Posted: 2/8/24

Last updated: 9/2/24

Written by: Thalia A. Urena

How to rank passes statistically in volleyball (3, 2, 1, 0).

In Volleyball it's important to get data on how your team is performing in matches if you want solid evidence on what you can improve on. Game statistics are vital not only for the team’s athletes to view, but for a coach as well. Coaches can use game statistics to plan a more effective practice plan, easier serve receive rotations, and future game line-ups. 

Game statistics can help a coach understand important details that put them at an advantage over a coach who doesn’t use statistics throughout a season.

Coaches who utilize statistics can see things like:

• What rotations are performing the best/worst in Serve Receive

• How athletes are performing overall in games (passing, hitting, setting, serving, etc)

• Comparing stats from differing matches

• Overall season statistics

In this post we will go over:

• How + Why coaches rank passes (no its not subjective like you think!)

• 3 ball pass explanation (perfect pass)

• 2 ball pass explanation

• 1 ball pass explanation

• 0 ball pass explanation (shanked pass)

How/why coaches rank passes

Many athletes/coaches wonder if a passing rank is subjective, but logic does go into ranking a pass, and goes beyond a coach's/statistician's biases. 

To start we first must understand that a first touch pass is usually ranked around the basis of how the setter received that ball from the pass. Remember, in an ideal situation the setter gets the second ball following that first touch.

The ideology of ranking a pass is going to then be based on how many options the setter has to set after your initial pass. 

With a low, or far away pass from their teammates setters wouldn’t have options to set, in comparison to a high passed angled ball to the setters spot…

So now that we know that, lets (dolphin) dive into how we as coaches rank passes give us game statistics.

3 ball pass (Aka perfect pass)

A 3-ball pass in Volleyball is also called a “perfect” pass for a reason! A 3-ball pass is the highest possible ranking an athlete can receive after their singular pass.

Simply put a 3-ball (perfect) ranked pass means your setter has 3 options to set following your pass. This means the setter can set the right side, middle, or outside.

This is huge in Volleyball because having all hitting options available opens up your offensive opportunities which increases the likely hood of finishing that point with your team’s kill.

This perfect 3-ball pass often looks like a high pass to the setters position (inside the 10 ft line, angled right). An important note is the less a setter has to move from their ideal setter spot to get the second ball, the closer you are to achieving this perfect pass!

Even if the pass had the correct height, if it was not angled to the setter and they had to run to get it… your coach may rank it a 2 ball pass. So, you must keep in mind the height of the ball, and where you’re angling your platform to, to push it also to the correct spot.

Below I’ve inserted an image that shows the availability allowed of the setting options from a 3-ball pass. Notice how the setter in that drawing is inside the 10 ft line, and in an optimal position to set all three hitters with ease! 

2 Ball ranked pass 

A 2-ball-ranked pass is defined as a pass that gives the setter two options to set their offense.

Concerning a perfect 3-ball pass where the setter has all 3 options, this just means the setter may have had to move a bit to get that ball, the height was a bit low, the pass was too close to the net, etc.

 There are many possibilities for why a serve receive, dig, or free ball pass may be a bit hard to handle as a passer, but the most important difference is that the ball allotted the setter just 2 setting options. Typically this includes the outside, and one other hitter. 

Usually a 2 ball pass is ranked as such due to the height of the pass, how far off the net the pass was (setter had to run outside 10ft line to get it), or it was too tight on the net than ideal.

To put it simply, how easy did the setters job look following that pass? A bit of struggle usually indicates a 2 ball pass… but not the same amount you’d see for a 1 ball ranked pass.

1 ball-ranked pass

A 1 ball-ranked pass gives our setter only 1 option to set. A 2-ball pass looks closer to a 3-ball pass in that it is just slightly off from perfect, but a 1-ball pass looks closer to a 0/shanked pass since it is closer to an unplayable pass. 

A 1 ball-ranked pass might look low in height, make the setter run to get that ball up and keep it playable, or be so tight on the net that the setter had to play it off of the net/tip it over to keep it alive. 

Usually, a 1-ball ranked pass is pushed to the outside from a setter since they have very few options from a lower-ranked pass like a 1 ball.

The outside is often the scapegoat for any tough passes because pushing the ball to the outside is ideal due to where they are transitioned.

Imagine a setter running to get a ball and they are now way outside of the 10ft line, so they couldn’t successfully set up the middle as much as the outside because of the angle (the outside can see the ball as they set, unlike the middle when the setter is outside the 10ft line).

Be thankful that your setter (or other court players who got a touch off your initial pass) worked hard to keep the ball up after a 1 ball ranked pass because if they didn’t it could have been ranked a 0, since a 0 ball ranked pass is categorized as no touch following it (dead ball). 

0 (shank) ball pass

A 0 ball (aka a shanked pass) is categorized as a non-playable pass which cannot get a touch following the pass (dead ball).

A 0-ranked pass means your setter had 0 possibilities to set, and additionally, it means any of the other players on your court couldn’t get a touch as well as the 0 pass indicates the play is now dead.

A 0-ranked pass might be too low, in the net, or have gone way off the court (into the bleachers, way behind you, over the net and outside court lines, etc).

Essentially this means the pass is 100% unplayable because the play is dead following that 0 ranked pass. 

There is usually 0 conflict/confusion on biases for 0 ranked passes as that factor of the play being dead (whistle blown) makes a clear distinction. Additionally, there are no following touches from other players on your court making the play “dead”.

We detail what a “shanked” pass means in our post titled ‘5 common Volleyball terms you should know’ so check that out if you’re interested in learning the definition of this terminology!

Click the link below to read more about it:

https://www.defyinggravityvolley.com/blog/blog-post-title-two-ync5w

In conclusion…

It’s important to remember that although the ideal scenario is for the setter to get a second ball, your passes can still be ranked 3,2,1, or 0 if another player besides the setter gets the second touch. Usually, if you get a 3-ranked pass and the setter didn’t get that second touch, it could mean the setter messed up, the right side got it, etc.

Just try to remember many different scenarios can play out in the sport of Volleyball, so if you are confused about a ranking just ask your coaches or watch your game clips! 

Ranking passes is one of my most used statistics as a coach when analyzing statistics after a game. Plan to add game statistics to your to-do list as a coach if you haven't already. It gives you such a huge leg up against your opponents for an overall season, and my journey as a coach would be so different without those numbers.  

We hope to see you in future blog posts! 

-Coach T