Tip by Brandon Lichtie in Amarillo, TX.
We call this the Modified Butterfly Drill. This drill was designed for two purposes; first, to make our OHs learn to hit different spots, and second, to teach back row coverage against an attacking OH.
Setup:
1.Line of tossers in right back at about 15 ft.(We start with 3)
2. Line of diggers in left back on the same side as the tossers. (First person should be in base.)
3. A line at target on the same side of the net as the tossers and diggers.
4. On the opposite side of the net, the setter, or setters if you run a 6-2, at target.
5. On the same side of the net as the setter, you have a line of hitters on the net on the left side. The first hitter starts on the net.
Execution: The hitter releases off the net for a free ball. When the hitter gets to the 10' ft. line, the tosser throws a free ball to the hitter. The hitter passes to the setter and kicks out for a high outside attack. The setter then sets to the hitter, and the hitter attempts to hit to the deep seam between the 5 and the 6 or to the deep 5 on the line. As the setter sets, the defensive player in left back releases to her read position and attempts to dig the attack to target.
Goal: We either do this drill for a set number of successful digs to target or for a set time.
Rotation:
1. Tossers go to the hitting line.
2. Hitters go to the digging line.
3. Diggers go to target.
4. Target takes their ball to the tossing line.
5. Setters stay
This is a progression drill. After we reach our goal or time limit, we add a middle back player to the drill. This allows us to work on our layering against an OH. In order to keep the rotation flowing, we just have our left back rotate to middle back, and then our middle back rotates to target.
Early in the season we let everyone rotate to all of the spots, so everyone understands our defensive philosophy and everyone gets swings. Later in the season, hitters only rotate to the tossing, target, and hitting lines; while back row players only rotate in the defensive positions. You can also add a right back player by making them toss and then get ready for defensive.