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Types of Volleyball Hits: 5 Attack Techniques I Teach My Club Hitters

Discover in this article, how I show you the different types of volleyball hits I teach my Vegas Volley club 18s players-from basic spikes to strategic shots.

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Watch my Vegas Volley 18s boys team in action with lots of left side hitter volleyball player points being scored!

An attack hit is made when a player on the offensive team gets the ball into the opposing team's court by either spiking, tipping dumping, or using an off speed hit.

Do you have a hard time trying to score points when you're hitting against big tall oposing team blockers?

Do you know which type of volleyball hit to use in different situations or are you unsure?

As a volleyball coach working with hitters daily, I'll show you exactly when and how to use each attacking option effectively.

Since coming to Vegas after retiring from my international professional volleyball career, I've helped players expand their hitting "tool box" to include more than just power shots.

Whether you're getting blocked consistently or having trouble reading the defense, being able to understand different types of volleyball hits will change you from a predictable attacker into a strategic point-scorer.

Let me share the same attacking techniques captured by 'Shots by Shanty' Shantalle Demerjian during our December practices - proven strategies that have helped my players develop into complete attackers who can score against any defense.

What are some of the different types of volleyball hits?

Different Types of Volleyball Hits Spikers Hit In A Slow Offense With Third Tempo Sets

attack
hit
spike
kill
wipe the block
tool the block
spike approach
tip
cobra
pokey
down ball
free ball
seam
cross court hit
line hit
cut shot
roll shot

Are you getting stuffed by outside blockers?

Let me show you how the 'wipe' can turn those blocks into points...

Types of Volleyball Hits: The Spikes

I Define Spiking And 16 Other Volleyball Attack Hit Terms: The wipe describes the wiping action of a spiker's arm motion when the player aims the ball for an opposing blocker's outside hand. (Shots by Shanty)

Type of Volleyball Hits: The Wipe

The wipe describes the wiping action of a spiker's arm motion when the attacker aims the ball for an opposing blocker's outside hand.

The blocking arm and hand closest to the antenna presents a target that the spiker aims for, so when the ball deflects back off the hand, it travels out of bounds, outside the sideline on the hitter's side or the blocker's side off the court.

Watch as outside hitter Jacob Ceci swings hard and purposefully wipes the ball against the outside arm of Tommi's block to score a point in this rally during volleyball practice.

On the court for Breakfast
Club class Kate Prior (BYU), Kamry Baily (Utah), Brooklyn (Univ of Connecticut), Tommi Stockham (Cal Poly) Sierra Leone Sanchez (Adam State), Ken Buen (Vanguard Univ), Jacob Ceci (GCU)

When the hitter wipes the block for a point, it means the blocker was the last person to touch the ball before it lands out of bounds, outside of the sidelines.

Are you intimidated or frustrated by tall blockers?

Here's how smart hitters use the 'tool' to score...

Types of Volleyball Hits: The Tool

Tooling the block is a slang term for wiping the block. They both describe the act of spiking the ball so that you deliberately aim for the outer hand of the blocker who's attempting to block you.

Your goal is to do this in a way that the ball gets deflected back to your court but outside of the sideline, so it bounces outside of the court, on your team's side.

Tooling the block is a slang term that describes the act of spiking so you aim for the outer hand of the blocker who's attempting to block you so the ball deflects out of bounds. (Aversen)

This is an effective point scoring hitting strategy because it's hard for diggers to react to a ball that's been deflected off the hands of the block and is going to land outside the court.

When the defense is ready for your power hits, you need options.

Here's how we use tips effectively...

Types of Volleyball Hits: The Tip

Volleyball Hits A tip is an attack hit at the height of the spike jump and after the arm swing the hitter contacts the ball with the tips of their fingers. (Arvesen)

Volleyball Hits A tip is an attack hit a spiker uses at the height of the spike jump and after the arm swing the hitter contacts the ball with the tips of their fingers. (Arvesen)

A tip is an attack hit a spiker uses as an option to a hard hit...by

completing a spike approach for a hard hit then
at the height of the spike jump and after the arm swing the hitter contacts the ball with the tips of their fingers

Types of Volleyball Hits: I Define Spiking And 16 Other Volleyball Attack Hit Terms: Penn State hitter tips the ball over the Illinois block (Richard Yuan)

Guide the ball up and over the block with the tips of your fingers
Over the net in the direction of where you want the ball to fall in an open space on the opposing court

Types of Volleyball Hits: The Cobra

Usually done in beach volleyball, the spiker uses their straight hand with the palm down to contact the ball with their fingertips.

Types of Volleyball Hits: The Pokey

Usually done in beach volleyball, the spiker uses their closed fist to contact the ball with the knuckles of the index and middle finger to guide it over the block to an open space on the court..

The POKEY is an attack hit often used when the ball gets set too close to the net or the opposing blocker's hands and the attacker uses one last option to attack the ball redirecting it before it gets into the blocker's hands. Watch April Ross use the pokey to beat this blocker to the ball. (Ralph Aversen)

This is an attack hit often used when the ball gets set too close to the net or the opposing blocker's hands and the attacker uses one last option to attack the ball redirecting it before it gets into the blocker's hands.

Types of Volleyball Hits
Spikers Use Without Doing A Spike Approach: Down Balls

Like every other technique in volleyball, developing an aggressive Down Ball attack requires time, effort, and practice.

