How to Keep Volleyball Statistics

Volleyball Statistics are a great way to keep the insights of one’s team performance. These stats are pretty helpful in enhancing team performance. This guide shares a fundamental insight into keeping volleyball statistics that will help you get a clear picture and make consistent progress.

How to Keep Volleyball Statistics

The various terminologies in volleyball are marked on the tally sheet to assess the game and players at the end. The final score is then released, which is calculated by the given formula:

Total Points per season = (No. of aces + No. of kills + No. of blocks)/ total no. of games played

1. Kill

A ‘kill’ in volleyball is an attack that the opponent’s team cannot back up. So, when an attack happens, it results in a kill. Thus, the playing team gets the point. The kills and attacks combined give the hitting percentage of the team.

• A kill happens when,

1. A player runs towards the ball. This player is an ‘attacker’ on the team who plays as a front-row player.
2. He jumps to make the final move by smashing the ball hard with his arm.
3. The blocker, receiver, and rest of the opponent’s team fail to make their move, and the ball eventually touches the floor.

• A point for a kill is awarded when,

1. A ball that is free in the air touches the floor of the opponent’s team.
2. A setter sets a ball so high and distant that the opponent’s team fails to receive it.
3. An attack gets failed due to a good block by the opponent.
4. An opponent blocker violates the net rules.
5. A dig that lands on the opponent’s area and touches the floor.
6. A blocking error happens.

See also how to calculate the hit percentage in volleyball.

2. Attack

An ‘attack’ in volleyball refers to making a kill and scoring a point for the team.

• An attack occurs when,

1. An attacker approaches the ball quickly.
2. He jumps high on his position by swinging his arm backward.
3. And finally, he smashes the ball hard with one hand into his opponent’s court. This smash is known as the spiking technique, which attackers widely use.

Attack Error

When an attacker commits a mistake, it marks an ‘attack error’ on the tally sheet. This error is counted as a negative point. Thus, the end score of an attack is calculated by totaling the positive and negative attack scores altogether.

• An attack error happens when,

1. The ball is hit out of the bounds. 
2. The volleyball makes contact with the net and thus, results in a four-hit violation.
3. The Ball fails to go over the net and hits the antenna on the poles.
4. An attacker makes illegal contact.
5. Net rules are violated.
6. The blocker on the opponent team blocks the ball successfully.

An attack percentage is a total number of attack points (positive and negative scores altogether) upon the total number of attacks. The attack percentage is beneficial for the coaches to track the performance of their team.

Ideally, a good attack percentage is anywhere between 0.002 and 0.003. When the attack percentage exceeds the bar of 0.003, it marks an excellent performance by the team. On the other hand, a rate that is below 0.002 is average to below average.

Attack percentage = (No. of kills – errors) / No. of attacks x 100

3. Blocks

A ‘block’ in volleyball refers to blocking the attack of the opponent’s team. There are two ways a team blocks its opponent’s attack. These ways are solo block and assist block.

1. Solo block – When a single blocker is involved in blocking the ball, it is called a solo block.
2. Assist block – When more than one blocker is involved in blocking, it is called an assisted block. Usually, two blockers are there to assist the block. Even if one of them blocks the ball, it will be counted as an assist block. Even three players can assist block on the condition that they jump at the exact moment for the block.

• A block happens when,

1. A blocker runs towards the ball.
2. He jumps high on his toes by swinging his arms backward.
3. And finally, he blocks the ball by raising both of his hands in the air that are 4-5 inches apart.

• A block error happens when,

1. The blocker is out of his position i.e., he has stepped over the centerline or is in the net area.
2. A back-row player comes forward to block.
3. A blocker reaches over the net.

Team blocks

The total number of blocks by a team in the entire match gives the number of team blocks. It is calculated by using the following formula:

Team Blocks = No. of solo blocks + (No. of assist blocks/2)

The formula can further be used to calculate the block percentage.

4. Aces

An ‘ace’ in volleyball is a service by the back-row player that directly lands into the opponent’s court without being backed up by the team. A serve that goes to the opponent’s court and gets slipped by them is also an ace.

• A Serve Ace is marked as a score when:

1. The ball directly lands on the opponent’s side.
2. The receiving team is out of rotation or has overlapped lately.
3. The served ball cannot be kept in play.

Serve Ace Error

Contrary to the serve ace, which gives a point to the attacking team, a serve error does the exact opposite. Serve ace error is marked as a negative score added to the total number of serves to calculate serve percentage.

5. Passes

The number of digs gives the number of passes in the match. This helps in obtaining the pass percentage for the team that helps in understanding the past performance better.

Conclusion

Volleyball statistics are a great way to keep a track record of one’s team performance. The stats help analyze the weak and strong points of every player when they exhibit their skills on the court. The same was demonstrated in a study where researchers from British Columbia- Vancouver University carried out an experiment to trace the performance of volleyball players.

The result of the experiment was a success where aid was developed to help coaches work on the specific characteristics of the players on the team. Hence, resulting in improved and better performance.