SERVICE ERRORS

[VballDaddy78]

I started this post because it came up on another post and I thought it should get its own discussion.

 

Now, hitting serves into the net or out of bounds "generally" sounds like a bad thing and by all means everyone would always like to get their serves in but............................

 

if you have a coach who believes in aggressive serving, then some of the serves into the net or out of bounds comes with the territory. If you are using the serve more as a weapon, then service errors are part of the game and shouldn't be "condemned" quite so easily. I'm not neccesarily saying that hitting 4 or 5 serves in a row, into the net or out of bounds is a good thing but missed serves may not always be as "bad" as some think.

 

Personally, I believe in aggressive serving, which includes some missed serves but with the caveat that there are certain times you really need to be sure to get the serve in. I am not saying just go wild and see how hard you can hit it or jump serve even though you really can't jump serve. An aggressive serve can be one that you try to barely hit over the net, too.

[spikemom]

It's just my opinion---I consider my daughter a great and constistant server who averages several aces per game. When she began playing, she put as much power as she could behind every serve, now, it's not always about power. There are different types of serves and thankfully, she does great at all of them, but even she misses a serve every now and then (they are after all only high school kids). Service errors are a part of the game, and if a player consistantly serves well and only occassionly misses a serve, we (coaches, parents and team mates alike) should be understanding. When a player misses more on the average than they get over and in, as a coach, I would be looking at a sub. Players kill themselves to get a point/ or the serve and then when they just go to the line and wham it out or in the net, it is very aggravating (especially in rally point where every error you make counts for the other team). I feel you have to look at overall service performance but serving well is just as important as a great kill.

[whosaftervic]

Missed serves are always bad. That's why they're called errors. Back before rally scoring, they weren't such a big deal (you could just side out and no points for anyone.) But now it's a free point for the opposition.

 

A well placed, medium difficulty serve to a weak passer is much more effective then a hard serve to a good passer.

 

The only time a team should be highly aggressive as a team behind the service line is if the coach feels they can't block or dig their opponent's serve receive and they need to make something happen.

 

IMHO of course.

[VballDaddy78]

Missed serves are always bad. That's why they're called errors. Back before rally scoring, they weren't such a big deal (you could just side out and no points for anyone.) But now it's a free point for the opposition.

 

A well placed, medium difficulty serve to a weak passer is much more effective then a hard serve to a good passer.

 

The only time a team should be highly aggressive as a team behind the service line is if the coach feels they can't block or dig their opponent's serve receive and they need to make something happen.

 

IMHO of course.

 

Well, an attack that is hit in the net or out of bounds is also an error, so are you saying just make sure you hit it over and get it in, on an attack, too?

[oldsetter]

Well, an attack that is hit in the net or out of bounds is also an error, so are you saying just make sure you hit it over and get it in, on an attack, too?

 

 

 

At lower levels of play: "Serve-in-to-win".

 

But at higher levels of play - where stats are carefully kept and studied - you may be suprised to hear what an acceptable serving percentage would be. It has been over a decade since I first came into this info (reading up on volleyball stratigies for college play), but at that time I believe 10 errors were worth one ACE. I can't remember if that was before or after rally scoring and that number would be different for different teams. Notice that may teams will select recieve instead of serve. Why? Stats.

 

At the level I used to play we were told to always get your fist serve in, always serve game point in, and everything else, try to serve a unreturnable ball (to the indicated zone) float, drop, or jump (as indicated, or server's choice.)

 

So I would say High School would be somewhere less than 10?

[Uncle]

What people tend to forget when they (or their daughter) steps behind the service line is that volleyball is a team sport. For instance, if you have just one dominant middle blocker and she's in the front row, you don't want to waste one of those three rotations with a serve into the net. And as whosaftervic said, you have to factor in if your team is having problems in serve receive, blocking quicks (off an easy serve) etc. In other words, there are a lot of dynamic situations where an aggressive serve is inappropriate strategically.

 

So I would also add to oldsetter's no-miss scenarios of first serve and game point these other times you can't miss a serve:

 

Your last teammate missed her serve (don't have two in a row for your team)

The other team just missed their serve (you gave them back their free point)

Coming out of a timeout called by the other team (their momentum stoppage worked)

 

As for 10 errors equaling one ace, I'm not familiar with that ratio, but mathematically that doesn't make sense in rallying scoring. Ten service errors equals ten points for the other team. One ace equals one point for your team. You give me twenty service errors, I'll give you two aces! I lead 20-2! /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

 

And before someone paints me as an overly cautious 'weenie' coach, one of my seven years coaching college ball, one of my players led the nation in ace average and two years our team average was in the top ten nationally. Serving smart always beats serving hard (though some of my players served hard, jumped, etc.)

 

HS coaches: can your girls serve 8 out of 10 balls to the zones you request and put 10 out of 10 in bounds? Do you have them running lines or doing knee jumps or burpees then stop them to serve while they're trying to catch their breath?

 

Service errors and hitting errors are NOT equal. Serving is the only time you are personally in total control of the ball. You should never have more service errors than hitting errors (unless, maybe you're a DS/Libero.)

 

Thanks for listening!

[oldsetter]

As for 10 errors equaling one ace, I'm not familiar with that ratio, but mathematically that doesn't make sense in rallying scoring. Ten service errors equals ten points for the other team. One ace equals one point for your team. You give me twenty service errors, I'll give you two aces! I lead 20-2! /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

 

HS coaches: can your girls serve 8 out of 10 balls to the zones you request and put 10 out of 10 in bounds? Do you have them running lines or doing knee jumps or burpees then stop them to serve while they're trying to catch their breath?

 

Service errors and hitting errors are NOT equal. Serving is the only time you are personally in total control of the ball. You should never have more service errors than hitting errors (unless, maybe you're a DS/Libero.)

 

Thanks for listening!

 

 

 

Like I said, this is old info and I don't know if it is conventional wisdom - and I believe it was written by an olympic coach.

 

It don't quit add up like that. Like you said, there are other factors. I ace you, you serve your lollipop, we bump-set-spike-kill - so you have 20 unerned points and I have 22 erned. And to clairify, (I'll have to look for the info I read - yes, I am sure It is here somewhere) I believe that was a ratio on 'attempted' aces. You are not always trying to serve an ace are you? I know we would like to, but there are times to serve aggressive and other times where it just needs to be in zone 2 or where ever - and you get an ace anyway.

 

And I'm just talking - but put me in the winnie coach catagory. At the levels I play and see, aces are more due to defensive/passing errors than great serves. I'll take the 80% good serve over one ace - assuming my team can block/pass/set/kill.

[KCdaddy]

service errors are bad, imo... especially if the tea is loaded with sugar - i usually dont leave a tip

 

sry, that was bad /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

[oldsetter]

service errors are bad, imo... especially if the tea is loaded with sugar - i usually dont leave a tip

 

sry, that was bad /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

 

 

And cleaning the silver is a real pain....... /hungry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":hungry:" border="0" alt="hungry.gif" />

 

Anyway, I was looking on the internet about Ace to service error ratios. Anything great than one was for the record books. So it looks like if you can get an ace per service error you will be in the higher percentage (in higher level of play). So now I am looking at how the 'serve in' but no ace stat plays in to this.