Volleyball Rules: Scoring, Sets, and Player Positioning

Scoring a Point

A team scores a point in the following ways:

• By successfully grounding the ball on the opponent’s court.
• When the opponent team commits a fault.
• When the opponent team receives a penalty.

Faults and Penalties

Defining a Fault

A team commits a fault by making a playing action contrary to the rules.

• If two or more faults are committed successively, only the first one is counted.
• If two or more faults are committed by opponents simultaneously, a Double Fault is called, and the rally is replayed.

The Rally

A rally is the sequence of playing actions from the moment of the service hit by the server until the ball is out of play. A completed rally is the sequence of playing actions which results in the award of a point.

• If the serving team wins a rally, it scores a point and continues to serve.
• If the receiving team wins a rally, it scores a point, wins back the serve, and must serve next.

Winning the Match and Sets

The match is won by the team that wins three sets, as matches are played best of five sets.

Set Scoring Requirements

• The first four sets are played to 25 points.
• The final set (5th set) is played to 15 points.

A team must win any set by a minimum two-point advantage. Therefore, a set continues until one of the teams gains a two-point advantage, and there is no scoring ceiling.

8. The Toss

Before the match, the first referee carries out a toss to decide upon the first service and the sides of the court in the first set. If a deciding set (the 5th set) is to be played, a new toss will be carried out.

The toss is taken in the presence of the two team captains. The winner of the toss chooses EITHER:

1. The right to serve or to receive the service.
2. The side of the court.

The loser takes the remaining choice.

9. Player Positions and Rotation

At the moment the ball is hit by the server, each team must be positioned within its own court in the rotational order (except the server).

Player Numbering and Rows

The positions of the players are numbered as follows:

• The three players along the net are front-row players and occupy positions 4 (front-left), 3 (front-center), and 2 (front-right).
• The other three are back-row players, occupying positions 5 (back-left), 6 (back-center), and 1 (back-right).

Each back-row player must be positioned further back from the center line than the corresponding front-row player. The front-row players and the back-row players, respectively, must be positioned laterally in the order indicated.

Controlling Positional Faults (Feet Contact)

The positions of players are determined and controlled according to the positions of their feet contacting the ground:

• Each front-row player must have at least a part of his/her foot closer to the center line than the feet of the corresponding back-row player.
• Each right (left) side player must have at least a part of his/her foot closer to the right (left) sideline than the feet of the center player in that row.

After the service hit, the players may move around and occupy any position on their court and the free zone.