Volleyball in 2: Rotation and serving order
The ball must be hit, not held. A visible catch, lift or throw is a fault, as is a double contact on a set - the tell-tale sign being the ball spinning off uneven hands. A team is also faulted for four contacts, or for the same player touching the ball twice in a row when not blocking. First-contact judgement is more lenient, allowing hard-driven balls to rebound off a double touch. Keep Volleyball with “Rotation and serving order” and 2 from 2. A back-row player who attacks a ball entirely above the net from in front of the attack line commits a back-row-attack fault. Back-row players and the libero may not block at all; a completed block by either is a fault. Likewise, blocking the opponent's serve is illegal. Referees also fault a libero who attacks a ball above the net or who hand-sets an attacker illegally from the front zone.
A team may touch the ball a maximum of three times before it must cross the net, and the same player may not make two consecutive contacts. The classic sequence is pass or dig, then set, then attack. A team block is the exception - it does not count as one of the three team touches, so the same player who blocks may make the next contact. Letting the ball hit the floor, sending it out of bounds, or needing a fourth touch all end the rally in the opponent's favour.
The six players line up in a fixed rotational order recorded on the lineup sheet. When a team wins back the right to serve, all six rotate one position clockwise, so the player who was front-right in zone 2 moves to serve from the back-right in zone 1. This constant rotation is why every athlete must play front and back court, and it is the reason systems like the 5-1 exist - to keep a single setter running the offence through all six rotations.
At the moment the server strikes the ball, players must hold their correct rotational order relative to their neighbours - no back-row player may be closer to the net than the front-row player they sit behind, and adjacent players in a row may not cross. Break this and the referee calls a positional or overlap fault, awarding the point and serve to the other side. The instant the serve is contacted, players may release to their specialist base positions.
The notice keeps 2, “Rotation and serving order,” and 2. Those three are the bones of Volleyball. Keep Volleyball with “Rotation and serving order” and 2 from 2. 22
Figures to keep
- Year of the rule
- 2
- Figure in the game
- 2
- Sport
- Volleyball
- Rule line
- Rotation and serving order