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Is a Four-Player Passing Unit Better Than a Three-Player Passing Unit?
tl:dr
A four-playing passing unit is not necessarily better at passing compared to a three-player passing unit. It depends on the team you have and what the stats say.
Using four passers is still an excellent option to have if the team is struggling in the pass, can’t sideout, and is stuck in rotation. This is assuming the opposite can pass and you don’t need the back-row option.
Introduction
I have thought about having a four-player passing unit rather than the standard three-player passing unit (see link). This is where the opposite (assuming they can pass and you don’t need the back-row attack) comes in the passing unit along with the three main passers (the two outside hitters and libero). It is done at the elite level to help combat the biggest jump servers. However, it would make sense to do it at lower-level volleyball too where passing may not be the best. Having four passers will reduce the area of responsibility for each of the four passers compared to three passers. This should also make it easier for players to pass within the midline of the body, which we know players pass best from the midline.
I implemented this strategy in the second half of my first season with Flaming Six Coyotes (2021-22). It gave the team another option to change the passing line-up if they were struggling in the pass. I felt it worked great as it helped us get out of rotation and I thought the passing was better overall with four passers. I even reflected it was one of the big reasons why we won the London Division 1B title in our last match. I continued to employ this strategy in the following season in London Premier (2022-23). The serves in London Premier was much tougher and we did struggle. I made four passers the standard early in the season to combat this. Around halfway through the season, the players did ask to go back to three passers as the standard. I agreed because I didn’t see much difference in passing quality between three and four passers.
So I don’t actually know whether a four-player passing unit was better compared to a three-player passing unit. This is because I don’t stat whether the passing attempt was made in a three or four-player passing unit. I can only go by the coach’s eye test, which we know memories can fail you and thus why you need volleyball statistics. However, you can add this information in DataVolley. So is a four-player passing unit better compared to a three-player passing unit? Read below to see what the data says.
Method
The data used comes from Flaming Six Coyotes in the 2021-22 (London Division 1) and 2022-23 (London Premier) seasons. I would like more data but it was the only team I coached that made sense to regularly use the four-player passing unit strategy, i.e. the opposites can pass and I don’t need the back-row attack.
I collected passing stats in DataVolley. I graded the quality of the pass whether a pass was perfect (#), positive (+), neutral (!), negative (-), overpass (/) or an error (=). See the below chart for how it is generally defined. I did have to re-open those scouts and re-stat whether the pass came from a three or four-player passing unit.
The data does exclude passing attempts made outside the designated three or four players in the passing unit, e.g. when the serve lands short and the middle or setter takes the ball. It will also exclude passing errors made outside the designated players in the passing unit, e.g. a rotation fault is called on the setter. Finally, the data will exclude passing attempts made by the Super League liberos I recruited for a handful of matches. Their passing stats were a clear level above the rest of the team. I also only used them in a three-player passing unit because I didn’t want to reduce their area of responsibility if we went four passers. This would mean the passing stats of a three-player passing unit should be inflated by their stats.
The performance indicator I will use is the passing average. This is a weighted average calculation, where every action is weighted according to its importance. It goes from 4 points for a perfect pass to 0 points for an error. The full calculation can be found below. I will also use sideout % as another performance indicator. This is the percentage of passing attempts that results in winning the rally or siding out. The calculation can be found below.
Passing Average = ((Perfect*4)+(Pos.*3)+(Neutral*2)+(Neg.*1)+(Overpass*0.5))/Total Passing Attempts
Sideout % = Sideout Points/ Total Passing Attempts
Results
Women’s Super League Libero Stats
This is a quick look to see how the passing stats of the Women’s Super League liberos, Kanako Hayashi and Kennedy Snape, were way above the rest of the team. They were only used in a three-player passing unit so their passing stats would skew the passing stats of three passers. Hence, their data is removed.
Is a Four-Player Passing Unit Better Than a Three-Player Passing Unit?