But don't worry! I'm here to guide you each step of the way. The insight we provide goes beyond just hitting the ball. You'll also gain a deep understanding of when to effectively use the Down Ball.

What's a Down Ball attack hit?

When a player performs a spike over the net without jumping to take a spike approach, that is called a "down ball."

A down ball in volleyball can be initiated during any of the three contacts a team is allotted to get the ball back into the opposing team's court.

The hitter has stayed down to spike or hit the ball to the opposing team's court.

A down ball attack is usually the result of a hitter not having enough time to make an approach or some miscommunication between them and their setter in regards to a play that was called.

Do you block a down ball?

When the blocker on one team sees a spiker on the other team hitting a down ball, then they should call out to their team "down ball" so the blockers know not to block the ball since the hitter isn't using a spike approach to hit the ball over the net.

The blockers usually call out to their team "down ball" and transition off the net to get ready to run an offensive attack.

The term "down ball" comes from the fact that the hitter stays grounded aka "down", i.e., they keep their feet on the floor while hitting or spiking the ball.

Types of Volleyball Hits
Spikers Use Without Doing A Spike Approach: Free Balls

What's a Free Ball attack hit?

This is a ball that has been forearm passed by a player on one team (instead of hitting the ball) to the opposing team's court.

Instead of hitting a down ball, a 'free' ball is a 'gift' from one team who for one reason or another can't attack the ball over the net, so they "give" an easy "unattacked" ball to the other team.

When your team gets a free ball, everything possible should be done to run a quick attack or give the ball to the 'go to' spiker who should definitely score a point.

Types of Volleyball Hits:
Your Path to Scoring Success

Learning to understand these different types of volleyball hits has helped my Vegas Volley players become more effective attackers.

They're the same techniques I teach in my private sessions - proven strategies that work at every level.

Ready to develop your attacking skills further?

Check out my articles on 'Volleyball Hitting Technique' and 'Advanced Hitting Strategies' for more scoring solutions.

Want to expand your hitting arsenal?

Join my email list for weekly training tips and be the first to know when I post new techniques that can help solve your attacking challenges.

I Define Spiking And Other Types Of Volleyball Hits:
Where do you need to go now?

Here are three options:

Learn more about the volleyball words, terms and terminology in the Related Links below.
Follow the suggested reading on our Sitemap page Learning How To Play (Sitemap)
Or visit the pages in the Information section in the drop down menu at the top of the page.

From Lady Vol to Legend: Coach April Honored At UTK Champions Weekend

Lady Vol volleyball legend and record holder Coach April Chapple a University of Tennessee, Knoxville Hall of Fame Inductee, 3-time All American, 3-time SEC Champion, SEC Tournament MVP, 2-time All SEC Team is celebrated with her 1984 SEC champion teammates at Neyland Stadium during Champions Weekend on November 1-2, 2024.

utkaprilcollegepiconneylandstadiumvideoboard

Tennessee Hall of Fame inductee, Coach April Chapple is

the first First Round Draft Pick for the first American pro indoor women's league
named to the first First Team All-Pro team for Major League Volleyball in USA volleyball history
former USA National team member
one of the few American women players named as an Italian Pro League D-I Championship Finalist, Italian Cup Finalist and Cup of Cups Tournament Finalist

April Chapple The first First round Draft Pick For Major League Volleyball the first American Women's Pro League Honored At Athlete Unlimited Pro Volleyball Match

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Invest in your improvement while preepping for your next level and college goals while working hard and training smart.

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Serving slang is not just about individual techniques; it also relates to overall game strategy. A coach might instruct a player to serve a "short serve" or a "deep serve" to target specific areas of the opponent's court or exploit weaknesses in their serve receive formation.

Ari, my private training client and I are working specifically on serving on jump float cross court serves ...short to Zone 2

There's so much we work on to get to this point where she can contact the ball with

the same toss height and same toss location
the same armswing speed
the same timing for when her serving hand contacts the ball
the middle of the hand contacting the middle of the ball every single time
getting use to watching her serving hand contact the ball at the highest point of her jump ...before she starts to land
and finally contacting the ball in the precise spot on the ball so it goes where the coach wants the player to put it so in this case ..a short serve in the farthest short right corner on the court also called Zone 2.

kamiminerpac12setteroftheyearformercoachaprilchappleprivateclient3years

Tommi Stockham All Big West Conference sophomore former Coach April Chapple private client 3 years

katepriorallwestcoastconferencebyufreshmanformercoachaprilchappleprivateclient3years

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Dear Vegas Parent

Read my open letter to Las Vegas Jr high/high school volleyball parents about my predictions on individual and small group volleyball training trends for 2019/2021

Tennessee Athletics Honors April Chapple at Champions Weekend for Legendary Volleyball Achievements

From Lady Vol to Legend: Coach April Produces Powerful Passionate Players...is that you?

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Congratulations to my seven Boys-18s Vegas Volley club players who played in two state championship finals yesterday, the 3A and 5A State champinship finals at Sunrise Mountain High School.

TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS!

A-1 Vegas Volley VBC

In It To Win It Tournament

May 2 - 4, 2025 Tournament

Gold Medalists

18s Premier Division

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Making A-1 Vegas Volleyball history as the very first TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS! In the In It To Win It Tournament, May 2-4, 2025 Tournament, A-1 Vegas Volleyball Club Gold Medalists, 18s Premier Division