Volleyball Stats Glossary
Every term on your Tavo dashboard, explained in plain language — including what counts as a good number, so you're not just staring at a stat with no context.
Overview
Point Diff
The margin between points scored and points allowed (points for minus points against). The simplest measure of how dominant a result was, independent of final score format.
Sideout %
The percentage of points your team wins while receiving serve. A high sideout% means your serve-receive and first-ball offense are converting reliably.
Good benchmark: 60%+ is strong; below 45% signals a serve-receive or first-ball offense problem.
Point Score %
The percentage of points your team wins while serving (the mirror of sideout%). Combined, sideout% and point score% should roughly track your overall win rate.
Hit % (Hitting Efficiency)
(Kills − Errors) ÷ Total Attempts. The standard measure of attacking efficiency — rewards kills, penalizes errors, and accounts for volume so a low-error, low-volume hitter isn't unfairly overshadowed by a high-volume one.
Good benchmark: +.250 and above is solid; +.400 and above is excellent at most levels.
See this stat used in a real match breakdown.
Pass Rating
The average quality of serve-receive passes on a numeric scale, typically 0–3 (Error = 0, Poor = 1, Good = 2, Perfect = 3). One number that summarizes how cleanly your team is receiving serve.
Good benchmark: 2.0+ is solid; 2.3+ is elite.
Serve Eff. (Serve Effectiveness)
A net rating of serving impact — aces and errors weighed against total attempts. A player can have zero aces and still post a strong number if they rarely miss and consistently pressure the opponent's first ball.
FBSO % (First-Ball Sideout %)
The percentage of opponent serves that your team converts into a kill on the very first attack attempt (no dig or transition needed). This isolates how well your serve-receive-to-attack pipeline works in its cleanest form.
Transition K%
Kill percentage specifically on attacks that come after a defensive transition (a dig, a block touch, etc.) rather than directly off serve-receive. Tracked separately from regular hit% because transition attacks usually come off a lower-quality set.
Aces Allowed
The number of opponent serves that scored directly against your team's serve-receive.
Blocks
Total block stuffs — net kills scored directly at the net.
Digs
Successful defensive plays that keep a rally alive after an opponent's attack.
Longest Run
The longest streak of consecutive points scored by either team without the opponent scoring — a quick way to spot momentum swings.
Earned vs. Gifted
Earned Points
Points your team won directly through its own play — a kill, an ace, or a block stuff.
Gifted Points
Points that came from the opponent's unforced error (an attack error, serve error, or net violation) rather than anything your team actively did. A high gifted-points-against number usually points to a discipline and execution issue, not a talent gap.
See this stat used in a real match breakdown
Rotation
Rotation (R1–R6)
The six serving/positional rotations a team cycles through over the course of a set, based on serve order. Performance often varies significantly by rotation depending on which hitters and passers are on the front/back row at the time.
Sideout % by Rotation
Sideout% isolated to a single rotation. The fastest way to find exactly where on the floor a team is struggling, rather than just knowing it's struggling somewhere.
See this stat used in a real match breakdown
Attack
Kill
An attack that results directly in a point for your team.
Attack Error
An attack that results directly in a point for the opponent (hit out, into the net, blocked solidly, etc.).
TA (Total Attempts)
The total number of attack swings taken, regardless of outcome. The denominator behind hit% and kill%.
In-System vs. Out-of-System
Whether a set came off a clean, on-target pass (in-system) or a scrambled/imperfect pass (out-of-system). Hitters are almost always more efficient in-system — tracking the split shows how much of a team's offense depends on clean first contact.
Set Distribution
The share of total sets (and therefore attacks) each hitter receives. Useful for spotting when a team's offense is concentrated on one or two hitters rather than distributed to its most efficient options.
Pass → 1st Ball Kill Funnel
The conversion rate from pass quality (Perfect / Good / Poor) through to a first-ball kill. Shows exactly how much passing quality actually matters to scoring — usually a steep drop-off from "Perfect" to "Poor."
Serve & Receive
Positive Pass %
The share of all passes rated "Good" or "Perfect" (as opposed to "Poor" or an outright error). A cleaner, easier-to-read companion stat to pass rating.
Aces
Serves that result directly in a point without the opponent making a playable return.
Defense
Dig Errors
Defensive attempts that fail to keep the ball in play.
Dig Success %
The share of defensive attempts that successfully keep a rally alive.
Block Stuffs
Blocks that immediately end the rally in your team's favor — the most valuable outcome at the net.
Block Contacts
All touches at the block, whether or not they result in a stuff. A player can have high block contacts but low stuffs if they're getting hands on balls without finishing the play — still valuable for slowing the opponent's attack.
Rally Length (Contact Count)
The number of total contacts in a rally before it ends. Used to compare how a team performs in short, fast points versus longer, extended defensive battles.
Box Score Abbreviations
Abbreviation
Meaning
PTS
Total points contributed (kills + aces + block stuffs)
NET
Net point impact (points contributed minus errors)
K
Kills
E
Errors
TA
Total attack attempts
SA
Service aces
SE
Service errors
RE
Reception errors
BS
Block stuffs
BT
Block touches (all contacts, including stuffs)
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