Sports 360: Volleyball

By Kelly Kinas ‘16

I’ve played volleyball. Oh yeah, I’ve played volleyball. Eighth grade. Picture me: totally ready to already be in high school but still having another year of middle school. So I join every. single. sport possible. I joined basketball, cheerleading, swimming, track, cross country, and of course, volleyball. The only real skill I had at volleyball was being able to serve really well. The most prominent memory of my 8th grade volleyball career was at the championship match. I was put in to serve and then taken out the next point. Every single time for the same girl who was better at everything but horrible at serving.

This trip down memory lane is here to let you know that I obviously am a pro at volleyball. All jokes aside, I still enjoy watching volleyball games, especially USC teams (what’s up boys and beach volleyball girls).

In all actuality, one of our bloggers Emily should be writing this because she was a part of the Women’s Indoor Volleyball team last year and is currently a part of the Women’s beach volleyball team. But she’s is super busy because Beach volleyball is in season (GO SUPPORT THEM) and is traveling everywhere for their season. SO Y’ALL GET ME.

BASICALLY:
There are a lot of different types of volleyball. There’s women’s, men’s, and beach and they ALL have different rules and different numbers of people on the court at once. They also have different seasons for when they are played at the collegiate level.

USC Men’s Volleyball team has no more home games (cry) but they are ending their season playing BYU on the 8th and 9th at BYU.

USC Women’s Volleyball is a fall sport and made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament! Yay!

BUT WHAT’S EXCITING IS BEACH VOLLEYBALL RN!

Beach Volleyball’s Senior Day is April 14th at 4:30pm and it is GOING TO BE A GREAT MATCH. Make sure to go out and support these amazing female Trojans!

Indoor volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team’s court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since 1964.

The complete rules are extensive. But simply, play proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a ‘rally’ by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team’s court. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. The team may touch the ball up to 3 times but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the serving team is unable to prevent it from being grounded in their court.

The game continues, with the first team to score 25 points by a two-point margin is awarded the set. Matches are best-of-five sets and the fifth set, if necessary, is usually played to 15 points.

In 2008, the NCAA changed the minimum number of points needed to win any of the first four sets from 30 to 25 for women’s volleyball (men’s volleyball remained at 30.) If a fifth (deciding) set is reached, the minimum required score remains at 15. In addition, the word “game” is now referred to as “set”.

Competitive teams master six basic skills: serve, pass, set, attack, block and dig. Each of these skills comprises a number of specific techniques that have been introduced over the years and are now considered standard practice in high-level volleyball.

• SERVE: A player stands behind the inline and serves the ball, in an attempt to drive it into the opponent’s court. The main objective is to make it land inside the court; it is also desirable to set the ball’s direction, speed and acceleration so that it becomes difficult for the receiver to handle it properly. A serve is called an “ace” when the ball lands directly onto the court or travels outside the court after being touched by an opponent.
  
• PASS: Also called reception (or a bump), the pass is the attempt by a team to properly handle the opponent’s serve, or any form of attack. Proper handling includes not only preventing the ball from touching the court, but also making it reach the position where the setter is standing quickly and precisely.
• Set: The set is usually the second contact that a team makes with the ball. The main goal of setting is to put the ball in the air in such a way that it can be driven by an attack into the opponent’s court. The setter coordinates the offensive movements of a team, and is the player who ultimately decides which player will actually attack the ball.
• Attack: The attack, also known as the spike, is usually the third contact a team makes with the ball. The object of attacking is to handle the ball so that it lands on the opponent’s court and cannot be defended. A player makes a series of steps (the “approach”), jumps, and swings at the ball.
• Block: Blocking refers to the actions taken by players standing at the net to stop or alter an opponent’s attack.
• Dig: Digging is the ability to prevent the ball from touching one’s court after a spike or attack, particularly a ball that is nearly touching the ground. In many aspects, this skill is similar to passing, or bumping: overhand dig and bump are also used to distinguish between defensive actions taken with fingertips or with joined arms.

Are you guys ready to play volleyball (or at least understand it while watching)?

 Good!

Fight on!