Passing is the most important aspect of volleyball, and the most common passing formations include three passers in the back row that are responsible for creating a strong first contact than can be turned into a kill.
Passing responsibilities are to be established prior to games, so passers know which passer is responsible for which serve location. Every time you're in serve receive, the passers must communicate who has short and deep serves and who will shade left or right to cover the seams. Two techniques that are commonly employed at higher levels of play are:
1 | Pinching: When a team has a weaker passer, so more of the court is covered by only two of the back row passers.
2 | Shifting: Everyone stands in a starting position until the server tosses the ball, and then the passers all shift to different positions to trick the server.
