Drill by Evan McElhinny in Pittsburgh, PA.
Making drills competitive makes all the difference in keeping your players engaged. One of our favorite serve receive drills that gets our team to be competitive is our modified KSU drill. Everyone on the team (not just passers) participates.
We usually split our team by position (ex: one middle on each team, one DS on each team, etc.). Try to divide equally by passing skill level. Side A sets up 3 passers + a target and receives passes from Side B, who serves. Side A receives for 5 minutes and earns points depending on the accuracy of each pass (0, 1, 2, or 3). Coaches determine the "grade" of each pass and keep score. Side A rotates passers and targets about every 3 reps (extra passers rotate into a passing slot, targets rotate off the court).
Servers on Side B are tasked with serving competitively to prevent Side A from scoring, but 2 consecutive missed serves result in 1 point for the passing side. Each consecutive missed serve results in more points for Side A (ex: 3 consecutive misses = 2 points, 4 consecutive misses = 3 points, etc.).
After 5 minutes, Side A and B switch passing and serving roles. After Side B passes for 5 minutes, the team with the higher score is the winner.