4 Fundamental techniques to Master Volleyball Setting

Published: 6/22/24

Last revised: 3/26/25

Author: Thalia U.

Beginners Guide to Volleyball Setting

Setting in Volleyball is a vital role which often resembles the essential roles a quarterback in Football has in their team: Distribute the ball consistently, effectively, and quickly every offensive set-up. If that doesn’t already sound important enough, the setter also (ideally) gets every second ball… and with a three touch allotment every rally the setter touches the all the most within each match.

Knowing this, its important to ensure your fundamental techniques are constantly worked on to ensure your sets are consistent and effective. In this blog I will go over four techniques I learned from being a setter my entire career, and being a volleyball coach for seven years.

In this blog post we will be going over:

• What the volleyball setter’s position can be defined as

• 4 setting techniques (that will help you be become a stronger setter)

• Agility, and knowing your hitters

What is a volleyball setter?

The setters position in Volleyball is one of the most important players on the court! I often compare the position to the “quarter back in football” because of the similarities seen in both roles. Just like a quarter back in football, a volleyball setter is responsible for “setting up” the team’s offense. The setter chooses who to distribute the ball to which is the most impactful role for your team’s offense. The setter uses over-hand passing to set up their offensive hitters, and that takes a lot of practice and technique to master.

They ideally get every second ball within our 3 touch allowance for each play. This can look like:

1st contact) Pass

2nd contact) Setter, sets

3rd contact) Hitter, hits

That helps us see how impactful, and often a setter is utilized within the game of volleyball. Now we know why so many new setters are seeking advice to improve in the position!

1) Set the ball “from your forehead”

One of the first tips I got as a setter was where to take the ball from. What I mean by that is where your hands are placed when you get in contact with the ball, to overhand pass.

When you are taking the ball in the correct form, your hands will be making contact with the ball “from your forehead”, or your hands will be hovering just over your forehead. If I brought my hands fully down as I’m in correct setting position, the back of my hands would land on my forehead.

To give you a visual example:

(Make sure you’re standing for this) Lift your arms above your head like you are about to set. Then see where your hands are naturally placed when you look up at the “ball” (where your hands are currently hovering around/above). If your hands are in the correct positioning when you look up, then your hands will be hovering just above your forehead.

To make this even more clear, you can use a volleyball to practice this positioning (standing):

Toss a ball up, and intend to set it. Place your hands in correct positioning (above your forehead with spacing), and when the ball is contacted with your hands… FREEZE. Now you can check if your contact with the ball was “from your forehead”.

Incorrect positioning often looks like taking the ball “from your chest” which can result in a carry, or double call from the referees in matches (resulting in a loss of point). This shows why correct positioning is important because it feels awful when you lose points for your team due to your ball handing mistakes (if you’re a beginner, be easy on yourself as you learn!). Incorrect positioning can also look like taking the ball too far behind your head, making the ball be pushed way behind you/make your back arch too much pushing it behind you.

2) Wrists + hand shape

Another one of the first technicalities I learned as a new volleyball setter was how my wrists, and hands should look while I set.

Your wrists when setting should be bend a bit inwards, and your hands should be “cupped” versus having flat pancake like hands.

It is easy to misunderstand writing when explaining technicalities, so lets give another visual example of how to practice this:

Wrists: Put both of your hands up in front of your face, with your nails facing you. Your thumbs should be as far apart as a volleyball is wide. Now start to slowly bring your pointer fingers towards each other like they have magnets attached, but still have distance between them/don’t have your pointer fingers touch). You’ll notice your wrist’s start to naturally bend, most likely showing correct positioning!

Hands: VERY important with setting is how your hands are shaped when taking an overhand ball. Your hands should never look like you are ready to give a high-five when setting, they should instead have a “C” shape to them. How I learned this is to imagine your hands are (lightly!) grabbing onto your arm. This helps show that your hands have a bit of shape to them to give the ball better control within your hands as you set.

3) Hips, feet, and Legs

Once you have the main technicalities of setting down (hands, wrists, placement of hands) you can then focus on making your set’s more accurate. This is usually done by angling your hips, and having correct feet placement.

Let’s dive into another example:

Hips: Practice this with a volleyball net. Start on the volleyball net, in setting position (right side, just off the net, belly button facing position 4 or position position 6 on serve receive). Then have someone toss you a ball to set much like you would do for a hitting lines drill. You will now go for the ball, and before your hands make contact to set you will rotate your hips to be aligned/facing the volleyball antenna. When you run for a ball your hips are often facing where you’re running to, but if you still intend to set the outside hitter (for an example) you will rotate your hips and ensure your belly button is aligned to the antenna closest to the outside hitter (position 4). Practice this the next time you do hitting lines off of a free-ball pass!

Feet/Legs: A general rule of thumb for our feet as setters is to have one foot a little in front of the other. However, I often jump set (jumping before making contact with the ball, so contact is in the air). For “regular” standing setting you need to use that foot slightly in front of you to push/extend the ball further out/up. Your legs and feet have a lot of influence on the power of your set, so make sure you use your legs as power (slightly similar to how your use your legs when you pass as well).

4) Elbows

Both of your elbows should be slightly pointing towards your left, and right side (left elbow pointing slightly left, right elbow pointing slightly right). How you can ensure you have this correct is to see if your forearms are facing each other when setting. If they are, your elbows are possibly too close together. When I set my elbows are pointing out, and my forearms are mainly facing away from my body often facing the same way my belly button is (forward).

Having correct elbow placement is important because it helps keep your wrists in correct alignment as well!

In conclusion…

Explaining sport technicalities through writing is a tough challenge, so check out the Youtube video I will have uploaded and attached to this blog post by the first week of April 2025!

Additionally, there are tips that are not about technicalities like agility, and “knowing your hitters”. These can be mentioned in a future blog post as well so let me know in the comments if you’d like to learn more about those qualities!

If you have any questions please leave a comment, but i hope to see you in a future blog post!

-Coach T