Volleyball in 2001: The serve

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.