Indoor Volleyball Rules – LA

FORFEITS/GAME TIME  

Please don’t forfeit. Your teammates and opponents count on you to have a full team and competitive game. Each team must have at least 4 players to start a game. Game time is forfeit time. Due to the extremely tight schedule, we strongly suggest arriving at the field 15-20 minutes before game time for stretching, changing, etc. since the games must start on time to complete the game.  

FORFEIT NOTIFICATION

To forfeit, please fill out this form.

Forfeits ruin the experience for everyone. ZogSports exists to give you an opportunity to play and build community and forfeiting is a huge bummer. If your team absolutely needs to forfeit, you must let us know in advance so we can contact your opponent so that they don’t unnecessarily travel to the gym/field.

If you do not inform us of a forfeit your team could face penalties in your league’s standings. Once ZogSports is notified of your forfeit, it is final (you cannot change your mind) and the other team will be notified.

There is no additional penalty if you show up short-handed (and need to add other ZogSports players to field a full team) and have to forfeit the game, since you did make an effort to get a team to play. So be sure to send as many representatives from your team as possible, even if you know it will be recorded as a forfeit loss.  

CLOCK/GAME TIME

• Teams will be given 60 minutes to play 1 match (3 games)
• There is no designated “warm-up” time. “Warm-up” time is to be included in the allotted amount of time that teams will have for their match 
• Teams will decide if they wish to “warm-up” or not. The longer teams take/choose to “warm-up” the less time they may have to complete their match
• If a game is stopped early due to time constraints the score at the time of stoppage will be final and reflected in the standings 
• Teams will have 10 minutes to field a team before they receive their first forfeit

TEAM SIZE/CO-ED RULES

PICKING UP PLAYERS 

• Since occasionally teams may be short players and ZogSports wants everyone to be able to play every game possible, we permit teams to pick up non-roster, ZogSports players for your game.  Before you get too excited, there are limitations: 

• Teams may pick up 2 ZogSports non-roster players when the team has: 

• •  2 total players show up*
• Teams may pick up 1 ZogSports non-roster players when the team has: 

• • 3 total players show up*
• *Teams can never pick up players to have subs. 

If both teams show up with an equal number of 4 or 5 players, teams are both to play with that number of players. Players may be picked up IF AND ONLY IF BOTH captains agree prior to the game to pick up an equal number of players (not exceeding 6 on a side).

All pickups must be identified at the start of the game. Teams can never pick-up non-ZogSports players. DURING THE PLAYOFFS, ONLY PLAYERS ON YOUR ROSTER ARE ALLOWED TO PLAY.

• Roster player arrives after the game has started 
• Non-roster player must be replaced by the roster player
• Non-roster player may not re-enter the game

Protests in regards to non-roster players must be made to referee or field manager before the game begins. If a player arrives late, a challenge must be made to that player before they start playing. Teams can only challenge specific players.

BEGINNING OF THE GAME 

• The team wearing more ZogSports shirts automatically wins the toss  
• If both teams have a comparable number of team shirts, the referee will have the two captains shoot odds/evens or rock/paper/scissors  
• The winning captain will select to serve first or choose which side they prefer to play on, (not both) 
• Each match will consist of three games.  
• Each game will count in the overall standings for regular season standings (if you win all 3 games in a match, your record is recorded as 3-0 for the evening, not 1-0) 
• Games are played to 25 rally scoring – win by 2 or first to 27 (the third game may go to 15 if necessary – at referee’s discretion)  
• One time-out per game is allowed 

VOLLEYBALL RULES
Serving:

• Let serves are allowed, and the ball can be played off the net on a serve
• The server may not step on or over the end line until the ball has been contacted
• The width of the service area is from sideline to sideline and the depth of the service area is infinite
• If a player steps on or over the line, a foot fault will be called and it will be a side out
• The serve receive may not be blocked or spiked or attacked with an overhand gesture towards the ball

Service Receive:
Players can return the serve by:

• Bump pass
• Clasping their hands together
• A closed fist
• Open-hand receive– You are allowed to set the serve

