A 5-1 is a more advanced volleyball system that allows for several hitting options including an Outside, Middle, Right Side, and Back Row attacks.
What is a 5-1?
The “1” means that there is 1 Setter that plays in all 6 rotations. The “5” means that 5 players on the court may be available as Hitters.
The Setter will be considered a Back Row Setter when positioned in the back row and a Front Row Setter when positioned in the front row.
Running a 5-1 is beneficial because you will have one Setter in all 6 Rotations. This will help with having a consistent Setter-Hitter connection.
Keep in mind that for 3 of the rotations, the Setter will be playing Front Row which means they will need to be able to block at the net. When the Setter is front row, it allows for an additional attack option of a Setter dump.
Running a 5-1
When the Setter is coming from the back row, most of the time you will want to “hide” them on Serve Receive. You can do this by pulling a front row player back to receive and have the Setter “hide” behind them or you can push the Setter up to the front row and have another front row player pull back to receive.
Video of a simple Serve Receive that can be run with a 5-1.
The video below was made for a specific team. Each team is a little different so design your Rotations however you want. The videos below can be used as a reference on how to design your 5-1 Offense.