Outside Hitter Attack Options versus Blockers

Coach,

One of my main concerns with my daughter's volleyball career is that she will develop shoulder injuries. So I will probably never mentioned this to her thanks for that

I just have one more question, and it is the $64,000 question: 

What does a hitter do when faced with outstanding blocking?

You touched on this below and maybe that is all that can be said. My daughter asked her high school coach this question and got no reply.

I watched some club volleyball footage and thought about it and came up with the following, but I have no volleyball background and so I don't really know.

A.  Consider hitting between the blockers

B.  Consider hitting over the blockers

C. Consider getting around the blockers

D. Consider aiming for a fingertip hit. ... So that the ball travels 20 feet out of bounds but it is a tip. Or it will drop behind the block.

E. Consider aiming for the outside of the blockers arm so that the ball will bounce out of bounds

F. Consider affecting the timing of when the ball gets to the block by hitting it slightly slower or by delaying when you hit the ball.

G. Consider overpowering the block so that the ball drops just on their side of the net.

     I consider this the least useful option but it seems like that's what many people do.

E.P.

If you could patent a protocol for outside hitters for attacking against a 2 person block, then you would be Velco rich!

As I had recently wrote, the first responsibility of the hitter is to keep the ball in or hit a Zero.  The second responsibility is to try for a kill, while minimizing the risks of a negative or error attack.

With those objectives in mind, there are really only two options; avoid the block or challenge the block.  By avoid, that means going line/angle away from the blockers and towards the defense (or over the blockers). In this scenario, you are challenging the defense to make good plays, and forcing the opponent into a transition attack.

In terms of challenging, this is when there is a hole in the block or the block is small or has poor blocking technique.  Sometime it is a good idea to challenge the block, because blocking is difficult and not many younger players are good at it.  

The better attackers are the ones who have the ball control to avoid, go over (with tips/roll shots), and then challenge on occasion.  Outside attackers practice hitting line/angle, to change speeds, to hit flat.  

The hitter that only hits one direction or style can be managed/defeated by the defense.  The attacker who is constantly adjusting angles/speeds is the one which is tough to stop.

Coach