyone about volleyball and we get to the setter position, I normally start with a quarterback analogy. The setter, in volleyball, touches the ball on every play (the second contact) and chooses which of the offensive options she will set. This follows nicely with the quarterback comparison who receives the snap (second contact), then chooses which offensive player to throw or hand off to, based on what the defense is doing.