The tomahawk in volleyball is a move where both hands flat and open, and fingers tight, and touching each other as if you were praying (fingers are not interlaced, but except the hands would be pressed together overhead. Often you make a chopping motion with the two hands.
This would more likely be used in beach volleyball where the rules on overhand passing are more strict with respect to spin.
It is a difficult move, and should only be used when absolutely necessary.
This situation would be when you are defending and the ball is either shot over your head and will land in the court, or when the ball is deflected off the block and flying over your head. In both situations, you would ideally turn around and move your feet to get to the ball and play it underhand. If you are off balance or simply cannot move that fast, use the tomahawk!
In indoor 6-man volleyball, double contacts are allowed on the first ball, so you dont need to tomahawk (hands together) - just try to set the ball (hands apart) for more control.
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It's when a person (normally in the front row) jumps up and makes contact with the volleyball with a downward swing of the arm. Normally a person will take an approach which is the footwork that goes along with a hit the footwork for a righty is left-right-left and for a lefty it is right-left-right. A hit is also called a spike.