When the ball comes to your side, you get three contacts on the ball each time it’s on your side of the net. If Lexi Sun (6’2” outside hitter for NE) is hitting against a 5’10” blocker, the other team is likely to try to sub in a taller blocker for that rotation. Coaches manage those match ups with substitutions. Rotating changes that match ups for each team. Volleyball 102: The Back Row Attack Rule Explained Volleyball 103- Court Rotations Volleyball 104: Substitutions Can Get Technical Shorter players are generally better at defense because they are quicker and lower to the ground to dig hard hit balls toward the ground. Coach is likely to send in a defensive player as a sub for Stivrins. Let’s say the Husks sideout and when they rotate middle blocker Lauren Stivrins goes to the backrow to serve. Importantly, when you win back the serve the rules say your team must rotate clockwise so a new person serves. After your teams scores a point, you also win back the serve (called a sideout). That was ugly, or, really good if the Huskers are the right side of that score. So if a quick scan of the box score the next day shows you a 25-12, 25-15, 25-10 win. More than 10 points, yeah, total blowout. Wow, tight match! If the games were won by 5-10 points, it was lopsided. If a team wins 3 games to 0, it may not necessarily have been a blowout if it went, say, 25-23, 25-22, 26-24.

So if you’re into tracking margin of victory, or if you didn’t watch a game in person, you can tell pretty easily if it was a blowout by the score. On this note, my husband often asks about just how much better Nebraska is than their opponent. So if game 2 is tied at 24-24 then one team must get to 26 to win. You have to win by two points in any of the games. If a fifth game is needed it is played to 15 points. The first four games are played to 25 points. An NCAA volleyball match is best three of five games. Used to be, you could only score when your team was serving. This is called rally scoring, and wasn’t always the rule. ScoringĮvery time the ball is served, a point is scored. Only the three front row players can jump above the top of the net and block or attack the ball. Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesĬonsidering the line, here comes a critical rule to understand: If you are a backrow player you cannot attack (jump and hit the ball above the net) in front of that 10 foot line. Anyone in the backrow can attack if they are behind that line. Behind the 10 foot line is the lighter red color in this picture. This line delineates front row from back. There is a line on the court called the 3 meter line or 10 foot line for those against the adoption of the metric system (estimate with me). Of the six players, three are considered front row and three backrow. So, seven players starters even though there are only six on the court during play. She plays only in the back of the court and is there to improve the defense of the game or, in other words, keep the ball off the floor. There is a seventh player that wears the different color jersey from the rest, the libero (li-bear-row or lee-bur-oh, depending on your preference). Playersįirst of all, each team has six players on the court during play. So, as we are still about 100 days away from the first serve of the season, I figured why not? I am going to start basic here so if you’re already a seasoned volleyballer, you might want to just move on. One of our readers had a great idea for a beginners level explanation of volleyball.

Acc volleyball referee hand signals