"Life is about the management of risk."
Be a thinker - a volleyball machine that is a fighter. The one area that falls fully under team control is serving. And each serve comes with a balance between reward (the possibility of an ace or hard to return serve) and risk (service error or 'easy to return' serve).
The server chooses among:
- Pace (velocity)
- Spin (topspin, sidespin, no spin)
- Direction (zone, seams)
- Depth (e.g. short or deep)
- Receiver
What are viable options and why? Think first, then read on.
Think about a Stable of S's. And remember that "setting is your first attack."
Sideline
Mark Twain is credited with saying, "there are three kinds of lies - lies, damned lies, and statistics." Imagine that serving between the receiver and the sideline has the highest chance of scoring. It probably has the highest chance of going out of bounds, too.
Seams (between zone 1-6 or 5-6)
Serving to seams can create confusion among receivers. Is it mine or is it hers? Better teams communicate (ELO - early, loud, often) and don't get confused. Under pressure or noise, receivers may make errors).
Short
Short serves barely "clear the tape," seeking sanctuary near or inside the ten-foot line. This can happen with short serves (e.g. Brooke Bell) or high topspin (Karen Sen). This stresses the back row defender to make a play on the ball or a credible pass. The risk is service error failing to clear the net. I'll argue that in a "gotta have it" point, the risk dominates.
Softee
Ms. Softee is the weakest receiver. 2500 year-old advice comes from General Sun Tzu, "Utilize strengths. Attack weaknesses. Attacking the "weak sister" defender is just smart.
Setter
Attacking the setter creates "out of system" play...pass-set-hit...becomes setter-secondary-attacker.
Lagniappe. Sport is symmetry. If we attack weaknesses, defenses seek to bolster them.
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