FSS Volleyball Rules and Regulations

Teams Each team will be consisted of 6 players (3 males and 3 females) on the court at a time. Each team may have substitute players on the side lines that may be put in the game only between rounds or during a time-out or for an injured player. A minimum of 4 players may be used in the case that a team does not have enough players. In this case, there must be at least 1 female on the court and never more than 3 males. At any point in time, if teams do not have the right number of males and females to form a team, they may substitute females in place of males. However, at no point in time can a team play with all males.

Eligibility All players must be at least 21 years of age in order to participate in any Frederick Social Sports event or sport. Players must be on a team roster, have completed a current registration form and signed a waiver in order to be eligible to play.

Substitutions

In the event that a team does not have enough players to start a game, substitutions can be made as long as both team captains have agreed and confirmed with the officials prior to the start of the game. All substitutions MUST be current FSS Volleyball members. No outside parties may join a game at any time. If at any time officials find non-members on the court, team at fault will receive an automatic forfeit.

Forfeits Teams may start with a minimum of 4 players (one having to be a female). If any team does not have enough players to start the match, they will get exactly 10 minutes before a forfeit is called.

Court of Play The court of play will be 60ft long by 30ft wide. The court will be divided into two equal halves. In the center of the court will be a net dividing the courts in half.

Matches and Rounds Each team will play for a total of 45 minutes, divided into three 15-minute matches. During each match, the two opposing teams will play until 25 points have been scored. If any match hits the maximum of 15 minutes, it will be called and the team with the most points will be declared the winners of that match. If both teams have the same score, it will be ruled as a tie unless it is during the playoffs where there will be a 3-minute sudden death match.

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At the end of each match, teams will have a 3-minute break then switch sides on the court to begin play of the next match.

Game Clock The game clock will be set for 3 fifteen-minute matches. The official will keep track of the time and sound a whistle at the beginning of each match. The official will notify teams when they have hit the fifteen-minute mark of each match and also at the final two-minutes of each match. Once a two-minute warning has been issued, serves must be made within 10 seconds.

Equipment The ball that will be used for Frederick Social Sports will be standard size volleyball. Players may bring their own ball for play. Players must wear closed toe tennis shoes in order to participate. No open toe shoes will be permitted.

The Game

The object of the game is to get to be the first to score 25 in each match.

Serve: To legally serve the ball, a player’s last contact with the ground before contacting the ball must be behind the back service line, anywhere along its length. Players must wait for the official’s whistle to initiate the serve. Players must contact the ball on their first attempt at serving or a side out will result. The ball is considered in play if the ball contacts the net before going over. A female must serve every other time.

Rotate: Clockwise only.

Calls: Officials make all the calls. All calls are final, no exceptions!

Blocking: Only front row players are permitted to block.

Contacting the net: A player shall not at any time contact the part of the net or its supports while ball is in play.

Crossing the centerline: A player may step on the centerline, but may not completely cross the line while the ball is in play.

Out of Bounds: Any ball(s) that contact the ceiling may be played as long as it is on your side and you have hits left to play the ball. If the ball lands on the line it is in bounds.

Contacting the Ball: If there is more than one contact made with the ball by a side, at least one of those contacts must be made by a female. A block does not count as a contact. Players may contact the ball with any part of the body above the waistline. Each team is allowed to contact the ball three times before the ball goes over the net. Same player cannot contact the ball two times in a row.

Time-out: Each team may use one time-out per game. Time-outs are to be 30 seconds long. The game clock will stop during timeouts. A “time-out” may only be requested by the captain on the court. The penalty for a second time-out is a point awarded to the opponent. A delay for an injury is an officials time-out.

Scoring The winners of each match will count as one point. Whichever team misses or hits out the other

2018_Volleyball Rules team gets a point regardless of who served. The team that has reached 25 points at the end of the match, or has the most points when the allotted time has expired, will be declared the winners. Winning team must win by 2 points At this time, the captain of both teams must sign the scorecard held by the official. If at any time the captain of either team disagrees with the scorecard, they must immediately notify one of the league coordinators.

Tie-breaking Procedures Ties in the standings will be broken in this order:

1. Head to head 2. Overall point differential PF-PA 3. Common games point differential 4. Coin toss If there are more than 2 teams that are tied, all the teams must have played each other in order for the results to go to head-to-head. Otherwise, we will go on to the next tie breaker which is the overall point differential and continue down the above procedure order until we have found a winner.

Playoffs and Championship The playoffs will hold the same rules as the regular season. However, in the playoffs, no games will result in a tie. Any match that results in a tie will continue in sudden death until there is a declared winner. (See sudden death rules).

Only the top teams in each division will advance to the playoffs. In the case that two teams have a tie record, the winner of the match between those teams will decide who advances to the playoffs. In the case that the two teams did not play, the total points earned for each team will determine who advances. The number of teams that make it to the play offs will be determined by the number of teams that sign up.

Referee/Official Complaints We understand that teams will not always agree with calls made by the officials. However, all decisions are final. If a team has a question or complaint with an official’s call or judgment, they must notify their team captain. Only the team captains may approach the officials with complaints and this cannot be done during a match. Complaints to the officials may be done in between games only. Please remember, our officials are only human and mistakes will probably me made. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of “instant replay,” so please remember to respect the officials calls at all times.

Conduct Frederick Social Sports is a social league where players can come out, meet people and have fun playing the sports they love. At no point in time will we tolerate obscene language, fighting, yelling at the officials or any other negative behavior. The officials reserve the right to eject players from the game for any of the above reasons. In the instance that a player is ejected, it will automatically be reported to the league coordinators, who will decide if any further actions need to be taken. Fighting and the use of obscene language may result in suspension or ejection from the league. Any player ejected from a game must immediately leave the establishment.

Get ready for a fun and exciting season of Volleyball with Frederick Social Sports!

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