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Tennessee Athletics Honors April Chapple at Champions Weekend for Legendary Volleyball Achievements

How To Dig in Volleyball, What's A Double Hit, When To Dive in Defense

Learn how to to dig in volleyball by creating a platform with forearms holding hands together that're used to deflect a spike up in the air to be re-played.

How To dig in volleyball Create a platform with forearms holding hands together that're used to deflect a spike in the air to be played by your setter, libero or teammate. (Al Case)

How to dig in volleyball?

To dig you need to create a platform with your forearms which you use to deflect or redirect a spike, tip or hard driven hit back up to your setter, libero or teammate so they can continue play.

How to Dig In Volleyball
Is "Dig" A Technical Term or Volleyball Slang?

"Dig" the ball is a volleyball slang term used to mean "defend" the ball up in the air which requires you

to stay in a low athletic stance with your knees bent
while using your forearms to deflect the ball up into the air after its been hit by a member of the opposing team
in order to keep it from hitting your court floor.

The key to digging is to get your hips below the level of the ball just before you make contact.

How To Dig In Volleyball
Is the dive in volleyball a way to dig in volleyball?

What's a dive in volleyball?

When you "dive after a ball" you are using one type of defensive technique used by players to land on the ground after they've contacted the ball in order to keep it off the ground.

How To Dig In Volleyball: When you dive you run after a ball before going airborne diving head first with platform arms outstretched in front of you to "dig a ball" up. (J Chong Studio)

When you dive, it's because you have to

run after a ball that's more than a few feet from where you are playing and
you need to go airborne diving head first with your platform arms outstretched in front of you to "dig a volleyball" up so that it can remain in play.

How To Dig in Volleyball
The Dive

How to dig in volleyball with a dive? You lift both feet off the ground before contacting the ball with your extended platform to contact the ball before it contacts the floor. (LT Mayers)

Usually to do this with balls that are more then 4-5 feet a way from you,

you will have to lift both feet off the ground before

contacting the ball with your extended platform in order to contact the ball before the ball contacts the floor.

Once the ball has been lifted up high enough for a second player to make contact,

now you the diver, will now have to quickly put your hands on the floor.

This is followed by

lowering your chest and then hips

to maintain control of your body weight while pulling yourself through your arms.

This motion is helped by the forward momentum gathered by running forward when chasing the ball.

How To Dig In Volleyball
What's a Double Hit?

A double hit is often done when you are first learning how to dig in volleyball.

It is called by a referee because your body made contact with the ball twice, before someone else was able to contact the ball.

This action according to official volleyball rules is illegal and is called a fault.

If a hitter spikes a ball to a defender on the opposing team who digs it with her elbows bent so the ball hits her forearm and then hits her bicep before the setter has a chance to touch it, then that's a double hit.

The ball contacted the defender twice before any other teammate could touch it.

The referee blows the whistle, the other team gets the point and the serve.

This is a major reason why you want to keep your elbows as straight as possible when you form your platform to dig a ball.

How to dig in volleyball" To avoid a double hit you want to keep your elbows as straight as possible when you form your platform to dig a ball. (Blue and White Review)

You're more likely to commit a double hit when your elbows are bent while digging. Now a hard driven spike will hit your forearm and then your bicep before being deflected into the air.

Those two contacts are counted as hits and are illegal. The ball can only contact your body once.

The Volleyball Dig
Where do you need to go now?

Here are three options:

Learn more about the volleyball words, terms and terminology in the Related Links below.
Follow the suggested reading on our Sitemap page Learning How To Play (Sitemap)
Or visit the pages in the Information section in the drop down menu at the top of the page.

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

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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