Side-out percentage, explained
Every rally starts with a serve, so every point is one of two things: a side-out, won by the team receiving, or a break point, won by the team serving. Almost every useful team stat is one of those two, sliced differently.
Side-out percentage (SO%)
SO% = rallies won while receiving ÷ serves received
Receive 40 serves and win 25 of those rallies and your side-out rate is 62.5%. It is the measure of whether a team can win the ball back.
Earned side-out
Some of those 25 were the other team's serve errors, which you didn't have to play for. Earned SO% takes them out of both lines: with 5 serve errors in the 40, it is (25 − 5) ÷ (40 − 5) = 20 ÷ 35 = 57%.
First-ball side-out (FBSO%)
FBSO% = side-outs won on the first attack after the pass ÷ serves received
The purest measure of a serve-receive offence: pass, set, attack, point. A side-out won later in the rally — after the first attack was dug — is a transition side-out, and the gap between SO% and FBSO% is how much a team is winning ugly.
Break-point percentage
Break-point % = rallies won while serving ÷ serves
Also called point-scoring percentage. It counts aces, rallies won on defence, and the other team's errors while you serve.
Two sides of the same rally
Your side-out rate against a team is exactly 100% minus their break-point rate against you — each of those rallies is one or the other. That's the whole logic of rally scoring: siding out keeps you level; breaking serve is how you get ahead. When two teams side out at the same rate, the set turns on the handful of rallies where one of them doesn't.
| Side-out rate | Roughly |
|---|---|
| below 50% | The other team is scoring on its own serve more often than not. |
| 50 – 60% | Competitive at most levels. |
| 60 – 70% | Strong: hard to string points together against. |
| above 70% | Very hard to break. |
Read it by rotation
Totals hide the one rotation that loses sets. Split side-out rate by the rotation you were in when receiving and the weak one usually stands out — often, in a 5-1, a rotation with the setter in the front row and only two hitters (see 5-1 vs 6-2). Split it by pass grade and you can see what a 3 is worth compared with a 1.
Let the app do the counting
Every point in Flotion VB is stamped with the score and both rotations, so side-out, earned side-out, first-ball side-out and break-point rates come out per team, per rotation and per pass grade, with no extra taps.
No install, and your first 3 matches are free.
- Hitting percentage calculator — Attack efficiency: kills minus errors, over attempts, worked out as you type.
- The 0–3 passing scale — What a 3, 2, 1 and 0 pass mean, and how to turn them into a passing average.
- 5-1 vs 6-2, and the six rotations — Where everyone starts in all six rotations, with charts, and when a 6-2 is worth it.
- Keeping stats as a team parent — What to track first, where to sit, and how to keep up when the rally gets quick.
- Printable volleyball stat sheet — A free one-page sheet for a whole match: serving, receive grades, attacks, blocks and digs.