Home advantage in high-level volleyball varies according to set number

The aim of the present study was to identify the probability ofwinning each volleyball set according to game location (home,away). archival data was obtained from 275 sets in the 2005men’s senior world league and 65,949 actions were analysed.set result (win, loss), game location (home, away), set number(first, second, third, fourth and fifth) and performance indicators(serve, reception, set, attack, dig and block) were the variablesconsidered in this study. in a first moment, performance indicatorswere used in a logistic model of set result, by binary logisticregression analysis. after finding the adjusted logistic model,the log-odds of winning the set were analysed according togame location and set number. the results showed that winninga set is significantly related to performance indicators (chisquare(18)=660.97, p<0.01). analyses of log-odds of winning aset demonstrate that home teams always have more probabilityof winning the game than away teams, regardless of the setnumber. home teams have more advantage at the beginning ofthe game (first set) and in the two last sets of the game (fourthand fifth sets), probably due to facilities familiarity and crowdeffects. different game actions explain these advantages andshowed that to win the first set is more important to take risk,through a better performance in the attack and block, and to winthe final set is important to manage the risk through a betterperformance on the reception. these results may suggest intragamevariation in home advantage and can be most useful tobetter prepare and direct the competition.