Posted on: 11/9/24

Last Updated: 11/9/24

Author: Thalia A. U.

Hitting Lines 101: Setup, Execution, & Additions

Hitting Lines are a well known drill in the sport of Volleyball, if not the most well known.

During hitting lines a team gets to work on numerous parts of volleyball in the singular drill, but especially when coaches add in different variations to intensify the drill. The main goal during hitting lines is to of course, hit, but in this blog post I will show you how to intensify hitting lines by adding more aspects to the drill.

In this blog post we will go over:

• Set up for Hitting line drill (Simple/Fundamental Version)

• How to execute the hitting line drill

• How to intensify the hitting lines drill (+ blocking, + passing, + real time setting)

Set Up for Hitting Lines (Simple/Fundamental version)

During the hitting lines drill you will need:

1. 1 Setter standing on the setters spot

2. 3 lines of athletes set up behind the 10 foot line (Outside hitters on the left side of court, Middle hitters in the middle of court, Right side hitters on right side of court).

3. 1 tosser + ball cart (Set up behind 10 ft line, between the outside hitters line, and the middle hitters line).

It should end up looking like this:

You’ll want to instruct your athletes to “shag” their own ball after hitting it in order to ensure your tosser doesn’t run out of balls in the middle of the drill.

How to Execute the Hitting Line Drill

There are fundamental parts of Volleyball that should be executed properly during this drill.

Some of those aspects include:

• Ensuring hitters are fully transitioned to hit (behind 10 ft line, or beyond depending on their approach style)

• Ensure hitters are doing the correct approach (3 step approach, etc)

• Ensure the setter is calling their set prior to contact with hands (Call “outside/middle/right”, #’s, Names, etc)

There are more aspects you need to be watching as a coach during this fundamental drill, but these three points you should ensure are covered with the simple version of hitting lines.

How to Intensify the Hitting lines Drill

(Block, Pass, Sporadic Setting)

While the fundamental/simple version of hitting lines is a great way to get some hitting reps, there are ways that you can intensify the drill to create a fast-paced, and multi-faceted version to better benefit your team overall.

One way you can do this is by removing the tosser and replacing them with a passer. Your passer should be a Libero, or Defensive Specialist on your team so they get those extra free-ball reps.

You can do this by having the passer stand between the outside, and middle hitter lines with a tosser on the opposite side of the net free-balling it over to them.

This not only helps the passer get reps, but the setter has to read the quality of the passes to determine who they will set. This creates a sporadic setting scene where the hitters always have to be ready to hit, and the setter has to be calling their sets.

Another way you can intensify the drill is by having your hitters start on the net, with their hands up ready to jump up for a block. Before your tosser free ball’s it over the net for the passer to pass, you can smack the ball to indicate your hitters to jump up for a “block”, then immediately transition to hit. This creates a common sequence often seen where hitters are blocking, then immediately transitioning to hit in the fast-paced game.

It will end up looking something like this:

This always intensifies my team’s efforts when I add these few chances to our hitting line drill.

In Conclusion…

Hitting lines is a popular drill that most teams use to warm up their arms, get those necessary hitting reps, and work on their starting setters sets.

If you have any different variations of this drill, please comment down below!

See you in the next blog post!

-Coach T