Volleyball is a difficult sport to track because of its fast pace and variety of statistical categories. Even a simple dig has the potential to become a complex play that may need recording in multiple categories for multiple players. A player's hitting percentage is calculated by subtracting the player's total errors from her total kills, and dividing the difference by total attempts. Total attempts are the sum of a player's kills, attack errors and zero attacks.
Attack Attempts
A player is credited with an attack attempt whenever she tries to score. Obvious attack attempts include overhead spikes, tips and dumps. All actions that send the ball over the net or cause an opponent to touch the ball may be an attack attempt, other than serves and blocks, which are tracked separately. Intent is key. Passing the ball over the net simply to keep the ball alive isn't an attack attempt -- unless a point is scored. A sprawling back-row dig that crosses the net and lands on an opponent's court is an attack attempt because it results in a point. Attack attempts result in kills, attack errors and "zero attacks," when the ball is kept in play.
Kills
A player records a kill and scores a point for her team when the opposition is unable to keep the ball in play directly due to her attack attempt. The opposing team may fail to keep the ball in play because it misses a dig or shanks a pass, blocks the ball into the net or out of bounds, commits a centerline violation or is called for illegal contact with the ball.
Attack Errors and Zero Attacks
Players receive attack errors when an opposing team scores points as a direct result of their attack attempts. Hits may be blocked, fall outside court boundaries or hit the net. Players who receive centerline violations, antenna faults or illegal contact rulings collect attack errors as well. Whether a player begins the sequence with an attack attempt or not, if she receives an attempt error, she collects an attack attempt, too. Zero attacks are awarded to players whose attack attempts are kept in play by the opposition.
Hitting Percentage
After you total up your team's match statistics, calculate total attempts by adding a player's kills, attack errors and zero attacks. To figure hitting percentage, subtract her total errors from total kills, and divide the difference by total attempts. It's possible for a player to have a negative hitting percentage if she has more errors than kills. If your daughter made 20 kills in a match, had five errors and a sum of 60 total attacks, plugging her numbers into the formula gives her a 0.250 hitting percentage. University of Texas volleyball standout Rachael Adams was the 2010 NCAA Division I hitting percentage leader with 0. 443. The 50th-ranked player, Michelle Burow of the University of Northern Iowa, had a 0.352 hitting percentage.
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