Starting around 2018, engineers made volleyballs less aerodynamic on purpose. The older ones had 18 panels, and the newer ones had 8. The way these panels came together made one of the ball’s faces more aerodynamic than the others, making playing unpredictable. If an athlete hit the ball from one of its faces, it could go farther than if the same athlete hit the same ball from a different side because of the orientation. There would be less drag from the air moving around it if the athlete hit it faster, and this inconsistency could change the ball’s trajectory even more.
To make each hit more consistent, a new volleyball was created with 18 panels that had an updated shape and orientation. This ball has similar aerodynamics across all its faces, so even though one of the old 18 panel volleyball’s faces was more aerodynamic than any of the faces on the new ball, the new ball helps make performance a lot more consistent.