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Your partner is pulled wide to the left at the net. Where do you go?
Move with your partner, like a rope between you. Wide on one side means the other slides to the middle.
You are both at the net. Your partner has to move wide to volley a ball by the left glass. What do you do?
Move with your partner, like a rope between you. Wide on one side means the other slides to the middle.
Why
The two players at the net are connected. When one is pulled wide, the other slides toward the middle to close the gap that opens there; when the ball comes back to the centre, both drift back to their home positions. The distance between the players stays roughly constant, three or four metres, and the pair is never split by more than that. The gap in the middle is where the next ball will go if you do not move, because it is the easiest target on the court.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Watch your partner's feet as much as the ball. When they move, you move the same way.
Intermediate
Cover the middle first, the line second. A ball down your line when you have shifted is a hard shot for them; a ball through the middle is easy.
Advanced
The slide should already be happening as the ball travels to your partner, not after they hit it. Anticipate the geometry.
Common questions
You are both at the net. Your partner has to move wide to volley a ball by the left glass. What do you do?
Slide to the middle with them, same distance apart. Move with your partner, like a rope between you. Wide on one side means the other slides to the middle. The two players at the net are connected. When one is pulled wide, the other slides toward the middle to close the gap that opens there; when the ball comes back to the centre, both drift back to their home positions. The distance between the players stays roughly constant, three or four metres, and the pair is never split by more than that. The gap in the middle is where the next ball will go if you do not move, because it is the easiest target on the court.
Why not drop back to the baseline to cover the lob?
Now one is at the net and one is at the back, and the diagonal between you is open. Stay at the net together.
What should a beginner do here?
Watch your partner's feet as much as the ball. When they move, you move the same way.
How does this change for an advanced player?
The slide should already be happening as the ball travels to your partner, not after they hit it. Anticipate the geometry.
Puzzles like this one
They lobbed you deep. Smash it or play the bandeja?
Deep ball, high hands: bandeja. The shot exists to keep you at the net, not to win the point.
beginnerThe ball is at your feet at the net. What now?
A ball below the net cannot be attacked. Block it deep and wait for one above the tape.
intermediateYour partner got pulled wide. Where do you stand?
The pair moves like one body. When your partner is pulled wide, you take the middle.