@article{2930735,
    title = "Multivariate analysis of the success factors in high-level male volleyball: a longitudinal study.",
    author = "Drikos, Sotirios and Sotiropoulos, Konstantinos and Papadopoulou, Sophia D. and Barzouka, Karolina",
    journal = "TRENDS in Sport Sciences",
    year = "2019",
    volume = "26",
    number = "4",
    pages = "177–185",
    publisher = "Poznan University of Physical Education",
    doi = "10.23829/TSS.2019.26.4-6",
    keywords = "attack,coaching,match analysis,outcome,performance indicators,skills",
    abstract = "Introduction. In volleyball a team’s performance in skills is connected to the game result and to the team’s success in a championship. Apart from analyzing the importance of each skill separately, assessing performance after classifying teams based on their ranking can be an effective procedure to understand the performance determinants. Aim of Study. The aim of the present study was to identify those parameters that discriminate the teams ranked in positions 1-2 from those ranked in positions 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12, through a longitudinal analysis of 12 championships of the Greek Volleyball League. Material and Methods. Performance data for all teams of 12 Greek Volleyball championships from 2005-2006 until 2016-2017 (n = 143) was used. The effectiveness of twelve (12) parameters from 5 basic volleyball skills: serve, attack after serve’s pass, attack after the defence, block and reception were examined. Multinomial logistic regression was used in order to model the relationship between predictors and membership in the six groups. Results. The multinomial logistic regression model was fitting well. The best predictors of a team’s success in the final ranking are serve errors, serve aces, passing errors, win attack after serve’s pass and after defence, and avoidance of blocked attack after serve’s pass. The increase of one unit in each one of these parameters increases the odds of being in the superior teams’ group. The relevant function classified correctly 79.2% of the teams in positions 1-2 and 65.7% in all groups. Conclusions. Volleyball coaches should focus more on the specific scoring skills of serve and attack in order to improve them aiming at increasing their team’s odds to be in the superior group."
}