Identifying Illegal Back Row Attack, revisited

Scrapper1

A long time ago, when I first started officiating volleyball (in 2008), there was a thread with suggestions for keeping track of your back row because I had no idea what I was doing. I took a lot of crap from one poster in particular, but everybody else in that thread was really helpful. Here's that thread:

https://forum.officiating.com/volleyball/48478-identifying-illegal-back-row-attacks.html

I've gotten a lot better at it by tracking my setter and her/his opposite through all six positions on the court. And by watching this video, I'm able to identify what the receiving team should look like in each rotation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1i98MAEVdE

So my method is to tell myself which rotation each team's setter is in and find the non-libero back row. So I have a lot of self-talk to keep myself aware of the setter and his/her location during each point.

I tell you all this, so that I can tell you this. Yesterday, I worked a match using headsets for the first time. My partner (who was very helpful in helping me achieve my USAV Regional patch) heard my self-talk and after the match, gave me a crash course in the strategy of player positioning in an effort to give me a better framework for keeping track of my back row.

So I now know that

Coaches like their outside hitters to pass (not middles).
An outside hitter almost always follows the setter in the serving order.
Hitters generally want to attack from the left side of their court.
The setter's opposite is often a right-side attacker.

My question now becomes: how does knowing this help me track my back row? If I know that the setter is in Rotation 1 (just as an example) and I recognize the alignment, how does it help me to know that there's a hitter right in front of her?

I think I understand what he was trying to teach me, I just don't see how it helps me during each point.

I hope Felix still checks this forum once in a while, but I would also appreciate any input from people who have played and understand how this can make me better at identifying my back row.

Thanks.

Lcubed48

I love this video. I found it by luck a couple of seasons ago. I review it each year at prior to the beginning of the season in order to get my focus into volleyball mode. It's a great learning aid.

bob jenkins

I don't know that the extra information is needed, but it might help identify or anticipate some overlaps.

For example, in Rotation 2, if the opposite (CF) is a right side, s/he might try to cheat by starting out too close to the sideline -- overlapping with RF or by moving toward the hitting position before the serve is contacted and crossing the setter (CB) or the RF.

In Rotation 4, (setter is LF, middle is CF, hitter is RF; usually all stacked on the left side) the hitter and middle need to switch spots after the serve -- and they might cheat or cross early.

(I hope all that is right -- writing it out confuses me)

I agree on the video.

Scrapper1

Lcubed48 wrote
I love this video.

Bob wrote
I agree on the video.

The unseen voice in that video went to the women's D1 Final Four last season.