Setting

Setting can be harder to get the hang of, but in the end it gives you more control. You can either use setting as a pass or to send the ball to the hitter.

First, put your feet shoulder width and raise your arms over your head. Now, imagine you are chugging a 2-liter of pop and holding it with your pointer fingers and thumbs. Those fingers should be in a triangle or diamond shape.

When the ball is set, you want the ball to only touch the padding of your fingers, so if you have weak fingers, you’ll want to make sure you don’t take any hard balls. When the ball comes to you, have the ball rest on your fingers for a split second, bend your arms and knees, and then push back. Your arms should be extended in the direction you want the ball to fly.

If you are setting to a hitter, you’ll want the ball to be high and in an arc position where the ball lands a little bit to the far side of the hitter. Try to make the ball spin in air as little as possible. Also, make sure to contact the ball as evenly as possible, not having your hands hit it at different times.

In a more advanced scenario, you can do a shoot set, which is an attack set that faces a more downward angle with more force. Speaking of attack, let’s move onto spiking.