From Scott Hammon,

Have you ever had a tough rally go bad because the opponents sent a high roll shot to an empty back court. Keeping the back covered is an important part of any volleyball strategy. Here is one strategy that keeps a person always in the back. The idea behind this is that there will always be one position that has the sole responsibility of covering the long balls. This eliminates the errors caused by difficult overhead passes, the dreaded husband/wife and any confusion when picking up the high shots. While the defense is a switch from traditional defense it is particularly effective against teams with no big hitter

Using the 6-2 offense, the back court is slightly modified so that one of the players always remains on the backline. When the setter is in position 1, the position 6 player sets up on the back line covering the deep hits. In the first graphic, you can see the standard set up for the 6-2 with the setter in the serving position. After the serve and subsequent pass and attack, the players switch to defensive rolls. Position 6, already near the back, pulls back and stands near the back line. This player is responsible for the entire back row. Any ball above the shoulders of the players in position 1 and 5 are the responsibility of this position 6. While it may seem like a lot of territory to cover, balls that are hit in this manner, generally travel slower and are not very hard to pass.

Now the setter in position 6, coming from the back middle, we know that they will receive the serve by having the setter push the middle front all the way to the net. After the attack, the team should transition by having position one move to the middle back and sit on the end line. The setter moves forward and right while the opposite back row hitter in position 5 remains forward and prepares for the attack. Now, the big difference with this attack is that the setter has to be prepared to pass if the ball comes his way on the angle. While the back row player will cover the deep attack angle from hitter on both sides, because that player so far back, the setter must be ready to pick up the short balls. If this happens, the second setter in the front row should pick up the set and set one of the other two hitters.

As usual, when the setter comes out of the back right or position 5, the setter pushes the front right player to the net and the front middle and opposite hitters back up to pass. After the attack, the setter slides over to the right side. By design the player in position one is already near the back line and can slide right over and cover back. As you can see, the nice pyramid shape is set up now. There is an alternate formation having the setter stay left, position one going up and having the middle back slide back and cover the back row.

There are many advantages to this style of play. The back defender allows the passers the flexibility to let a ball go pass them rather than making an error trying back pedal or turn and try and make a difficult pass. Although the back player does cover the entire back court, the balls are normally hit with high arcs that can quickly be picked up and passed.

The important thing about this is that your strongest passers should be forward and your weakest covering the back court. The majority of the balls will be picked up by the other two passers who are forward. Also it pulls the front row back for passing detail and covers a good deal of the court. However, if you are playing against a hard hitting team, you want to make sure you are positioning your players for good hitter defense.