Before the match, the first referee carries out a toss to decide upon the first service and the sides of the court in the first set.
If a deciding set is to be played, a new toss will be carried out.
7.1.1 The toss is taken in the presence of the two team captains.
7.1.2 The winner of the toss chooses:
EITHER
7.1.2.1 the right to serve or to receive the service
OR
7.1.2.2 the side of the court.
The loser takes the remaining choice.
(FIVB Casebook 1.11)
7.2.1 Prior to the match, if the teams have previously had a playing court exclusively at their disposal, they are entitled to a 6-minute official warm-up period together at the net; if not, they may have 10 minutes.
7.2.2 If either captain requests separate (consecutive) official warm-ups at the net, the teams are allowed 3 minutes each or 5 minutes each, according to Rule 7.2.1.
7.2.3 In the case of consecutive official warm-ups, the team that has the first service takes the first turn at the net.
Volleyball Canada – All players should wear playing uniforms for the complete Protocol and warm-up. (FIVB Casebook 1.16)
7.2.4 Volleyball Canada – In an effort to reduce the incidence of injuries and concussions during warm-up, Volleyball Canada has developed the following warm-up protocol. This protocol is to be followed by all teams during the designated on court warm-up time: (VC Guidelines 7.1)
a. Athletes must remain on their side of the net immediately following an attack and only move to the opposite side of the net from outside of the court. Athletes are not permitted into the receiving court.
b. Any ball from the receiving side of the court, entered to the attacking side, must be entered from outside of the court.
c. Retrieved balls must be returned along the sidelines of the court and not through the receiving court.
d. If the team is using both sides of the court, i.e. full court game type activity – only one ball can be in play at any given time.
e. Opposing teams are not permitted to use volleyballs in the free zone during the other team’s allocated court time. It is recommended for the opposing team to support the retrieval of volleyballs for the team on the court.
For teams that do not follow the warm-up protocol, the referees will note on the score sheet the non-compliance of the warm-up protocol. The league, PTA, or Volleyball Canada will determine the appropriate sanction.
7.3.1 There must always be six players per team in play. (VC Guidelines 6.1; FIVB Casebook 2.05)
The team’s starting line-up indicates the rotational order of the players on the court. This order must be maintained throughout the set.
7.3.2 Before the start of each set, the coach has to present the starting line-up of his/her team on a line-up sheet or via the electronic device, if used. The sheet is submitted, duly filled in and signed, to the second referee or the scorer – or electronically sent directly to the e-scorer. (VC Guidelines 7.2; 7.3)
7.3.3 The players who are not in the starting line-up of a set are the substitutes for that set (except the Liberos). (Rules 7.3.2, 15.5)
7.3.4 Once the line-up sheet has been delivered to the second referee or scorer, no change in line-up may be authorized without a regular substitution.
7.3.5 Discrepancies between players’ position on court and on the line-up sheet are dealt with as follows:
7.3.5.1 When such a discrepancy is discovered before the start of the set, players’ positions must be rectified according to those on the line-up sheet. There will be no sanction.
7.3.5.2 When, before the start of the set, a player on court is found not to be registered on the line-up sheet of that set, this player must be changed to conform to the line-up sheet. There will be no sanction.
7.3.5.3 However, if the coach wishes to keep such non-recorded player(s) on the court, he/she has to request regular substitution(s), by use of the corresponding hand signal, which will then be recorded on the score sheet.
If a discrepancy between players’ positions and the line-up sheet is discovered later, the team at fault must revert to the correct positions. The opponent’s points remain valid and in addition they receive a point and the next service. All points scored by the team at fault from the exact moment of the fault up to the discovery of the fault are cancelled.
7.3.5.4 Where a player is found to be on court, but he/she is not registered on the team roster, the opponent’s points remain valid, and in addition they gain a point and service. The team at fault will lose all points and/or sets (0:25, if necessary) gained from the moment the non-registered player entered the court, and will have to submit a revised line-up sheet and send a new registered player into the court, in the position of the non-registered player.
(FIVB Casebook 2.01; 2.03; 2.07)
At the moment the ball is hit by the server, each team must be positioned within its own court in the rotational order (except the server).
7.4.1 The positions of the players are numbered as follows:
7.4.1.1 The three players along the net are front-row players and occupy positions 4 (front-left), 3 (front-centre) and 2 (front-right).
7.4.1.2 The other three are back-row players occupying positions 5 (back-left), 6 (back-centre) and 1 (back-right).
7.4.2 Relative positions between players: (FIVB Casebook 2.01)
7.4.2.1 Each back-row player must be positioned further back from the centre line than the corresponding front-row player.
7.4.2.2 The front-row players and the back-row players, respectively, must be positioned laterally in the order indicated in Rule 7.4.1.
7.4.3 The positions of players are determined and controlled according to the positions of their feet contacting the ground (the last contact with the floor fixes the player’s position), as follows (Diagram 4; FIVB Casebook 2.01; 2.02):
7.4.3.1 each back-row player must be level with or have at least a part of one foot further from the centre line than the front foot of the corresponding front-row player.
7.4.3.2 each right (left) side player must be level with or have at least a part of one foot closer to the right (left) side line than the feet further from the right (left) side line of the other players in that row.
7.4.4 After the service hit, the players may move around and occupy any position on their court and the free zone.
(VC Guidelines 7.4; FIVB Casebook 2.02; 2.05)
7.5.1 The team commits a positional fault, if any player is not in his/her correct position at the moment the ball is hit by the server (Rules 7.3 & 7.4). When a player is on court through illegal substitution, and play restarts, this is counted as a positional fault with the consequences of an illegal substitution.
7.5.2 If the server commits a serving fault at the moment of the service hit, (Rules 12.4 & 12.7.1), the server’s fault is counted before a positional fault.
7.5.3 If the service becomes faulty after the service hit, (Rule 12.7.2), it is the positional fault that will be counted.
7.5.4 A positional fault leads to the following consequences:
7.5.4.1 the team is sanctioned with a point and service to the opponent
7.5.4.2 players’ positions must be rectified.
7.6.1 The rotational order is determined by the team’s starting line-up and controlled with the service order and players’ positions throughout the set.
7.6.2 When the receiving team has gained the right to serve, its players rotate one position clockwise: the player in position 2 rotates to position 1 to serve, the player in position 1 rotates to position 6, etc.
(FIVB Casebook 2.04)
7.7.1 A rotational fault is committed when the SERVICE is not made according to the rotational order (Rule 7.6.1). It leads to the following consequences in order: (VC Guidelines 7.5; FIVB Casebook 2.06)
7.7.1.1 the scorer stops play by the buzzer; the opponent gains a point and next service.
If the rotational fault is determined only after the completion of the rally which started with a rotational fault, only a single point is awarded to the opponent, regardless of the result of the rally played.
7.7.1.2 the rotational order of the faulty team must be rectified
7.7.2 Additionally, the scorer should determine the exact moment when the fault was committed, and all points scored subsequently by the team at fault must be cancelled. The opponent’s points remain valid.
If that moment cannot be determined, no point(s) cancellation takes place, and a point and service to the opponent is the only sanction.