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The main attacking weapon in volleyball is the smash or spike; an opponent his the ball from above the net, across and downwards into the other half of the court. Blocking is the counter to the spike.
 Only the front line players may block the ball and they
are not allowed to contact the ball until their opponents have completed their attack. If a ball has obviously been misplayed straight across the net a blocker may play the ball, provided that in doing so he
does not prevent one of the defending side from playing the ball first.
The net may not be touched during the block and players have to be very careful that in their keenness to get the ball, they do not brush the net on the way up, as they reach across or on the way down.
The block can be broken down into the following phases:
Number of Blockers
The number of blockers depends on the position of the attack, i.e. wings or center, and the build-up of the attack.
In a single block, only one player blocks at a time. Good teams will often join two or three players in what is called a multiple block. The wider the block, the less court the remaining players must cover.
  In the wing positions two blockers are used whenever possible, and in the center
ideally all three should be used. But this is not achieved very often as the center attack is made very quickly. At the higher levels of play when the attacking team is using feint attacks it
may only be possible to use one blocker.
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The Block
