The objective is to be able to set from pin to pin with a perfect or non-perfect pass. In short from anywhere to anywhere. At any tempo would be nice but that really comes down to your personnel and probabilities. There are also some options that are going to allow the hitter to create their own shot and help reduce setter errors. Like setting a high safe ball at 5x5 (five feet off the net and five feet in from the side line) from a bad pass allows the hitter to do the work of scoring.
Lets talk about non-perfect pass footwork:
Foot work is the key to making work. By starting from an open position (shoulders and hips open to the passers) taking and taking split step as the ball is contacting the passers arms greatly increases the setters ability to get to almost any ball. From the open position and split step the setter can get to balls passed out over the front of their right shoulder by going (Right, Left, Right,) and balls passed towards the right side line that are out over the left shoulder with (Left, Right, Left) If the setter is unable to get both feet down and set squared to the left side, the setter can pivot of the last step as they make contact with the ball while squaring to the left side. Here are few examples pay attention to the setter in white.
Here is a good Right Left Right and it gets set to a front row hitter who makes a great shot high over the block
The first set in this clip has poor footwork with the setter drifting into the net. The second set is the one to pay attention to. Right Left Right Foot work
A nice Spin Set
Left Right Left
Setting location, distance, and depth as the keys to a setters strategy when dealing with non-perfect passes. The objective is to score, so what height, what distance off the net and how wide or inside should you set to score the most points. Here are a few graphs from the a study by Gil Fellingham to help you make those choices. The show how high the probability is for the ball to be killed depending on the three dimensions mentioned.
Distance off the net
Height & Distance of set
Who it gets set to
