method of attacking you must be able to control where you want the ball to go, and how you want it to get there.  Tipping the ball just to get the ball over the net is not acceptable.  A tip without purpose or direction is a free ball.  Statistics show that is more effective to just swing away to any area of the court than to tip the ball to a defended area.  The goal of your tip should first be to get a kill.  The second is to put the ball in a location that will force the defense to make a difficult play in order to keep the ball playable.  A tip that causes the defense to give a free ball back is an effective tip.

   The diagram to the left shows effective area to tip.  The X's represent base defenses, the white areas represent areas that are defended easily when tipped to.  The gray areas represent areas that tips are more difficult to defend.
   From this diagram you can see that there are two basic areas that should be attacked by tips.  The first is the area just behind the block.  A well placed tip in this area will either be a kill or will cause the defense and block to make a difficult play on the ball.  This will cause the block to over - extend and reach, or to turn and reach back in order to make a play on the ball.  Reaching back will

You want the ball to go just high enough for the block to not be able to reach it, and just far enough past the net where it will land right behind the block.  This will make it difficult for the defender behind the block to make a play on the ball.  Probably the most important way to improve the effectiveness of this tip is your approach.  An aggressive approach to the net will make it more difficult to read the tip.  Keeping