ACE

  • An ace should come when a served ball is mishandled. Not when the serve reception is good, but the setter doesn’t get off a good set. Second hit errors on the receiving team do not count as aces for the team that served, unless the serve reception was unplayable, and the second attempt was merely a desperation attempt.
  • For every ace, the opponent MUST have a reception error. Only ONE error per ace.

ASSIST

  • In order to receive a setting assist, the ball must go down for the kill. You can never have more assists than kills.
  • Rarely do the total assists equal the total kills, since they are registered on balls that are put back down on the opponent’s side from overpasses, etc.
  • In order to receive a setting assist, the ball must have been attacked, not blocked.

ATTACK

  • An attack is awarded off a tipped ball — it doesn’t have to be a hard-hit attack in order to count. Attack is the term used for the strategic hit, not the power used on the play. Any ball played over the net in an attempt to score a point should be considered an attack. Desperation hits or those simply to keep the ball alive count as free balls and no attack is awarded and no dig is given to the opponent.
  • When a player hits into a block, they are charged with an attack error and the player who went up for the block receives a block solo (if alone on the play) or block assist (if he/she went up with another player, regardless of whether one or both players touched the ball on the block).

BLOCK

  • A block is never awarded unless play stops and a point is awarded. A block is NOT awarded on a touch!
  • A blocking attempt in which a player blocks the ball out of bounds, does NOT result in a blocking error – that action counts as a kill for the opponent.
  • A blocking error is a call made by an official that ends play. Check out the stats manual for the list of situations that constitute a blocking error. (Note: A kill is awarded to the attacking team when a blocking error is charged to the defending team.)
  • A solo block is awarded if one player went up for the block.
  • Block assists are awarded if two or more players go up for the block, even if only one makes contact with the ball.
  • Blocks can NEVER total more than the opponent’s hitting errors.

DIG

  • A dig is never awarded when a team brings up a ball that remains on their side of the net via a blocking action (commonly called a cover or continue in Stat Crew, or a “putback”) – only on an attacked ball.
  • A dig can result from bringing up a tipped ball, not just a hard-hit attack.
  • A serve reception does not count as a dig.
  • In the situation where a player digs the ball and the next player kills the ball, award the player who dug the ball the dig and the assist.
  • Team A’s digs CANNOT total more than the opponent’s total attacks minus their kills and errors. Those are the ONLY balls that can be dug.

KILL

  • A kill is awarded on an attack that goes down for a point.

STATS TIPS

  • If you only have one person to do your team’s stats, have them sit next to the person doing the opposing team’s stats – frequent checks are then possible to make sure that an attack is awarded a dig, an ace is awarded a reception error, etc. Sitting on your team bench may be more familiar, but the purpose in being there to stat the match is to do the job correctly. The box score must balance at the end of the match, and it’s a lot harder to go back afterward and try to make corrections.
  • One team’s blocks will also be reflected in the opponent’s hitting errors.
  • Aces must equal the opponent’s serve reception errors.
  • Don’t give two players a reception error on the same serve. It must go to one person or the team.
  • Digs cannot be more than the total attacks that did not go down for kills or errors.
  • Generally speaking, if your team ranks among the nation’s leaders in categories that count for points, you should have a team that is over .500 – as you are one of the elite teams with such high numbers.
  • Rarely do teams rank among the leaders in both blocks and digs. Either the team is blocking the ball down at the net for a point (and is awarded a block) or the team is digging up an attacked ball (for a dig).
  • Be aware that often coaches count many more blocks for their player performance purposes than are actual statistical blocks. A block MUST be off an attacked ball and MUST go down for a point.
  • To do a rough addition of how the box score will balance out, if Team A def. Team B 25-21, 25-23, 25-20. Team A has 75 points, so you’d add up Team A’s kills, service aces, Team B’s attack errors, service errors and ball handling errors and the numbers should be very close. Team B finished with 64 points, and you’d add up their kills, service aces and to that total add in Team A’s attack errors, service errors and ball handling errors.
  • There are often a few points that don’t go down on the box score – bad sets, miscommunication errors in which a player is not awarded an attack error when no one is there to hit the set, etc. but you CANNOT end up with more statistical points than a team finishes with on the scoring.