overhand serve receive

[brybry2]

Why don't we see more women serve receive overhand off the float serves? I know many of them might not be incredibly strong in the wrists, but I would figured there would be some out there. In her senior year at USC, I remember Alicia Robinson took a lot of balls overhand (but she wasn't a very strong passer). It might be a worthwhile technique to teach. For those w/ strong wrists, it's harder to biff a pass taking it overhand.
Are there any these serve receive players out there? I thought Jordan Larson was supposed to be another one.

[jag]

Jordan is another one - and is VERY good at it.

[adrimich]

I think this is a very interesting topic within the techniques of playing volleyball. I personally as a player have battled with over hand passing, seeing it as unnecessary, but as a mediocre passer I have resorted to such technique. It is a much easier way to pass a float serve, however if you watch high level volleyball, like international, those players rarely used their hands, and those that do are usually the liberos. I think that if you can pass at a high level it is not necessary to pass overhand. However many people just aren't good forearm passers and would rather use their hands to pass the float serves.

Plus many coaches that have been coaching for quite a few years, probably don't prefer to teach that method as it used to be illegal to serve recieve overhand. For nearly the entire lifetime of the sport it wasn't done, and people seem to have got along fine not doing it. I guess if you train passers well enough then its not necessary. But as an easy way out it can be seen as a good option.

[Gorf]

One of the reasons for receiving serves overhand is that it in effect shrinks the amount of the court that needs to be covered because of the higher contact point with the ball. It allows players position themselves further from the endline to take the "high" serves overhanded as well as having less court in front of themselves to cover for short / shallow serves.

Recieving serve overhanded also has a tendency to allow for more control of the ball - in a manner similar to setting. You don't see many setters using a forearm pass to set the ball unless they have to take the ball from an awkward (commonly low) positon.


I'm not sure why some players would prefer taking foat serves with a forearm pass (unless it was low) when float servers typically have appreciably less velocity than jump serves.

Float serves are generally more unpredictable than jump serves and therefore might result in more double contacts, however, double contacts are not faults on the team's first attempt to play the ball.

[baywatcher]

Every time I see a team have success with intentionally short serves I wonder why the coach just doesn't have the front line middle and or opposite just stand in place, then step to the short ball and overhand pass to get a very fast offense started. I realize that, in theory, the old W defense leaves players getting in each others way, but I think the front row players could be taught to recognize and react to the short serves, otherwwise clear out, which is the theory of the W. At the junior level overhand passing results in a lot of flubbed passes, going backwards. The girls have trouble deciding quickly which way to go. If the back row moves up far enough to initiate an overhead pass they are vulnerable to a flat, hard serve headed for the back line.