How to Run Serve Receive in a 5-1

Installing a serve receive system shouldn't be rocket science no matter the system you choose. Spending a practice or 2 to go over the layout of each rotation is vital to rid of any confusion or errors early in the season.

Step 1: Understanding a 5-1

Understanding exactly what a 5-1 is and why you are running it is important to understand the concepts of the serve receive system. The way you line up your players not only needs to be illegal but have specific strategy to alleviate any pain points for specific players.

Step 2: Walking Through Each Rotation

Sometimes practices need to be slow to teach the players not only how to do it but why they are doing it that specific way. Going through each rotation and teaching them who they need to be worried about with overlapping and understanding how far they need to go and who needs to pull back to pass.

Rotation 1

Rotation 1 is when the setter is in zone 1 on the court. How you label your rotations is up to you. For this explanation we are going to do it as if each additional rotation is just whenever the team rotations.

Pulling the OH1 from right front back into serve receive, stacking the setter right behind them. When service occurs, the setter will release to their target location to play the second contact.

Step 3: Next outcome

Same beats. Add a drill callout wherever a step has an on-court component:

When it breaks

• Symptom you'll see. The fix, in one or two sentences.
• Another symptom. The fix.
• Another symptom. The fix.

The checklist

• Step 1 outcome, phrased as a done-state
• Step 2 outcome
• Step 3 outcome
• The habit that keeps it working week to week