Volleyball Rules

Co-ed indoor rules commonly require alternating genders in the service order and, when the ball is played more than once, at least one contact by a woman. Verify with the league rule set.

Four-person volleyball is a recreational format rather than a governed one: leagues play it on grass, on sand and indoors, generally keeping the indoor targets (25, deciding set 15) and the indoor rotation with two front-row and two back-row players instead of three and three. Rotation, serve order and the back-row attack rule work exactly as they do in the six-person game; check the league rule set for co-ed and contact requirements.

Beach volleyball is played two a side on a court 16 m × 8 m — smaller than the 18 × 9 indoor court — with no attack line. A team IS its two players: there are no substitutions, so a pair that cannot field both players is incomplete rather than short-handed.

FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game

There is no libero in beach volleyball. A libero replaces a back-row player, and a two-person team has no back row and no bench to replace anyone from — which is why a libero designated on a small-court game is ignored rather than played.

FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game

Six per side in indoor play with three front-row and three back-row players. Leagues commonly allow playing with four or five to avoid a forfeit.

Standard rec matches are best-of-three. Many leagues play all three sets within the time slot for equal play, scoring each set in the standings.

Beach doubles has no substitutions at all: the two players who start the match finish it. This is the opposite of the rec indoor convention, where leagues commonly rotate everyone through at the service position rather than counting substitutions.

FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game

Teams change ends on every multiple of 7 total points in sets 1 and 2, and every 5 in the deciding set, so neither pair spends a whole set into the sun or the wind. Switching ends does NOT change which team is which — the score, the serve order and the standings all follow the teams, not the halves of the court.

FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game

Each team gets one 30-second timeout per set — half the indoor allowance. Sanctioned FIVB events add an automatic technical timeout when the combined score reaches 21 in sets 1 and 2; rec play generally does not.

FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game

Rec leagues commonly use "rotate everyone through" substitution at the service position rather than USAV’s limited substitution counts.

A back-row player may attack a ball above net height only after taking off from behind the attack (3 m) line.

USAV Rule 13

A team may touch the ball three times to return it; a block does not count as a contact. No player may contact the ball twice in succession except after a block.

USAV Rule 9

Touching the net between the antennas during action on the ball is a fault. Crossing the centerline is legal if part of the hand/foot remains on or above the line and there is no interference.

USAV Rule 11

The receiving team rotates one position clockwise when it wins the serve. Serve order must be maintained; an out-of-rotation serve loses the rally.

USAV Rule 7

This is the biggest difference from indoor play. In the sand a block counts as one of the team's three contacts, so a blocked ball leaves only two touches to return it — and the blocker MAY make the next contact. Indoors the block does not count at all and the team still has three.

FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game

There are no positional faults in the sand: with two players and no attack line, either player may stand anywhere on their own court at the moment of service. What IS fixed is the serve order — the partners alternate serving terms for the whole set, and serving out of order loses the rally. A team that wins a rally it did not serve takes the serve, and the partner who did not serve last serves next.

FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game

Serve underhand or overhand from anywhere behind the end line. A serve that clips the net and lands in ("let serve") is playable in modern rules.

USAV Rule 12

Every rally scores a point regardless of which team served. Sets play to 25 (win by 2, often capped at 27–29 in rec); deciding sets play to 15.

USAV Rule 6

Beach matches are best of three. The first two sets are rally-scored to 21, win by two, with no cap; a deciding third set is played to 15, also win by two.

FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game