15 club volleyball tryout tips from a Tennessee Hall of Fame inductee and elite club coach who's helped hundreds of athletes navigate tryouts successfully.

Volleyball Defensive Drills You Can Do To Help Your Dig Ball Control

3 hitting and digging volleyball defensive drills that you can do at home to help increase your ball control skills when playing defense in the back court.

Learn three new hitting and digging volleyball defensive drills without a net you can do regularly at home or in your next volleyball practice and/or classes.

If your athlete struggles with consistent serve receive, gets subbed out, or is overlooked for playing time—this is the fix you’ve been looking for.

Struggling with passing consistency?

I help talented passers tired of getting pulled from games because of inconsistent serve receive skills BUILD passing confidence without expensive private lessons using the same 3-step system that's helped dozens of my athletes get recruited.

Download my eBook for $7.99 and start building the passing confidence that keeps you on the court—and gets you seen by college coaches.

'Three Spikers and One Digger" Volleyball Defensive Drills Without A Net

'Three Spikers and One Digger" Volleyball Drill

Digging line, digging middle, digging cross court.

Working on

improving your digging form
Making a playable ball inside the ten foot line that a setter can get to.
Keeping the digging platform two inches below belly button level and not swinging the arms but freezing the platform on ball contact so you just redirect hard hits to the intended target
Diggers stay for 3,4,5 rounds in a row
Hitters work on correct hitting form ...contacting the ball high... like they would if they were hitting on the net.

Is it me or does this feel like a video game?

Three Different Hits and Three Digs
Volleyball Defensive Drills Without A Net

Three Different Hits and Three Digs

The Libero workout.

Three balls to the target. A hard hit. A tip. A deep ball to the corner to chase down.

Working on...

Libero training digging three types of attacked balls...

digging the hard hit
reading then chasing down the tip while trying to stay on your feet

running down the deep shot to the far Zone 5 corner while trying to stay on your feet

digging a settable ball (high in the court as near to Zone 3 - middle front- as possible) if not possible then to the middle of the court

getting comfortable covering the entire zone 5 left back area of the court while taking only 3 - 4 steps to get to each ball

reading fast and reacting fast while controlling our body parts so we can control the ball

"The Two on Two"
Volleyball Defensive Drills Without A Net

Volleyball Defensive Drills
"The Two on Two" Volleyball Drill

"The Two on Two" Volleyball Drill

Working on.....Line and cross court digging reps

Hitters are in zone 4 and zone 2.

Two diggers in zone 5 and zone 6.

Two targets catching the balls while standing on the other side of the hitters ball court

First Zone 5 digger digs the line ball hit by hitter in Zone 4. (Brandon in turquoise shirt)

They dig ball to target close to Coach Brandon basket.

At the same time hitter in zone 2 hits to digger in Zone 6 who digs the ball back to the target standing in zone 3/2.

Then digger in zone 5 does a quarter turn and faces hitter in Zone 2 who hits at them to dig the ball to their target standing in zone 3/2.

At the same time digger in zone 6 does a quarter turn to their left and digs the ball cross court that was hit from the hitter in zone 4 (Coach Brandon).

Hitters don’t hit until they have the eye contact of the digger .

Diggers working on staying low even during their turn as they prep to dig the next ball

Diggers working on target practice

Diggers work on keeping hips below the level of the oncoming ball

Do for time or do after setting a goal for perfect digs to the target

Do You Follow Me on Pinterest?

Private or semiprivate volleyball indoor/sand lessons are an excellent way for young Las Vegas high school volleyball players to quickly improve their individual skills through a private or semi-private coaching experience. These lessons are conducted by former pro volleyball player, former USA Volleyball High Performance instructor and Evaluator and Tstreet Vegas 18s head Coach April Chapple on a weekly basis. Sign up now!

Follow me on Pinterest Volleybragswag to improve your game even faster!

I share alot of individual, partner and easy-to-do volleyball serving drills we do in class with my followers.

Many of these volleyball practice drills you can do at home by yourself or try at your next practice with your teammates.

If you're a B team or JV player trying to make varsity next year...your goal should be to complete 1000 reps a day of at least three of the basic skills on your own...volleyball passing, serving and setting should be at the top of the list.

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

Coach April's 2025 Private and Semi private Volleyball Training

Pre-Registration now open for 2025 Private and Semiprivate Training Sessions with Coach April . Get prepared for club tryouts or train with me during club season!

Email now for information on semiprivate or private indoor skills, individual or small group training volleyball classes and my Breakfast Club for College Players training for 2025.

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

Email me right now to register or for more information.

info@improveyourvolley.com

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

I have my own special QR code to my Linktree profile!

Scan to find out what you shouldn't be missing!

Click For More Info

Affiliate Disclosure

If you make a purchase through a link on my site, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

I only recommend products that I believe to have good value. Click to read my

(affiliate disclosure).

Donations Welcome!

If my free social media online training and/or instruction on this site has helped improve your game or meet your goals CLICK the Cash App link below to make a donation!

Thank you!

cash.app/$apchapvcevbc

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?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vegas Volley (@vegas_volley)

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

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vegas Volley (@vegas_volley)

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