To ace or not to ace...

StephieJean18 · **To ace or not to ace... -** 01-10-2007, 03:37 PM

To ace or not to ace, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in rally scoring to simply get the ball in play, or to take arms against your opponent and go for the point...

Problem is, a lot of times when players go for the ace it ends up being a missed serve - and in rally scoring that could mean the game.

I'm all for aggressive play, but is there a time and place for it?

revjim27 · **Tread Lightly Upon this Path -** 01-10-2007, 04:02 PM

Lots to think about when preparing to unleash a monster serve. How good is there next server? Is he going to light up your defense when you smash the ball into the back wall/net/setters head? How good is your next server? Is he 50/50 with his best serve? Is there a weak passer you can exploit? What's the score? Will an Ace boost your teams morale more than a miss will sink it?

I say, if you aren't at least (bare-minimum) 75% accurate with a certain serve...don't use it in a game. First and foremost, keep the ball in play. Everytime you serve the ball in there is a chance to score a point; Everytime you miss there is no chance.

NewEnglandRT · 01-12-2007, 01:23 AM

Serve tough every serve, every time. Emphasis on tough, that's not nec. hard. Your toughest serve might be that nasty floater that you can drop on the setters head. The whole advantage to serving is to disrupt the other teams offense. An ace will certainly do that, but so will a well places serve that less than perfectly passed.

That said, in high level volleyball 70% of points are scored on serve receive.

volleyballstud · 03-16-2007, 10:08 AM

I've always coached my players on ball placement. A well placed low serve gives less reaction time for the passers and makes them move. If you can place a serve in zones 2-4, whichever zone the setter is pulling up the front row player, you can sometimes take a team out of their offense by taking the ball out of their primary setter... always a good tactic. Now that hitting the net on serves is legal, I try to hit the net on serves. Nothing better than seeing a player squat on defense only to see the ball hit the net and drop. My personal best is 3 net serves in a row with the 4th missing by 1/2" at most.