About Rally Scoring Rules

The Facts

• Rally scoring differs from the traditional sideout scoring method, in which only the team serving the ball could score. Because the team receiving the serve has the first opportunity to score, a match played under sideout scoring can take a long time to finish.
  A team scores a point whenever it successfully causes the ball to hit the floor within the opposition's area, whenever the ball goes out of bounds and is last touched by the opposing team and whenever the opposing team commits a violation. If the team serving scores, then it serves again. If the team receiving serve scores, it serves the next point.
  At the top levels of volleyball, matches are played over as many as five sets (sometimes called games), with the first team to win three declared the victor. The first four sets are played to 25 points; a fifth, if necessary, is played only to 15. In all cases, a team must win by two points, and the set will be played past 25 points if necessary. At some levels of high-school and lower competition, matches are played to only three sets, and the number of points needed to win can vary.
  In professional beach volleyball, teams play a maximum of three sets, with the first to win two winning the match. The first two sets are played to 21 points, with the third played to 15. As in indoor volleyball, a team must win by two.

Benefits

• Though a team must score more points to win a set, rally scoring is generally faster than sideout scoring. Under sideout scoring, a team must effectively win two consecutive rallies to score a single point--first claiming serve from the opposing team, then winning another point while on serve. Particularly in men's volleyball, where players are stronger and more powerful than their female counterparts, the difficulty of defending against a hard-hit spike can mean it is nearly impossible for the serving team to score.

Expert Insight

• Ruth Rehn, the assistant executive director, South Dakota High School Activities Association, was speaking in 2003 on the preparation for the switch from sideout to rally scoring--"When teams would play teams in other states and use side-out scoring, they would come back and say how boring and slow the game was. Coaches didn't even like coaching side-out scoring. Even those who initially didn't want the change, almost all of them came to me and said, 'We're sold.'"

History of

• Rally scoring was adopted in international volleyball in 1998. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which sanctions collegiate sporting events in the United States, adopted rally scoring in 2001. The National Federation of State High School Associations, which sets basic guidelines for high-school sports in the United States, introduced rally scoring beginning in late 2003, giving its member associations two years in which to make the change. In 2008, the NCAA reduced from 30 to 25 the number of points required to win the first four sets of a match.

Significance

• The change to rally scoring was arguably the most significant switch that could have been made to the game of volleyball. It was akin to awarding a football team a point each time it gained a first down, rather than six points for a touchdown. As such, adjustment was required, but it has been made, and most volleyball players would likely never consider the idea of going back to sideout scoring.