Volleyball Positions: What Are The Six Volleyball Roles On The Court?

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Volleyball Positions: What Are The Six Volleyball Roles On The Court?

Here's an extensive breakdown of the volleyball positions on the court you can pick to specialize in including setter, hitter, opposite, middle blocker, libero.

Volleyball Positions: Here's an extensive breakdown of the volleyball positions on the court you can pick to specialize in.including setter, hitter, opposite, middle blocker, libero.

The roles and primary volleyball positions on the court: the setter, hitters, middle blockers, defensive specialists and liberos and the responsibilities they each have are usually explained as soon as you join a new club, high school, college or professional six player team.

Let's go through and learn the roles and responsibilities of:

the setter
the middle blocker,
the outside hitter
defensive specialist and
the libero which differ greatly just like the physical requirements needed to play each position do.

Check it out...

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Volleyball Positions on the Court:
The Setter Position in Volleyball

The setter position in volleyball is the most important one because the setters are the unofficial leaders on the court. (Matt Dubrow)

The setter position in volleyball is the most important one because the setters are the unofficial leaders on the court.

The setter's job is to

get to every second ball,
run the team's offense and
to outsmart the block to help her hitters score points

Volleyball Positions: Setters: The setter's job is to get to every second ball, run the team's offense and to outsmart the block to help her hitters score points (Michael E. Johnston)

Although it may not happen all the time, setters are trained to get to and attempt to set every second ball to one of their three front row or any of their two non-libero back row attackers or players so that they can hit the ball over the net.

The setter runs the team's offense by telling or signalling each of her intended hitters, before the referee blows their whistle, what kind of set she is going to deliver to them.

If you are in the setter volleyball position then you are in charge of directing your team's offensive attack, just like a point guard on a basketball team would.

Volleyball Positions on the Court: Middle Blocker Position in Volleyball

Middle Blocker Volleyball Position: Middle blockers travel laterally along the net to put up a block by themselves or with their outside blockers to stop a hit cross the net. (Bill Shaner)

The middle blocker volleyball position has the primary responsibility once their team has served the ball to travel laterally along the net in such a way that they put up a block, either by themselves or with the help of their outside blockers, against any of the hitters on the opposing team in an attempt to stop them from hitting or tipping the ball over the net and into their court.

Middle blockers are usually the tallest players on the team and you can compare the middle blocker to the defensive linebacker in football and the center on a basketball team.

In the photo above the player wearing the #21 jersey is playing in the middle blocking position for the Illinois State Redbirds collegiate team.

If a team is on offense, and by this I mean if they are about to be served the ball, then the players that were middle blockers become middle hitters.

Middle hitters or middle attackers specialize in hitting the ball from the middle area of the net which is called zone 3 on the court.

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Where there’s smoke ..., there’s Mia

How about that one-on-one swing block action by Ms. Batiste! Practice makes perfect!!!Check that disciplined crossover step from the middle......yasss

Congratulations on a @digthisvbc 15s first place finish this weekend! .

702 Middles be blockin’!

Read more about the libero volleyball position.

Being A Left Handed Volleyball Setter in the Front Row Has Advantages
For a left handed volleyball setter who receives a good pass, the ball will get to your dominant hand first, which means that you can dump the ball faster.
Volleyball Setter Position: What Makes A Good Setter And Team Leader?
Like quarterbacks in football, the volleyball setter position requires the setter to run the offense by deciding the volleyball plays her offense will run.
Volleyball Positions on the Court: Backrow Rotations in Volleyball
Learn the descriptions and the different backrow volleyball positions on the court and how the rotation in volleyball works in the backrow player positions.
Volleyball Positions and Rotations 3 Front Row Positions in Volleyball
Learn the descriptions and what the different volleyball positions and rotations work for each of these front row player positions.
The Volleyball Outside Hitter: How To Be The Smart Spiker On Your Team
A volleyball outside hitter has options for scoring against opponents to score points including tipping deep or short in the court to mix up your attack hits.

Offensive Volleyball Positions on the Court:
Left Side Outside Hitters

Professional left side outside hitter April Chapple in Italy during the Division I Italian championship finals in Reggio Emilia.

The outside hitter, usually has the third contact on the ball and is responsible for sending the ball over the net into the opponent's court with the goal to score a point.

Their primary job is to score offensive points. They are quite often the athletes on the team who are the quickest, jump the highest, and are physically coordinated and agile.

Volleyball Positions: Outside Hitters primary job is to score offensive points. Often they're quick, jump high, and are physically coordinated and agile. (White and Blue Review)

Regardless of the accuracy of the set an outside hitter may get, they are responsible for attacking the ball so the end result is a point or sideout.

Volleyball Positions: Wichita State Shockers Outside Hitter Attacking Against Illinois State Photo by Bill Shaner

Just like there are two middle blockers on every team, there are two left side hitters per team, so when one is in the front row, the other plays opposite her in the back row.

And just like middle blockers, if a left side hitter is on defense, then she becomes the left side blocker.

Positions on the Court
Right Side Or Opposite Hitters

If two middle blockers play opposite each other on a team, and two left side hitters play opposite each other, then who plays in the position that's opposite the setter?

That would be one of the final positions on the court to talk about which belongs to the offside hitter, also known as "the opposite" or right side hitter.

Penn State Right Side Hitter vs Illinois Illini Double Block Photo by Richard Yuan

Remember the left side hitter is usually the more prolific hitter on her team, so the opposing right side blocker has a pretty important job, trying to block the ball hit by one of the best athletes on the opposing team.

This alone often makes the right side hitter position one of the toughest positions on the court to play in.

Another responsibility of the right side player occurs when her team is on defense.

If the setter digs the ball then it use to be the right side hitter's responsibility to step in to become the temporary setter, now its up to the libero to set the second ball...

She sets the ball, usually a high ball out to her opposite hitter.

The opposite hitter especially right handers have to be able to attack the ball from the right side.

When the right side player rotates to the back row to play defense, the setter who plays opposite her/him rotates up to the front row.

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Volleyball Positions:
Where Do You Go From Here?

I got you! Here's where you need to go now! Here are three options:

Learn more about the various Positions in Volleyball by reviewing the Related Links below.
Follow the suggested reading on our Sitemap page Learning How To Play (Sitemap)
Or visit the pages in the Volleyball Positions 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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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