Congrats, Scrappy! You're doing better than I am.
Since I had tonight off, I went to a nearby HS V match. I spent the entire match focusing on recognizing the setter and her opposite on both teams. Obviously it's easier if you've got nothing else to do, but...
I was able to spot the teams' setters during the timed warmup. I picked up the opposites during the U's lineup check. And on nearly every rally I was able to find the setter, and check whether her opposite was really opposite before the serve.
I figured out the home team was running a 5-1, and I was able to track whether the setter was front row or back.
I noticed the visitors were running a 6-2 with a slight variation. One setter would be subbed out for a hitter when she rotated to the front row. But rather than subbing back when the hitter rotated to the RB, the hitter would serve and the setter would sub back after the LOR. I guess the hitter is a better server. So, with the exception of when the hitter/sub was serving, the setter was always back row.
Near the end of the match, they threw in some interesting stuff to mix it up and I got kinda confuzzled again. But, at least I (eventually) realized that when the home team subbed out their setter, the opposite became the new setter, still in a 5-1.
Now neither team did anything too wild and crazy with alignment. And I couldn't tell you if they ever got out of service order, or if the other four were ever out of alignment. But it felt good to at least be able to get that much. Hopefully I'll be able to do as much for my next match.