Professional Volleyball Rules

Volleyball is a popular recreational sport both at indoor gymnasiums and outdoors in backyards or at the beach. Volleyball is also a major competitive professional sport, with teams from around the world competing in annual tournaments for prize money and recognition. The Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) oversees professional volleyball rules, including the rules used by USA Volleyball.

  1. Court

    • According to USA Volleyball, a professional volleyball court must measure exactly 9 m wide by 18 m long, with the net at the center dividing the court into two equal halves. The court must be surrounded by a free zone at least 2 m wide. The free zone must be free from any obstructions, and the entire space for 7 m above the court must also be free from obstructions. Courts may be indoors or outdoors, but must always be uniform and symmetrical.

    Boundaries

    • All of a volleyball court's boundary lines are 5 cm wide. These lines delineate the court from the free zone and also form a center line and two attack lines, each of which is 3 m from the center line and parallel with it. The boundary lines are considered to be within the court.

      A professional volleyball net is 1 m wide. However, its height varies for the age and gender of the players. A standard men's volleyball net is 2.43 m tall, while a women's net is 2.24 m tall. The FIVB also recommends shorter nets for players over age 45 or under age 18.

    Teams

    • Professional volleyball teams consist of up to 12 players, with six players allowed to participate at any one time. All players must wear numbers on their jerseys and uniform shorts. Before play begins, the six players participating take up three positions close to the net (the front row players) and three positions farther from the net (back row players).

      Each position on the court has a number. From left to right, the front row players occupy positions 4, 3 and 2. The players along the back row, from left to right, are 5, 6 and 1.

    Play

    • To begin play, the referee conducts a coin toss with the captain of each team present. The captain that wins the coin toss may choose to serve or receive, or to play on either side of the court. Once all of the players are in position, the player on the serving team in position 1 serves from behind the back line of the court by striking the ball so that is passes over the net and into the opponents' court. The opponents then may strike the ball up to three times, using only the hands and arms, before returning it over the net to continue the rally. A team scores a point when the opposing team allows the ball to touch the ground or commits a fault by failing to return it to within the boundaries of the opposing court.

    Scoring

    • A professional volleyball game, called a set, is played to 25 points with one team winning by at least two points. Service alternates as the players on each team rotate through the positions in rising numeric order, with the player in position 6 moving to position 1. Service alternates between the two teams, but the team that served the first set must also serve the deciding set of a match. A match is played to three sets. If the match is tied two sets to two sets, the fifth set is only played to 15 points.