Offspeed Attacks
Learning to vary your attacks is key to becoming a successful offensive player. Changing direction, speed, and type of attack is largely dependent upon the game situation set in front of you. For more on this theory, see my previous post on Power vs Finesse.
As previously discussed, less experienced players will learn to spike the ball at a consistent speed and power, mostly at body-line. This is the most common line for an attack and the easiest to defend. As an attacker, it is your job to move your attacks around the block and to hit the ball away from or past the defense. Changing the type of attack is vital to your success. In this post we will discuss the most common types of off-speed attacks that you can utilize to further expand your offensive repertoire.
The Tip: Tipping is the most common off-speed attack used, and often the first learned. It is the easiest off-speed shot to control, and can be extremely effective in throwing a defense off-balance after you have been consistently hitting the ball hard and deep.
In order to effectively perform a tip for a kill, you will take the same explosive approach you would normally take for an attack. However, instead of taking a full swing, you will reach high up above your head contacting the ball with the tips of your fingers. With this level of control, you can then direct the ball just over the blocker's hands to drop the ball short of the back-row defenders.
Basic theory suggests that you drop the ball just above the blocker's hands so that they are unable to reach it, far enough behind the block so that they cannot recover, but far enough in front of the back row so they cannot dig it. Generally the two best places to tip are down the line just beyond the blocker, and short to the middle of the court. For middle blockers you would want to tip the direction from which the second blocker originates, or to the middle of the court just past the blockers.
The Power-Tip: If you, as an attacker, have been using the tip effectively and consistently as your main offensive weapon, the defense will adjust and start setting up shorter in the court. They may even switch from a perimeter defense to a rotation defense, leaving their setter short in the court shadowing the block to pick up tips. In this case, you can utilize what I call the Power Tip. Using the same technique as the tip up until contact, you would then contact the ball high and in front of your shoulder, pushing the ball deep and beyond the reach of the players covering short. If you see the line player crashing short to cover tips, push the ball deep over their heads to the corner. Be careful not to hold the ball on contact or redirect mid-contact, or some referees may call you for a carry/throw.
The Roll-shot: Hitting a roll shot is another skill that is best utilized with a full approach as if you are taking a full swing. Much like the tip, it is used primarily to drop the ball short over the blockers and in front of the back row players. Using a roll shot can be more effective than a tip as it is more easily disguised.
Take your full attack approach, but in your swing you will drop your shoulder slightly and roll your hand from the bottom of the ball over the top inducing top spin. Placement of this shot is similar to that of the tip and can be varied as such.
The Tool: Tooling a block is a skill that can save yourself from panic induced tipping and from getting stuff blocked. Often it is used when the attacker receives a set that may be too tight to the net or is not ideal for the pace of the attacker. The theory behind the tool is that you are intentionally hitting the ball off of the blockers hands/arms and out of bounds or to the floor.
Basic tooling is easiest to do in one of two ways - either change the angle of your swing to aim higher on the block to clip the fingers of the block, or aim the ball at the outside blocker's outer arm to tool the ball out. You will have to identify the best direction for your tool based upon the set provided and where the blockers are set up.
The Wipe: Following the same principles of the Tool, the wipe is a technique used when your set is definitely too tight to the net. If you were to swing normally or attempt to tip, you would surely get stuff blocked. Instead of doing either of those thing, alter the angle of your swing so that it is more parallel with the net and aim the ball more sideways. This will cause the ball to ricochet off the blocker's arms/hands more horizontally, possibly giving you the chance to tool the ball out of bounds.
The Rebound: Another variation on the Tool concept, I named this technique "The Rebound" because it is likened to an offensive rebound in basketball. It is an attempt at getting a second shot at scoring a point on offense. However, as opposed to tooling the block to score a point, you are using a well established block to keep the ball on your own side of the net.
Taking a full attack approach, when you see that the set may be too tight or the block is set up extremely well and you have few options to score, take a half swing at the ball, aiming it directly into the block. You want the blockers to redirect the ball back on your side of the court, however using a slower shot into the block means the block itself will have a slower pace as it drops to the floor. This gives you the chance as the attacker to recover and pass your blocked ball, or gives your team-mates who are covering your shot the chance to dig it up for your setter to set. From this point on you reset and run your offense over again.
Keep in mind, these shots are largely dependent upon the situation in front of you. Learn the basic technique and theory of each, and practice them when possible as the situations arise.