SECTION 1—ATTACKS
Article 1. An attack attempt (ATT) is recorded any time a player attempts
to attack (hit strategically) the ball into the opponent’s court. The
ball may be spiked, set, tipped or hit as an overhead contact. There are
three possible outcomes of an attack attempt:
(1) There can be a kill.
(2) There can be an attack error.
(3) The ball can stay in play. This is referred to as a “0 attack” (zero
attack).
Philosophy. Any ball that is played over the net in an attempt to score
a point should be considered an attack. Any ball played over the net simply
to keep the ball alive should not be considered an attack attempt.
The exceptions to an attack attempt are:
(1) An attempt is not charged on a ball played over the net on serve
reception that is kept in play by the opposing team. This is called
an overpass.
(2) An attempt is not charged on a free ball played over the net
when, in the opinion of the statistician, the free ball is passed only
to keep the ball in play.
(3) An attempt is not charged to a player if, in the opinion of the statistician,
the set is bad and the player plays the ball over the net
only to keep the ball in play.
(4) An attempt is not charged to a player if, in the opinion of the statistician,
the player passes the ball over the net only to keep it in
play.
However, if in any of the four above-mentioned instances the action
results directly in a point for the team playing the ball, a kill (see Article
2), and therefore an attack attempt, must be awarded.

Article 2. A kill (K) is awarded to a player any time an attack is unreturnable
by the opposition and is a direct cause of the opponent not
returning the ball, or any time the attack leads directly to a blocking error
by the opposition. A kill leads directly to a point. When a player is
awarded a kill, the player also is awarded an attack attempt.