Sets

A set is an overhead two (or one)-hand finger action directing the ball to an attacker or to the opponents.

When judging the legality of sets or passes two factors come into play:

• Time of Contact, and
• Execution of the set.

+Set your standards early so the players and coahces know what the parameters are for the match. It is better to call the match tight early then loosen up (a little) then to try to tighten up after letting several sloppy calls go. Athletes and coaches will adjust to what is being called.

Time of contact is when ball contacts the setter’s hands. By rule the ball should hit both hands at the same time and “pop” out immediately.

Good setters have proper hand placement prior to time of contact. The hands are set and locked into position prior to contact. The ball contacts the hands and leaves the hands like a ball bouncing off the ground with very little spin.

The following are clues that the time of contact was illegal:

Execution is how the ball leaves the setter’s hands in regards to their shoulders. Prior to executing a set the setter will attempt to square their shoulders to where they want the ball to go. The ball will exit the hands directly in front or directly behind the setter. The following are clues that the execution was illegal: The ball leaves the setter’s hands at an angle not directly in front of or behind shoulders. The hitter will have to re-adjust their approach in order to attack the ball. Thus double. The setter had to chase the pass down and is not able to set and lock the hands into proper position prior to making contact. At time of contact one of two things will happen:

(1) The contact will be prolonged in order to get the ball into the air. Thus a lift.
(2) The setter will twist their hands thus creating significant spin on the ball. Thus a double.

• The setter throws one of the shoulders ahead of the other shoulder at the time of contact in order to re-direct the ball to where the attacker is or send the ball over the net. The hands will not contact the ball at the same time. Thus a double.
• The setter will turn their shoulders at time of contact in order to re-direct the ball to where the attacker is or to send the ball over the net. There will be prolong contact when this occurs. Thus a lift.

+The above are only clues that the execution was bad and may be illegal. Some setters are very good with their hands. They will set and lock their hands into proper position in order to set the ball other than directly in front of or behind them. The key is to see the position of the setter and the position of the hands prior to the time of contact.

Even coaches want bad execution called on their players. Why? Because that is not what they teach when it comes to teaching setting.

You will not get into trouble from that coach for calling doubles on sets for bad execution.

Not all “time of contacts” are illegal nor are all bad “executions”. We can be flexible dependent on the level of play.

At lower levels of play we can only be flexible if one of the above mentioned criteria is good.

• If the Time of Contact is good, we can be flexible with the Execution of the set.
• If the Execution is good, we can be flexible with the Time of Contact.
• However, if both time of contact and execution is bad it must be called.

At higher levels of play the level of setting should be called a little tighter for each criteria.

At all levels the following must be called:

• Fall Throughs: The ball just simply passes between both hands at time of contact, then the setter is able to get the ball into the air.
• Wrist Rolls: At time of contact the setter rolls their wrist under the ball before releasing the ball into the air.
• Obvious Doubles: The ball clearly goes from one hand to another before being released.

Multiple Contact

Multiple contact can occur on any first contact. However the following cannot occur:

• Bad Sets: Based on the parameters that the up-Ref has established during the course of normal play.
• ProLong Contact: Wrist rolls at time of contact while trying to set the first ball over or clear and obvious lifts.

+First contact that hits the fingers and goes off is multiple contact, but the player was not using “finger action” to the play the ball – the ball “played her.”

After the ball has been legally hit look ahead and pick up the next player who is going to hit the ball. This player will usually place their hands in one of the following positions in order to hit the ball:

• Bump,
• Set, or
• Spike.

By watching the player that is about to hit the ball you can anticipate the hitting action. Put your vision on the player’s hand as the ball comes into their hands. Use your peripheral vision to track the ball while you are looking for the next hitter, except for a ball that may hit the ceiling.