Winning Matches: Winning at the Net

The court may appear open, but by volleying crosscourt I set up my opponent for the down the line pass.

From the backcourt, most players make a fundamental tactical mistake-hitting into the open court too soon. At
the net, the story is the same-too many players lose points hitting into the open court at the wrong time.

In the backcourt, the fundamental error is to go down the line too early in the point. At the net, the
fundamental error is the reverse, hitting the volley crosscourt too soon. Amazingly, even accomplished volleyers make this
mistake at the cost of many points and even entire matches.

In a backcourt rally, as we saw in Part 1, the best position for covering the court is on the opposite half
diagonally across from your opponent. The safe backcourt play is crosscourt, until you are able to hurt your opponent with a
strong down the line approach, or an outright winner. Hitting down the line when you’re not in the position to finish the
point opens the court to your opponent’s crosscourt reply.

At the net, however, geometry dictates that a player should stay on the same half of the court as his…