Andrew Clifton, Head Coach at Oregon Tech University, talks about serve receive and how to be strategic about positioning.
Challenge the servers to hit small, difficult areas of the court (like sidelines). To do this, have your players take several steps inward into the middle of the court. If the server is accurate, she will serve to the sideline - to counter this, the passer can simply take several shuffle steps to the sideline and create an angle with her platform to angle the ball to the setter.
Naturally, if you have one player that is a dominant passer, they should cover more of the court. Similarly, if you are forced to play a weak passer, give her only a small area to cover. When watching the server to gauge her serve, pay attention to the height of the toss. If the server has to arch her back to reach the toss, the serve will likely be loopy. Also, watch the speed of the arm swing. If the arm swing is fast, the serve will likely come quickly and be deep in the court.
