Like any sport, volleyball uses its own kind of language to describe things you’ll see and hear during a match. Here are the volleyball terms you’ll hear most often.
General Volleyball Terms
Ace: A winning serve that’s not successfully returned by the receiving team.
Attack: Trying to hit the ball to the ground on the opponent’s side of the net.
Attack Line: A line on the volleyball court 3 meters (10 feet) back from the net that separates players in the front of the court from those in the back.
Baseline: The back boundary on a volleyball court.
Contact: Touching the ball.
Dead Ball: A ball that is no longer in play after a team wins a point or the match stops for some other reason.
Endline: see Baseline.
Fault: When a team does something against the rules, like a server stepping over the line during a serve.
Game: See Match.
Match (or Game): Winning the majority of sets (usually 3-of-5 or 2-of-3).
Play: An attack strategy that includes a planned fake.
Point: Teams receive a point for winning a rally, or if their opponent commits a fault or receives a penalty. A certain number of points wins each set. A certain number of sets wins the match.
Position: The word “position” in indoor volleyball can be a bit confusing because it can mean two different things – a player’s location on the court, or the role they play on their team (see indoor volleyball positions here).
Rally (or Volley): The process of volleyball play that begins with the serve and ends when a team scores a point or there’s a dead ball.
Rally Scoring: A scoring system where points can be won either by the serving or receiving team. Rally scoring officially replaced side-out scoring for most matches in 1999.
Referee: The lead official in charge of the match.
Rotation: Clockwise movement of players around the court (see here for more information).
Set (match definition): Volleyball uses the term “set” in two different ways. A certain number of points wins each set in a game (see point).
Set (player action): Hitting or directing the ball to a good position where a teammate can spike it into the opponent’s court (think of it as one player “setting” up a teammate to hit a winning shot).
Side-Out Scoring: An older scoring system where only the serving team scores points. If the serving team loses the point, the other team gets to serve but is not awarded a point.
Volley: See Rally.
Types of Hits
Assist: Hitting the ball to another player who then scores a point.
Block: One or more players jumping at the net to contest a spiked ball from the opponent.
Bump: See Pass.
Dig: A defensive play when a player keeps a spiked ball from hitting the floor.
Dink (or Tip): Softly tapping the ball over the net.
Double Hit: When the same player hits the ball twice in a row (see 2024 rule changes here).
Dump: Returning the ball back over the net on the second contact.
Fake: Pretending to spike or make another shot to trick the opponent.
Hit: Striking the ball with a hard, overhand shot.
Kill: An attack that results in a point.
Pass (or Bump): Making first contact with the ball with the intention of controlling it and sending it to a teammate.
Roof: Blocking an opponent’s spike or attack so hard that the ball rebounds back to the hitter and then hits the ground.
Serve: A player begins the point by holding the ball behind the baseline and then hitting it over the net to the opponent.
Spike: A hard hit by an attacker trying to make a shot that can’t be returned.
Stuff: Winning a point by blocking an opponent’s attack and deflecting the ball back to the opponent’s floor.
Tip: See Dink.
Touch: Contacting the ball.
See more details about types of hits in our Indoor Volleyball Rules article.