Below is a table showing the passing stats of the three-player and four-player passing units during the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons. The 2021-22 data does align with my coach’s eye test that four passers were better than three passers. I probably wouldn’t tell the difference in a +0.11 in passing quality but I probably could see the sideout % difference of +9%. That is massive. The difference could have been bigger too. We mainly used four passers when we struggled in the pass, which probably means the serve was particularly tough. So if we used four passers when we didn’t struggle, i.e. the “easier” serves, the passing quality and sideout could have been higher.
The 2022-23 data shows a three-player passing unit is a little better than a four-player passing unit (1.91 vs 1.85). The sideout % difference is relatively small at 3%. This could account for my thoughts that were wasn’t much of a difference between 3 and 4 passers. I am still surprised three passers were better than four passers though.
Does The Passer’s Location in a Three or Four-Player Passing Unit Have an Effect?
I wanted to see if there are any patterns based on the location of the passer. Below is a table showing the passing stats by passer’s location (left, centre, right) in a three-player passing unit. The sideout % is highest with the centre passer and lowest with the left passer for both seasons. The right passer also has a high sideout %, although it’s strange that the passing average is lowest (1.74) in the 2022-23 season but highest in the 2021-22 season (2.47).
The table below shows the passing stats by passer’s location (left, centre-left, centre-right, right) in a four-player passing unit. The only possible pattern is that the right passer in a four-player passing unit has the lowest passing average by far. However, there are too few attempts in a four-player passing unit in the 2021-22 season so the passing average can drastically change with more data. This is probably why the sideout % for the right passer is high (64%) but the passing average (1.64) is very low.
Are There Any Patterns on an Individual Player Level When Passing in a Three and Four-Player Passing Unit?
I thought maybe the better passers do better in a three-player passing unit because they need the space to pass the ball. I know from personal experience that it does feel overcrowded with four passers. Below is a table showing the individual player’s passing stats when in a three and four-player passing unit. The players are ranked by passing average in a three-player passing unit. The data doesn’t really show that better players pass better in a three-player passing unit. It’s all a bit random. Players generally pass better in the three-player passing unit in the 2022-23 season and in the four-player passing unit in the 2021-22 season. This reflects the overall three versus four passers’ passing stats.
Another thing I wanted to see is whether some players generally pass better in a three-player or a four-player passing unit. Four players have passed in both the 2022-23 and 2021-22 seasons. If they passed better with either three or four passers in both seasons, then it could be a fixed thing. The four players’ passing data in a three-player and four-player passing unit can be found below. It shows some agreement with Akiko Abillo and Marky Horsakova that they passed better with three passers and four passers, respectively. There is no agreement with Giulia Belli and Jeanne Riot. It should be noted that all the players only had a few passing attempts with four passers so the passing average could have changed drastically with more attempts.
Discussion
Four passers are not necessarily better at passing compared to three passers. It depends on the team you have and what the stats say. In terms of passers’ location, the centre passer in a three-player passing unit had the higher sideout % while the left passer has the lowest sideout %. It is also possible the right passer in a four-player passing unit passes the worst by far but more data was needed. There are no patterns on an individual player level. Better passers don’t necessarily pass better with three passers and the same player may do better with three or four passers.
It would be nice if I had more data to draw from but Flaming Six Coyotes was the only team that made sense to have four passers. We can get stuck in rotation, I know my opposites can pass and I don’t use the back-row hit (because it’s ineffective). For my UCL Men’s and Flaming Six Leopards (Men’s) teams, the opposites can’t pass so it was not an option. I also find men’s teams do sideout a lot easier compared to women’s teams. For American School of London Boys, the three main passers were by far the best passers so it didn’t make sense to put in the opposite.
Moving forward, I still like having four passers as an option if we struggle in the pass, can’t sideout, and get stuck in rotation. However, it could be that the stats will tell me whether four passers should be the next option to take or continue with three passers by taking out a main passer and putting in the opposite.
Conclusion
Four passers are not necessarily better at passing compared to three passers. It depends on the team you have and what the stats say. However, I still feel it is an excellent option to have if struggling in the pass, can’t sideout, and get stuck in rotation. It does need to make sense for your team, i.e. the opposite can pass and you don’t need the back-row attack.
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