top of page

Beach Volleyball Rules

BEACH VOLLEYBALL RULES

KAITLYN GREENMAN MEMORIAL SAND VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT

Rules of the Game

 

CO-ED TEAM PLAY RULES

  • Teams may play with 4-6 players. There is no male/female ratio to be met. If a team begins play with less than a full roster [6 players (REC) or 4 players (COMP)], they may add additional rostered players as play begins. Teams with less than 4 players will not be allowed to play for scoring purposes.

  • Teams have until ten minutes past the designated start time to field a full rostered squad. If at that time one team is unable to field a full team, it will result in a forfeit of the first game. If still unable to field a full team by 20 minutes after the designated start time it will result in a match forfeit.

 

SERVICE POSSESSION

  • A team earns service possession for the start of the first game by winning Rock/Paper/Scissors. The teams will then alternate service every other game.

 

ROTATION

  • Team members must rotate on the court and must remain in that position until the serve has been contacted. The player in the back right hand corner of the rotation will be designated to serve and continue to rotate clockwise.

  • COED formats may line up in any gender order. This means that males may be next to males and females next to females. It is NOT required to alternate males and females.

 

SUBSTITUTIONS

  • Teams are only permitted to substitute a player on their side-out or a TIME OUT (ALLOWED 1/game of 2 minutes).

  • Players arriving late to a game must wait for a side-out to fill a missing position.

 

PLAYING THE BALL

  • —Server must announce the score prior to serving.

  • LET SERVES—Serves that hit the net and go over the net to the opponent’s side will be “live” and are good serves.

  • THREE CONTACTS—Each team is allowed a maximum of 3 successive contacts of the ball in order to return the ball to the opponent’s area. (Exception: In the action of blocking an attacking ball, the touch, or contact resulting from the block attempt does not constitute one of the three successive contacts).

  • ATTACKING THE NET—Only the players that are in the front row of the rotation are allowed to attack the net. Violation of this rule would include any hitting or blocking that occurs above the plane of the net.

  • SIMULTANEOUS CONTACTS—When two non-blocking teammates touch the ball simultaneously, it is considered one contact, and any player may make the next contact.

  • CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONTACT—The ball can contact any number of body parts down to and including the foot, providing such contacts are simultaneous and the ball rebounds immediately and cleanly after such contact.

  • HELD BALL—The ball must be contacted cleanly and not held, lifted, pushed, caught, carried or thrown. The ball cannot roll or come to rest on any part of a player’s body.

  • HAND SETS—A contact of the ball using the fingers of one or two hands to direct the ball toward a teammate is a set. The ball must come into contact with both hands simultaneously and leave both hands simultaneously to avoid a double hit call. A player may set the ball over the net in front or behind them only in the direction in which their shoulders are squarely facing.

  • ATTACKING THE BALL OVER THE OPPONENT’S COURT—A player is not allowed to attack the ball on the opposite side of the net.

 

BLOCKING

  • Blocking is the action close to the net which intercepts the ball coming from the opponent’s side by making contact with the ball after it crosses or at the plane of the net. A block at the net is counted as one of the three hits allowed by the defending team.

  • PARTICIPATION AFTER A BLOCK—Any player participating in a block shall have the right to make the next contact, such contact counting as the first of three hits allowed the team.

  • BLOCKING A SERVE—Blocking or attacking a serve is prohibited.

  • BLOCKING A BALL ACROSS THE NET—Blocking of the ball across the net above the opponent’s court shall be legal provided that such a block is:

    1. After a player of the attacking team has spiked the ball or intentionally directed the ball into the opponent’s court, or has exhausted their third allowable hit.

    2. After the opponents have hit the ball in such a manner that the ball would clearly cross the net if not touched by another attacking player.

    3. If the ball is falling near the net an no member of the attacking team could reasonably make a play on the ball.

 

PLAYING AT THE NET

  • PLAYER CONTACT WITH THE NET—No part of the body may touch the net at any time. Contact with hair or part of the uniform will not be considered as a fault.

  • SIMULTANEOUS CONTACT BY OPPONENTS—If opponents contact the net simultaneously, it shall constitute a double fault and the point shall be played over.

