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Contacts, the pursuit rule, serving, attack faults, and why a block counts
The ball is in play from the moment the server hits a serve the referee has authorized. It is out of play when a referee whistles the fault. If there is no fault and a referee whistles to stop play, the ball is dead at that whistle.
The ball is in if any part of it touches the court, including a boundary line.
The ball is out when it:
You play the ball inside your own playing area. You can still chase a ball past your own free zone, including over the full length of the scorer's table.
Each team gets three contacts to return the ball. The block is one of them. Unintentional touches count too. A ball that clips a leg or a shoulder is a contact.
If you use a fourth contact, the fault is four hits.
The same player cannot hit the ball twice in a row. These situations are allowed:
A hard-driven ball can be played with a slightly longer contact, including an overhand finger action, when you are defending it. The contact still has to be a rebound. Catching the ball is a fault.
If teammates touch the ball at the same moment, it counts as two contacts, unless they are blocking. If both reach and only one touches it, it is one contact. Running into each other is not a fault.
If opponents touch the ball at the same time over the net and the ball stays in play, the team that receives it gets three contacts. If that ball goes out, the fault belongs to the team on the other side of where it landed. If both teams stay on the ball, play continues even when the contact finishes above the opponent's court. If the ball hits the antenna after that simultaneous contact, the rally is replayed.
You cannot push off a teammate, a post, or anything else in order to hit the ball. You can grab a teammate to stop them from hitting the net or landing on the other team. That is not an assisted hit.
| Fault | What happened |
|---|---|
| Four hits | The team contacted the ball four times before sending it back |
| Assisted hit | A player used a teammate or an object for support to hit the ball |
| Catch | The ball was caught or thrown and did not rebound |
| Double contact | A player hit the ball twice in a row, outside the exceptions above |
The ball can rebound in any direction. It can touch any part of the body. Simultaneous contact on several parts of the body is legal. What is not legal is holding it.
The ball has to cross to the other court through the crossing space: above the top of the net, between the antennae and their imaginary extension upward, and below whatever ceiling or structure is overhead.
The ball may touch the net on the way over. That includes a serve. A serve that hits the net and still crosses between the antennae is in play. A serve that hits the net and drops back, or that never clears the vertical plane of the net, is a fault.
A ball driven into the net can be played again, within the three contacts. If the ball rips the mesh or pulls the net down, the rally is cancelled and replayed.
A ball traveling under the net stays in play until it has completely crossed the vertical plane. You can step into the opponent's court to play it before that happens, or before it leaves the crossing space outside the antenna, as long as you do not interfere with the other team.
This is the pursuit rule, and it only applies to your first contact.
If your first contact sends the ball over the net outside an antenna, into the opponent's free zone, you may play it again. When you play it back, it has to cross outside the antenna on that same side. The other team is not allowed to stop you. If you send it back over the net between the antennae, or around the far antenna, the ball is out.
If your second or third contact goes outside an antenna, the ball is out the moment it crosses the plane of the net. You do not get to chase it.
In a block, you may touch the ball on the other side of the net, as long as you do not interfere before the opponent attacks. You cannot reach over and contact the ball while they are still setting or preparing the attack.
On an attack, your hand may follow the ball past the net. The first contact has to be on your own side, and you cannot catch or throw the ball.
You may step into the opponent's court, space, or free zone if you do not interfere with their play. Touching the ball or an opponent on their side before or during their attack is a fault. So is getting in their way while you are under the net.
Touching the net between the antennae, during the action of playing the ball, is a fault. That action includes the takeoff, the hit or the attempt, and the landing until you are balanced and ready for the next action. A player who is close to the ball and trying to play it counts as being in that action, even if they miss the ball.
These are also faults:
You may touch the post, the ropes, or the net outside the antennae, if it does not interfere with play and you are not using it to hit the ball.
If you drive the ball into the net and the net then hits an opponent, nobody is at fault.
The serve puts the ball in play. The server is the player whose turn it is, standing in the service zone. Who serves, and how that turn passes, is in Playing Format.
The first serve of the set goes to the team chosen by the toss. After that:
The first referee whistles for service after checking that both teams are ready and that the server has the ball.
Hit the ball with one hand or any part of the arm, after tossing or releasing it. You can move the ball around in your hands before that toss. You get one toss. If you release the ball and it lands without you touching it or catching it, that counts as the serve. There is no second try.
You can move freely in the service zone. When you contact the ball, or when you leave the sand for a jump serve, you cannot touch the court, the end line, or the sand outside the service zone. Your foot cannot go under the end line. After the hit, you can land in the court or outside the zone.
If your foot pushes sand and the line moves, that is not a foot fault.
You have 5 seconds after the whistle to hit the ball. A serve hit before the whistle is cancelled and taken again.
Your partner cannot hide the serve. A screen means the receivers cannot see the contact and cannot see the ball's path, until the ball reaches the plane of the net. Waving your arms, jumping, or shuffling sideways to hide both of those is a screen. If the receivers can see either the hit or the flight of the ball, it is not a screen.
Nobody on the serving team may hold their hands above their head during the serve, until the ball has passed the net. If the first referee thinks a team is screening on purpose, they can warn the captain before it becomes a fault.
The other team gets the point and the serve if:
You cannot block a serve. You also cannot attack a serve while the ball is entirely above the top of the net. Let it come over and play it as a reception. If part of the ball has dropped to the height of the net or below, an attack is allowed.
Anything that sends the ball toward the opponent is an attack, except the serve and the block. The attack is completed when the ball has fully crossed the net, or when an opponent touches it.
Any player can attack at any height, as long as they contact the ball on their own side of the net. The hand can follow through past the net.
These completed attacks are faults:
| Fault | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Contact on the opponent's side | You first touched the ball in their space |
| Ball out | The attack landed out, hit an antenna, or crossed outside the crossing space |
| Open-hand attack | You finished the attack with an open hand, or with fingertips that were not rigid and together |
| Attacking the serve | You attacked the opponent's serve while the whole ball was higher than the top of the net |
| Angled hand set over the net | You sent an overhand pass over the net on a path that was not square to your shoulders |
A legal soft attack uses the palm, the knuckles, or fingertips held rigid and together. Setting your partner with your hands, while the ball stays on your side, is an ordinary set. The open-hand limit applies when that contact becomes an attack to the other team.
If you set the ball over the net with an overhand pass, the ball has to travel square to your shoulders. Your chest faces the direction the ball goes. A dump that cuts sideways across your body is a fault once it crosses the net or an opponent touches it.
If you were trying to set your partner and the ball goes over, the direction rule does not apply. The referee judges whether it was an attempt to set your teammate.
Blocking is reaching higher than the top of the net, close to the net, to intercept a ball coming from the opponent. At the moment you touch the ball, some part of your body has to be higher than the top of the net. The ball itself can be lower than the tape. If you touch it and no part of you is above the net, it is a normal contact, not a block.
A block attempt is the same action without a touch. A block is completed when a blocker touches the ball. If both players are up together, the block is completed when either of them touches it, and that touch is still one team contact.
You may put your hands and arms past the net to block, if you do not contact the ball before the opponent has attacked. A set to a hitter is not an attack yet. A swing, a poke, or a dump toward your court is.
The blocking contact counts. Two contacts remain. Either player can take the next one, including the player who blocked. Quick extra touches during the block itself, by one or both blockers, still count as that one block contact.
You cannot block the serve.
Indoor rules do not count a block as a contact, and they allow an open-hand tip. The six-player versions are in indoor playing actions.