Block Volley Against Bangers

Keep calm and volley on...

Sarah Ansboury and the RV Picklers taught us yesterday that the best defense against bangers was to reset the point. This is most easily accomplished through a simple block volley. But there are other options available - such as a punch volley or a drop volley. Deb Harrison has videos explaining the techniques of each of these shots that we will review over the next several days, beginning with the block volley.

The block volley is hit with the paddle parallel to to the net to simply deflect the ball straight back to the opponents. A prerequisite is that the player is positioned to hit the volley as described in my earlier post The Ready Position at the Kitchen Line. The position is also described in the first Deb Harrison video Pickleball Ready Position at the Non Volley Zone, Defending against Bangers, Part 1 that also discusses the block volley. The 3 key elements of the ready position are:

From this position, a block volley only requires moving the paddle into the path of the ball and holing it firmly enough to deflect the ball back. Most volleys will use a backhand from this ready position.

Backhand block volley

Forehand block volley

The ready position and the block volley techniques are explained in the following video.

Please note that Sarah Ansboury has an excellent video on block volley techniques. I included a post on that video last March called Block Volley.