How to Play Defense in Beach Volleyball feat. Taylor Crabb 

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He prob just stays in the middle behind the blocker running up and blocker blocks ball for over on 2 and he gets the shot

3 is faking cross and jumping line, 4 is faking line and jumping cross

It’s a shorter distance from the ball to the net when hitting line so you can hit it much more powerful and more straight down. When hitting angle have to hit it deeper and slower because it’s a farther distance to the net. So it makes more sense to block line because you are blocking the most powerful swing and digging an easier to dig swing. When you are blocking angle it is worse because the hitter can bounce the ball easier down the line, the hitter can drop the ball short quicker than it would take to hit a cut shot against a line block and it is easier to hit a deep angle swing than to hit a high line shot there’s just more court. Because the court is deeper and wider in the angle so you can hit a ball harder and flatter over the block making it very ineffective unless the block is very tall and the set is relatively close to the net. So even though hitting a perfect cut shot is harder to hit than a high line shot.. the hitter still has better options against an angle block for the reasons above.

@@JacobNorthrup121 Thank you for that! Can you explain a little more on your first paragraph please, specifically "distance from the ball to the net" I'm picturing an empty net with a good set to the same spot on both a line and angle hit. Forming I guess a right angle triangle between the two shots and the net (line hit and net form a 90 degree angle, angle shot maybe 45 degrees?). The extra distance you're talking about is that extra few inches the ball has to reach the net after contact from the hitter? Forgive my ignorance (I can't bounce a ball) but does it really make that much difference? Or are you talking about something else? Or is that the assumption that in a real game the 'perfect' set close to the net and in the right spot is not easy to do (although these pros sure make it look easy), so it's easier to take away line? And to combine your second and third paragraphs and from my limited experience, it's easier to dig a hard angle shot than a hard line shot is what you're saying? So leave that open more and over the course of a game the defender can make more plays/digs from the angle? Even though there's more court to cover?

@@fangman21 yes, exactly! Imagine there’s no block up the ball is 3 feet off the net and the defenders are playing side by side in the back court. Would it be easier to hit a cut shot or a short line shot and which one would hit the ground sooner? Also for the same reason if I’m serving from the right back I’m more likely to get an ace serving down the line than serving into the angle because the person down the line has less time to react (unless you hit it much harder into the angle which you can do because there’s more court over there).

@@JacobNorthrup121 Gotcha. Thank you so much! Still a little surprising to me that it's that high a percentage, but makes sense why at least.

I think if we are talking about full power swings, and pro players can do that from pretty much anywhere on the court, even high balls away from the net, then if you leave too many line shots, the attackers will crush and crush line balls and the only way to defend that is to be exactly at the perfect spot and that's still not a guarantee that you'll dig a super strong spike. Diagonal swings even if full power, are usually landing much deeper into the court and there is more reaction time. Also a push over the line block has to be with more height and higher curve than the push over the cross court block, since it's a shorter distance to land, therefore making it so that you have a little extra time to chase it. At more amateur levels the variety of angles for the power shots decreases, so at my level for example you rarely see huge kills down the line. If the attacker is not hitting the ball that much higher over the net then his possible angles are much tighter and the defender has a smaller area to cover. That's why we for example use more angle blocks, since that's where the attacker will usually go for a power spike and the line will usually be drop shots or deep pushes, which could be annoying, but certainly these are possible to dig.

I think it’s just for if you’re blocking smaller hitters who can’t turn a mean line. From what I understand the defender stays in the angle the entire time. I do this sometimes if I’m understanding him correctly

If I'm blocking a 3 or 4, I'll typically take a step after the hitter looks back at the ball. I'm repositioning my whole body. Reaching with arms/shoulders is more of a read on where the ball is when it's being hit and I'll do that on any block where I think it gives me or my partner a better play. That said, I'm not a pro. And it does looks like some of those guys may exclusively use arms for their 3s and 4s.

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