Timeouts and psychological momentum in volleyball

Coaching strategies reflect the belief that volleyball is a momentum-driven sport. This study investigated whether timeouts are associated with success for the subsequent play (i.e., a “sideout”) using archival data from Women’s Division I Volleyball in the United States. Sideout rates following 2529 timeouts from 234 matches were compared to the sideout rates of typical play from 3867 plays taken from 25 randomly selected matches. Results showed that the sideout rate for points following a timeout was similar to the sideout rate of typical play, suggesting that timeouts could be employed to reset performance. Additionally, the sideout rate was higher after timeouts when they were taken early in a scoring run as opposed to later in a run, and when the score difference is within 3 points, indicating that timeouts could thwart the buildup of momentum. These results have implications for the understanding of psychological momentum and coaching.