Everyone on a volleyball team should know how to set the ball, since every player, regardless of position, will be forced to do so at some point when a play breaks down. At the same time, the main setter or setters need to be outstanding. "The setter is like the quarterback of the volleyball team," says Trudy Vande Berg, the assistant volleyball coach at Duke University. "Without a confident individual in that position, the rest of the team can be negatively affected, because the setter determines who hits and at what tempo."
Technique
The proper technique in volleyball is essential for setting up the hitters on your team. Duke's Vande Berg says your elbows should be slightly bent and pointing out and your hands should be over your head with thumbs near eyebrow level. Cock the wrists so your palms are visible. Your fingers and thumbs should form a triangle. The proper lower body position is to have your knees slightly bent and your feet at shoulder width, with your right foot slightly in front of the left. When you set, keep your hands open in the shape of a ball, keep your thumbs back and let the ball come to you. Keep your lower body balanced without leaning toward either side. Pop the ball out of your hands by extending the elbows and straightening your wrists and fingers. The best setters try to put the same tempo and distance on every set to aid the timing of the hitters.
Setting Proficiency Drill
The Strength and Power for Volleyball website recommends an exercise to develop consistency. One player stands on a box or chair in an area where the ball should be set, with their hands up to the height a hitter would be attacking from. The setter should focus on getting the set to the right spot time after time. By using a stationary target, setters get a good feel for producing the types of sets that hitters love to kill.
Peripheral Vision Exercises
A good setter sees the moves of an opponent's blockers before she sets the ball. There are two good drills to improve the setter's ability to "read" the opposition. In one drill, the coach tosses a ball to the setter from the backcourt. Just before the ball get to the setter, a middle blocker takes a step to the left or right. The setter then sets the ball in the opposite direction from the blocker's movement. The other drill also encourages the setter to watch the defensive formations and movements. With a setter at the net and a coach on the other side of the net, a ball is tossed to the setter. While the ball is in the air, the coach points to the place where the set should go: middle, outside or back. If the tosses to the setter are made quickly, you don't have time to look directly at the coach, so peripheral vision is essential in adjusting to the defense.
Conditioning Drill
In this drill, you are the setter for both teams. The ball is tossed to your team, passed to you to set up for a hitter, and the hitter places a deep shot to the other team. You then quickly move to the other side of the net and act as the setter for the other team. As the drill continues, its tests your fitness and also your concentration in terms of getting into the right setting position quickly.
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