Volleyball Rules

The team that first scores twenty five (25) points in a game first shall win that game. A team must win by two (2) points, and there is no cap. The first team to win two games wins the match. Forty-five minutes are allotted to complete a match. If the match requires a deciding third game, the first team to reach fifteen (15) points with a minimum two-point lead shall win it. There will be a seventeen (17) point cap in the final game.

The legal playing area includes all court area on either side of the center (net) line up to the walls and dividing line between Court 1 and Court 2. The center line is considered to be finite and extends from sideline to sideline. If projectile of the ball is moving toward the basketball hoop with upward/sideways momentum the ball will be ruled dead. If the ball touches the ceiling and remains on the same side it will remain in play. At all times if the ball touches the wall it will be ruled out of play. If there are no antennae set up, the standards will act as the net boundary.

To legally serve the ball, a player’s last contact with the ground before contacting the ball must be behind the back service line, anywhere along its length. Players must wait for the official’s whistle to initiate the serve. If the ball, after having been tossed or released by the server, is not served due to a poor toss, it is considered a service tossing error. After a service tossing error, the referee must authorize the service again (re-serve). One service tossing error is permitted for each service. Multiple service tossing errors will result in a hideout.

Positioning: The position of the other players during service shall be within their playing area (but may not touch the court boundary lines) in serving order with each of the three forward line players in front of their respective back row players at the instant the ball is served. A player also may not overlap an adjacent player to the left or right of his/her position. The position of players is judged according to the place their feet contact the floor at the time the ball is contacted for service.

Opponents of the serving team may receive the serve with open hands raised above the head (e.g. players can set a serve). Blocking or attacking the serve is not permitted. The team that did not initiate service in a game must rotate one position clockwise prior to its first service.

Simultaneous Contacts: Simultaneous contacts are legal when the ball is played: by two teammates are considered as one play. Either player may participate in the next play. by opponents at the net. Such a play is termed a “joust”, and the officials consider the player behind the direction of the ball as having touched it last. If, after the simultaneous touch by two opponents, the ball falls and touches within the limits of the court, the team on the court is at fault; should the ball fall outside the court, the team on the opposite side shall be deemed as having provided the impetus necessary to cause the ball to be out of bounds and shall be at fault. NOTE: If the player “wipes off” or “tools” the block of the opponent, the opponent is considered to have touched the ball last.

Successive Contacts: Successive contacts will only be allowed in situations of simultaneous contacts by players, blockers, and/or opponents. It may also be allowed:

• When receiving a hard-driven spike
• When receiving a serve
• When a player may make successive contacts by two or more parts of the player’s body provided such contacts constitute a single attempt to play a hard driven ball on the first team play after the ball crosses the net.
• Back Row Players: Back row players forward of, or touching, the 10-foot line, returning the ball across the net, must contact the ball from below the level of the top of the net.
• CoRec Rule: In a CoRec game, if there is more than one contact made with the ball by a side, at least one of those contacts must be made by a woman. A block does not count as a contact.
• Area of Contact: Players may contact the ball with any part of the body, including areas below the waist.

Only front row players are permitted to block. Any player is considered as having the intention of effecting a block if the player places on or both hands above his head while in a position close to the net to block the ball after the opponents’ third hit or after an attack. An attack is defined as any third hit on one side of the net, or any other ball that is played with the intent to send it over the net. A block does not count as a team’s first play. NOTE: A “soft block” is considered to be a hit.

Effective for a league only: When there is only one male player in the front row, a back row male player may come to the front to block. A back row player may engage in any legal block while in front of the spiking line, but he may not engage in an OFFENSIVE PLAY.

A player shall not contact any part of the net or its supports while the ball is in play except with long hair. If a player inadvertently touches the official’s platform or net poles, it is not an infraction. The ball may be played off the net as long as the ball does not contact the net outside the side line markers. When the ball is driven into the net so that it causes the net or its supports to contact an opposing player, this is not an infraction as long as they did not contact the net by their own impetus.

A player may step on the center line, but may not completely cross the line while the ball is in play. Any part of the player’s body may be in the air below the net and beyond the center line if he does not interfere with the opponent’s play by touching the ball or the opponent; a player may reach under the net to When receiving a hard-driven spike When receiving a serve When a player may make successive contacts by two or more parts of the player’s body provided such retrieve a ball that is in play by his team. Touching the opponent’s court when crossing the center line with any part of the body is an infraction.

EXCEPTION: Feet or hands may partially cross the center line, but “shadowing” is not allowed (when part of the foot crosses the center line, but the heel is in the air over the line, this casting a “shadow”). This rule is strictly enforced due to the high potential for the net-related injuries.

The official must be notified before all substitutions. There are no limits in the amount of team substitutions, or substitutions per position. However, once a player is substituted for a particular position, (s)he must play in that position for the rest of the game. During substitutions, other players’ positions must remain the same. In a CoRec match, men and women may not substitute for one another. These rules are intended to provide all participants with a maximum amount of playing time.

Effective for a league only: The line-up must be alternating male and female positions.