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The lob comes off the back glass at chest height. What is the shot?
Lob off the glass at chest height: bajada. Drive it flat and hard, low, and follow it in.
You let a deep lob bounce; it comes off the back glass at chest height, in front of you. What do you hit?
Lob off the glass at chest height: bajada. Drive it flat and hard, low, and follow it in.
Why
When a lob is too deep to attack in the air but comes back off the glass at a comfortable height, the attacking answer is the bajada: literally "the descent": a firm, flat drive hit off the rebound, low over the net, aimed at the feet of a net player or through the middle. It turns a defensive situation into pressure, and it is followed to the net. The bajada needs the ball to come out at chest height or so; when it comes out low, the lob is the shot instead. Reading which one you are getting is done as the ball hits the glass.
What this means at your level
Beginner
If the ball comes off the back wall nicely at chest height, hit it firmly and low over the net. Then walk forward.
Intermediate
Turn side-on early, let the ball come out to you, and hit it slightly in front. The bajada is about timing off the wall, not power.
Advanced
Aim the bajada at the feet of the net player on the diagonal, or through the middle if they are wide. A bajada down the line at a good volleyer is a block volley for them.
Common questions
You let a deep lob bounce; it comes off the back glass at chest height, in front of you. What do you hit?
A bajada: drive it flat at their feet. Lob off the glass at chest height: bajada. Drive it flat and hard, low, and follow it in. When a lob is too deep to attack in the air but comes back off the glass at a comfortable height, the attacking answer is the bajada: literally "the descent": a firm, flat drive hit off the rebound, low over the net, aimed at the feet of a net player or through the middle. It turns a defensive situation into pressure, and it is followed to the net. The bajada needs the ball to come out at chest height or so; when it comes out low, the lob is the shot instead. Reading which one you are getting is done as the ball hits the glass.
Why not a lob, high and deep, to reset the point?
A lob is the shot when the ball comes off low or you are off balance. At chest height, in front, you attack.
What should a beginner do here?
If the ball comes off the back wall nicely at chest height, hit it firmly and low over the net. Then walk forward.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Aim the bajada at the feet of the net player on the diagonal, or through the middle if they are wide. A bajada down the line at a good volleyer is a block volley for them.
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 coming off the back glass. When do you hit it?
Move back with the ball, let it pass you, hit it in front of your body.
intermediateShort, high and yours. Bandeja or smash?
Deep ball, bandeja. Short ball with your weight going forward, smash.