III.

Rules

The players on a six-person volleyball team include three front-row players, who stand near the net, and three back-row players. The server starting the game stands anywhere behind the endline, serving over the net into the court of the opponents by tossing the ball into the air and striking it with the hand or fist. Only one attempt is allowed on the serve. By hitting the ball back and forth over the net, with the hands, forearms, head, or any part of the body, play is continued until one team fails to keep the ball in play—that is, in the air—or until a rule violation is committed. The ball must be returned by a team over the net after no more than three hits, and no player may hit the ball twice in succession. The return over the net must be done without catching, holding, or carrying the ball, without a player touching the net, and without entering the opponents’ area. A player keeps serving as long as his or her team continues to win points. The serve must rotate to a new player each time a team wins back the service.

Traditionally, a point could only be scored by the serving team. If a team failed to score, the serve went over to the other team. This is called a side-out. The exception was in the deciding game of a match, when rally scoring was used. In rally scoring, a point is scored on each serve, whether by the serving team or the nonserving team. Beginning in 1999, international volleyball switched to rally scoring in all games to help shorten match length.

The first team to score 15 points (traditional) or 25 points (rally scoring) wins the game, provided the margin of victory is at least 2 points. An indoor volleyball match consists of the best two out of three or three out of five games. Beach volleyball matches are usually one game, using side-out scoring, or best two out of three using rally scoring. Officials in competitive volleyball include a referee, scorer, umpire, and line judges.