Slide hitting is a high efficiency attack. The outside blocker must move along with the slide hitter and try to determine where the attack will come from. The hitter has several options at the point of attack. They can go down the line and they have a lot of space cross court. Going cross court is advantageous because it is against the flow of the defense and you are often attacking the setter.
It will take some effort to develop an effective Slide Hit attack as there are challenges for both the setter and hitter. In the video below Bond Shymansky, University of Iowa Head Coach does a great job of showing the key teaching points of the Slide Hit.
For more info about the DVD this clip came from click the link Developing the Slide Hitter
The YouTube video has sound, so make sure your sound is on and that you have access to the site.
Coach Shymansky explains the key teaching points to develop your Slide Hitter. First the hitter must anticipate that they will be set. This means the must turn and position their hips parallel to the net (do not turn and face the pass or dig). Once the ball is passed to the setter, the hitter must be patient. The coaching point is to Wait and Chase.
You want the hitter to be able to see the ball out in front of them as they slide to the outside. This allows them to adjust the final two steps and explode to the ball. The biggest mistake is to arrive to early and have to wait on the ball. You don’t want the hitter to “run out of real estate”
Coach begins by having the Slide Hitter face the sideline and he tosses the ball out wide. He does this to simply help her develop the timing an rhythm necessary to explode to the ball. He reminds the hitter to hesitate and then chase the ball. In this drill he gives the hitter different balls (tempo and location)so that the hitter can practice adjusting their last two steps.
Coach then moves back and to the side. The hitter turns her hips and faces opposite of coach and parallel to the net. Coach then passes to the setter, who in turn sets the Slide Hitter out wide. Again the emphasis for the slide hitter is to get the hips turned and then hesitate and chase.