Накат прошёл над сеткой.

Сеткой is instrumental singular of сетка.

That happens because the preposition над normally takes the instrumental case when it means above / over something:

• над столом — above the table
• над городом — over the city
• над сеткой — over the net

So in Накат прошёл над сеткой, the phrase над сеткой means over the net, and сетка has to become сеткой.

In the Russian past tense, the verb agrees with the subject in gender and number.

The subject here is накат, which is:

• singular
• masculine

So the verb must also be masculine singular past:

• он прошёл
• накат прошёл

Compare:

• волна прошла — the wave passed
• движение прошло — the movement passed
• удары прошли — the shots passed

The dictionary form is пройти.

This is a perfective verb, so прошёл presents the action as completed: the shot/motion went over the net as a finished event.

The imperfective partner is проходить. In the past, that would be проходил.

Very roughly:

• прошёл — went/passed, as a completed event
• проходил — was going/passing, or used to go/pass, depending on context

In this sentence, прошёл fits because the action is viewed as a single completed occurrence.

No. Although идти / пройти are often first learned as to go / to walk, they are used much more broadly in Russian.

Пройти can mean things like:

• to pass
• to go by
• to get through
• to elapse
• to move past

So here прошёл means something like passed/went over, not walked.

Both can be possible in Russian, but they emphasize slightly different things.

• над сеткой = above the net, focusing on height/position
• через сетку = across/over the net, focusing on crossing to the other side

So Накат прошёл над сеткой specifically highlights that the motion passed over the net, physically above it.

In sports contexts, Russian can use either kind of wording depending on what exactly the speaker wants to emphasize.

No. Russian word order is fairly flexible.

Накат прошёл над сеткой is a natural, neutral order:
subject + verb + prepositional phrase

But other orders are possible:

• Над сеткой прошёл накат — puts more focus on over the net
• Прошёл над сеткой накат — more marked, often more literary or context-driven

The basic meaning stays similar, but the emphasis changes.

Because Russian has no articles.

So накат can mean:

• a topspin / a shot / a roll
• the topspin / the shot / the roll

and сеткой can mean a net or the net, depending on context.

Russian usually leaves that information to context rather than using separate words like a and the.

Grammatically, накат is a masculine inanimate noun.

That is why:

• it has zero ending in the nominative singular: накат
• the past-tense verb is masculine: прошёл

A few singular forms:

• nominative: накат
• genitive: наката
• dative: накату
• instrumental: накатом
• prepositional: о накате

So from a grammar point of view, it behaves like a regular masculine consonant-stem noun.

Yes, сеткою is also an instrumental singular form of сетка.

But there is a style difference:

• сеткой — the normal modern everyday form
• сеткою — more literary, poetic, or old-fashioned in tone

So in ordinary modern Russian, над сеткой is the more natural choice.