Steve had some good questions when I emailed him about his blog post and it occurred to me that I haven't taken the time I should to help explain some concepts, especially to our new coaches who have jumped in this season.  If the info below is helpful please let me know and feel free to ask about other concepts and I can find more videos and illustrate it for you.  

Here's a link to a video of the match Max played in last night.  Max's team is on the right side of the screen and Max is in the dark blue shirt (#2) as Libero.

https://portal.stretchinternet.com/augustana/portal.htm?eventId=618330&streamType=video

Please start the video at: 1:03:00 as this is the start of the 3rd set (Max didn't play in the first two) and I'll try to walk you through some things.

First serve of the match goes to Max.  Max is in the back row with two players who typically play at OH (#6 and #20).  Sidebar - #13 typically plays RS but for this first point he's positioned more like an OH (left side of net) after the play starts.  Later he primarily plays on the Right Side.  As a typical RS he does not receive serves.

So the first point I'll make here is that if you want to get kills, focus on ensuring your serve receive players (OH and L) have the best RCV ratings so they can provide a good pass to the Setter and he can make a good set to get the kill.  

Score 1:2 - Max comes out as Libero (he can't rotate to the front row).  #15 - MB comes off the bench and goes to the front row.  #10 (MB) goes back to serve.  The L/MB players have this relationship. 

Score 5-6: Near the end of this point the team on the left sent it over in the rally at the setter (#9).  So the setter had to take the first touch (and couldn't set the ball).  Max took the second ball and did a "platform set" (underhanded) over his shoulder to the OH (#6) who got the kill.  That gave Max an Assist.  When you see the SET skill for a libero, this is the type of spot where its used.  Not super common, but happens a few times in a set/match.

Score 10-16: Max takes the serve receive (I'd rate this between a 1 and 2), setter sets behind his head to the RS (#13) who gets the kill.

Score 17-22: Max takes the serve receive (perfect 3 pass) and the setter then sets the MB (#10) for the easy kill.  When your L or OHs make a serve receive pass like this it means the setter can essentially set all attackers.  This in turn makes it harder for the opponent to guess where the set is going and often the attacker just has one blocker to deal with (or the play runs so fast the blocker doesn't get there).

I would encourage you to take 20 minutes when you can and just watch the full set to see some things in action.  Please ask any/all questions you have.

If you look at a TMVL match result and click the "Report" tab you can see more on each touch of the ball on a point.  This level of text isn't perfect and may need some updates but its meant to show what's going on behind the scenes in the code.  

You will see some 0-3 ratings for things like serve receive, setting, and digging.  Essentially these mean:

3 - great/perfect

2 - very good

1- poor

0 - terrible (often the play ends right here)

Example of a perfect serve receive pass (3) and a kill. The pass gets a 0-3 rating (3 is best).  The set gets a 0-3 rating (3 is best).  The better the pass and set, the better the chance of a kill.

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Olivier Allison (SVR - 12) (QRM) Serve - In

[NN poss]

Ramon Murray (Best Passer) passes a 3

Wiley Reid (SET - 10) sets (2) Ares Mccann OH

Ares Mccann gets the tool kill of the block

NN 2 QRM 1

======================================

Here's one where the pass was pretty good (2) and the set was poor (1) which resulted in no kill on the attack as Howard had a dig.  

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The dig is a 2 (pretty good) and the set is a 3 (perfect) and the attack led to a kill"

Olivier Allison (SVR - 12) (QRM) Serve - In

[NN poss]

Ramon Murray (Best Passer) passes a 2

Wiley Reid (SET - 10) sets (1) Ares Mccann OH

[QRM poss]

Ares Mccann (ATK - 7) is dug by Andrei Howard (DEF - 9) with 2

Eliezer Hurley (SET - 16) sets (3) Andrei Howard OH

Andrei Howard gets the tool kill off the block

NN 13 QRM 19

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Here's what happens when on serve receive a team passes a 1 (poor).  Not a good outcome.  The pass was so bad that Ares Mccann set the ball.  Mccann is an OH, not a S.  When your OH is setting the ball (due to a bad pass) its rarely a positive outcome.  

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Vaughn Griffin (SVR - 12) (QRM) Serve - In

[NN poss]

Ramon Murray (Best Passer) passes a 1

Ares Mccann (SET - -1) sets (1) Kane Burnett OH

Kane Burnett OH (ATK - 8) attacks the ball out (0)

NN 3 QRM 11

============================================

Another serve receive pass with a 1.  Here the setter tries to put the ball in a good spot, but since its a poor pass the opposition can guess where the ball is going (to the OH) and Quincy gets a block as they are helped by this sequence. 

============================================

Andrei Howard (SVR - 10) (QRM) Serve - In

[NN poss]

Kane Burnett (2nd Best Passer) passes a 1

Ramon Murray (SET - 9) sets (2) Ares Mccann OH

Vaughn Griffin blocks Ares Mccann

NN 14 QRM 12

============================================

Bottom Line: For a strong serve receive, build up the RCV rating for your L and OH players.