  • —Beach volleyball allows any and all parts of the body to cross the center line as long as there is no interference with the opposing team.

 

TIMING

  • —For pool play: each match will be allotted 60 minutes of playing time. Any warm up time used beyond the scheduled start time will cut into this match time. If the third game has yet to start and is close to the end of the allotted, then the court volunteer has the right to stop play and record the results at that time. For bracket play: There will be no time restraints placed on bracket games. Each team will have the right to a 5 minute warm up (totaling 10 minutes per court), then play will begin.

 

STANDINGS & GAMES PLAYED

  • POOL PLAY—Each pool will aim to have 4 teams. All teams will face each other within their respective pool for an individual match. Points will be awarded on every rally. Each match will consist of 3 sets played to 15 points, regardless of 2-point advantage. Every point earned will be totaled with the team(s) earning the most points being ranked the highest for bracket seeding purposes. Ex: Highest allowable points are 45. If a team won all sets within a match they would earn 45 points. If this same team goes on to win all sets within their pool (3 matches) they would earn 135 points total. A team from the same pool could finish with as many as 132 points (Wins 3 sets vs 2 teams = 90 points & loses to the other team by 1 point in 3 sets = 42 points [14 x 3]; totaling 90 + 42 = 132). All standings will be kept at the Tournament Communications Table.

  • BRACKET PLAY—ALL TEAMS GO TO BRACKET! Based on the results (points earned) of the pool play, teams will be seeded and placed into bracket. Depending on the number of teams, some may receive first round byes. This is a single elimination tournament. To advance a team must win 2/3 sets. Scoring in Bracket is as described HERE: Matches will consist of the best 2 out of 3 sets, first 2 sets to 21 points w/ a 2-point advantage. If a third set is required, it will be played to 15 w/ a 2-point advantage.

  • REFS—ALL GAMES WILL BE SELF-REFFED. Captains are responsible for recording the results of their game with the Court Volunteer.

  • —Please immediately address a Court Volunteer if your team needs to forfeit. Teams have until ten minutes past the designated start time to field a full rostered squad. If at that time one team is unable to field a full rostered team, it will result in a forfeit of the first set. If still unable to field a full team by 20 minutes after the designated start time it will result in a match forfeit. A forfeit will result in the remaining team receiving full points (15 or 21) and the forfeiting team receiving zero.

 

PLAYER ELIGIBILITY

  • Players who have been placed on the roster and signed the waiver are eligible to play. If , player must have parental/guardian signed consent.

  • —In order to participate in this tournament, each participant must sign a waiver. Waivers are provided and must be completed and handed in no later than the first match of play. Players not present the first match of play will still be required to sign a waiver with our check in table before participating. Any player under 18 will need signed consent from a parent/guardian.

  • —Remember why we are here. This is a memorial tournament. Kaitlyn would compete, but do so by having fun—and smiling A LOT!. We are here to remember her and have fun while competing. We hope that all participants keep that in mind when becoming involved. Although the games may become intense, you can still be competitive while maintaining good sportsmanship. With this said, any behavior deemed unacceptable by the volunteers may result in suspension and/or ejection from a match or the remaining tournament. Abuse of volunteers will not be tolerated. Kaitlyn Greenman Memorial Sand Volleyball Tournament (KGMSVT) reserves the right to remove a player from a game or the remaining tournament if they are considered to be bringing down the quality of these standards. KGMSVT will not tolerate fighting. Fighting will be an automatic ejection from any game and in most cases ejection from the tournament and removal from the premises.

 

INCLEMENT WEATHER—CANCELLATION

This tournament may be postponed, rescheduled, or cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. KGMSVT makes every effort to play all scheduled games, thus we will not cancel games unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, please confirm that we have email and phone contact info for the team contact/captain. In addition, please check this first when in doubt. If you need to reach out to us, do so by email: give4kait28@gmail.com.

If games are cancelled, KGMSVT will email and call all team captains as soon as decision is made. It is then the captain’s responsibility to inform all teammates of the cancellation.

 

These policies are designed to make the day run smoothly and safely as possible. In addition, KGMSVT aims to provide continuity for its participants. Each player in this tournament is responsible for this information: please advise your team of these rules. Thanks for playing!

bottom of page