Rules: Please review the rules before the tournament with your team to avoid any confusion.
Fouls: Please call your own fouls. Games are self-refereed. Participants are responsible for calling their own fouls- please err on the side of good sportsmanship.
Coed Volleyball Rules (Reverse 4’s and Coed 6’s)
For additional rules specific to Reverse 2’s and 4’s grass volleyball only, please scroll to the bottom
- Teams will only call fouls committed by their own players. Players will not call the fouls against their opponents. If there is a dispute on a call, re-serve the play. Contact an event coordinator for clarification of rules after match is completed.
- All players will conduct themselves in a polite and sportsmanlike manner.
- All balls must be hit cleanly. No scooping or carrying the ball. Only off of a driven ball may a ball may be double-hit (i.e. off arm and head in one continuous motion).
- Contact with the net (except for hair) in any way constitutes loss of point. A player that goes under the net but does not contact the net or interfere with the play is okay. *Note- if the wind pushes the net into a player, then this will not be considered a foul and play should proceed.
- A served ball may not be blocked, spiked or volleyed directly back over the net.
- A served ball may be received by volleying the ball, provided it is not volleyed directly back over the net (i.e. the ball may be volleyed to another member of the receiving team).
- A block or partial block does not count as one of a team’s 3 hits.
- The ball may be played by any part of the body.
- There must be at least 1 woman and 1 man on the court. Teams may play with less than the full lineup provided they have at least 1 woman and 1 man on the court.
- The minimum number of players required to avoid defaulting is two for Reverse 4’s and three for coed 6’s, with at least one 1 woman and 1 man on the court. Team captains can add subs to their rosters, so it is recommended that they take advantage of this to avoid having their team show up with less than a full lineup.
Reverse 2s and 4’s Additional Rules/Exceptions
- There are NO court position restrictions or requirements, but service rotation must remain the same throughout a single game. For example, players can stay in the same court position an entire game (at the net/back row etc.), but each player MUST serve in the same service rotation for the entire game.
- No open-handed tipping: Players who contact the ball with one hand and are putting the ball over the net must cleanly hit with the heel or palm of hand (a roll shot), with straight, locked fingers and a locked wrist (a cobra), knurled fingers (a camel toe), or with the back of the hand (locked wrist and locked fingers/knuckles. One handed placement or redirection of the ball with the fingers (dink or open-handed tip) is a fault.
- If a player is going to play the ball into the opponent's court by setting or volleying, the player must contact the ball with 2 hands above the shoulders and it must be set directly forward or backward in relation to the player's body (shoulders and hips should be in the same position from prior to the set happening). NO DUMPING! This applies even if it is the team’s 3rd hit.
- Men must take off from behind the attack line when spiking (i.e. back-row attacks only).
- Men can only block men.
- Men can play the ball while standing in front of the attack line; however, the ball must travel in an upwards trajectory and must cross the opposing team’s attack line.
Note that the above details are generic Grass Volleyball rules. The rules for each specific league may differ.