How different are Men's and Women's Volleyball?
A lot of people have said that men's volleyball is unwatchable because of the service errors. How different are the top women's and men's teams when it comes to service errors (and some other stats)?
The men’s game is known for many things, but arguably the most distinctive feature might be the service errors. Some people hate them. Other people don’t mind them. No one loves them…right? Apart from service errors, what are some of the differences between the sports? Let’s take a quick look.
The Who
For this exercise, I looked at the AVCA top 5 teams in men’s volleyball right now and compared their season stats to the AVCA top 5 women’s team at the end of the 2024 season. My idea was to compare the top teams and see what it takes to win at the highest levels.
On the men’s side, I compiled stats for:
Long Beach
UCLA
USC
UC Irvine
Hawaii
On the women’s side, we have:
Penn State
Louisville
Pittsburgh
Nebraska
Stanford
By the Numbers
Let’s look at four stats: Aces/Set, Service Errors/Set, Digs/Set, Blocks/Set.
The first thing that stands out is digs/set. The women’s game has almost double the amount of digs compared to the men’s game! I had a feeling there would be more digs (just from watching), but I didn’t think it would be this different. The rallies on the women’s side are epic and make the game so fun to watch. Unsurprisingly, the men’s game does have a higher kill percentage (.370% to .295%).
The next difference is not surprising. The men have more than twice as many service errors per set than the women. This is part of the game now on the men’s side and I don’t see it going anywhere.
For aces, the men do have more, but not as much as you might think. In return for their 2 additional service errors per match, the men only get 0.5 more aces per set. This feels like a brutal trade off.
Lastly, I wanted to quickly say that women have more blocks than men. To be fair, it is very close, but the women have the advantage here. You may think of digs when you think of the women’s game (for obvious reasons above), but maybe it is time to think about blocks too.
RPI & KPI
RPI
The Big West is doing all it can to create chaos atop the RPI rankings. Honestly, I love it. I don’t love RPI, but we are stuck with it for now.
KPI
This week we got our first look at the KPI Rankings. These are similar to RPI in that they are based on wins/losses and strength of schedule. The thing that KPI does better, however, is that it adds in location and margin of victory. At least, that is what they tell us. The formula is hidden so we don’t know for sure how they get the numbers. This is now the second year that the NCAA Selection Committee will look at KPI (and RPI) as part of their selection process.
Rankings Update
VBelo Rankings
Let’s take a look at the VBelo Rankings in a slightly different format.
Looking at it this way, Long Beach and UCLA look to be set apart from the rest. Behind them, we have Hawaii and UC Irvine in a virtual tie! I had to go two decimal places to show the difference between these teams. UCI is at 2420.41 and Hawaii is at 2420.39.
Once you get past Lincoln Memorial, there is a slight drop off and there is where we start to get to the dangerous teams. The top teams all have their eyes set on winning a national championship. The next group know that they can do it, but they will be underdogs. And if we have seen anything this year, it is that the underdogs can absolutely pull off an upset. This means we can’t count them out just yet.
Coaches’ Poll
UCLA received 2 first place votes this week, breaking Long Beach’s monopoly on the votes. After earning a huge win over previously-undefeated Long Beach, UC Irvine got the bump over Hawaii in the poll. There were some minor shifts based on wins and losses, but nothing huge.
The biggest news (at least for me) is Mount Olive making the poll for the first time in program history! This is incredibly well deserved as they are on a 16 match winning streak. After clinching the Conference Carolinas, I fully believe they are a top 20 team. (The VBelo model thinks so too!)
Media Poll
In’s & Out’s
A section for all of the random things that don’t fit anywhere but belong somewhere.
Moni-update: He still has an ace in every match he has played in college.
AVCA Player of the Week: Hilir Henno (Outside, UC Irvine)
Triple-Double Watch 2025: Never giving up!