Players cannot return the serve by:

• Attacking the ball on the first hit. Contact with the ball must be made below the height of the net if it is to be directed back into the opponent’s side of the court
• Blocking

• You can use any part of your body to hit the ball as long as it is not a carry – Exception is the serve must be put into play with your arm
• There is no male/female hitting rule/order
• A defensive block does not count as one of the allowable contacts. A player may reach over the net to block a ball if: 
  • Any portion of the ball breaks the plane of the net.
  • After the offense has come in contact with the ball on the third attempt

   

• Contact of the ball when spiking is legal only if a portion of the ball is in contact with the plane of the net or on the hitter’s side of the net. Hitters may follow through over the net after legal contact as long as they do not make contact with the net. 
• The ball must be cleanly hit when spiking with an open or closed hand. 
• Guiding or carrying is illegal

No part of the body may touch the net at anytime

Rotation:
Teams must rotate after every side out.  This includes the first side out of the game. A team is not allowed to decide not to rotate for their first service

Teams may rotate in one of the following manners which must remain consistent for the entire game (teams may change rotation method from game to game within a match):

• Player for Player – A player who is out may substitute for a player who is on the court. These two players may only substitute for each other during the course of the game. Once you substitute in for someone, you may not substitute for anyone else. These two people may substitute an unlimited number of times
• Rotating In – All of your substitutes may rotate into one position on the court. You may not skip anyone unless it is to adhere to male/female ratio which limits it to no more than 4 men on the court at a time but as many females as you want. You can not have a separate male and female rotation. Players usually rotate into the service position. Rotation must do so in the same order throughout the course of the game.

To encourage more participation, teams may choose to rotate two people in simultaneously; however, both cannot enter the same line at the same time. In other words, 1 should enter the front line and the other should enter the back line.

If you play with 4 players, the server is considered back row. When new players arrive they may come in as soon as they are ready in the back row in a non-serving position

Double Contact:

• When one person double contacts the ball with one motion
• Double Contacts are allowed on the first ball over the net as long as it is one attempt to play the ball
• NOT allowed on a team’s 2nd or 3rd contact

Back Row Play:

• Back row players CANNOT spike or run up to block at the bet
• If a back row player wishes to spike a ball at the net, they must jump from behind the 10-foot line

USA Volleyball Rules apply unless stated otherwise

STANDINGS    

The standings for Volleyball will be based on the following point system:   

• Win: 3 points   
• Loss: 0 points   
• Draw: 1 point   
• Forfeit: -1 points

PLAYOFFS 

• Playoffs begin following the end of the regular season
• Teams should expect to have more than one match in a given night
• No players will be allowed to be picked up during playoffs
• All players must have signed the waiver by the first week of the season and be on your roster in order to be eligible for playoffs
• Teams that have violated the forfeit policy during the course of regular season (2 forfeits) will not be eligible for playoffs
• Playoffs are single elimination and games are a best 2 out of 3. Games will be played with the same scoring as the regular season.

TIE BREAKERS FOR PLAYOFFS/SEEDING  

1. Team with more forfeits automatically loses tie breaker 

2. Number of Wins  

3. Head-to-Head competition between all tied teams   

4. Record against other teams in or tied for playoffs (winning percentage – i.e., 0-1 is same as 0-2, but 1-3 is better than 0-1) 

5. Coin toss by ZogSports 

WAIVERS
In order to participate in the league, each participant must sign the team waiver. Waivers are provided and must be completed and handed in no later than the first night of play. Players not present the first week of play will still be required to sign a waiver with our staff before participating. Players must sign the waiver in order to be eligible for playoffs.

GAME CANCELLATION

• Games may be cancelled due to dangerous weather conditions, facility constraints or other unforeseeable reasons. 
• ZogSports will not cancel games unless absolutely necessary so you should always assume games are on unless you receive an email.
• Weather Alert Page at https://play.zogsports.com/weather-alert-hotline
• Weather Alert Hotline (332) 213-9023

SPORTSMANSHIP  

ZogSports is a Charity-Focused, Co-ed Social Sports League  

• While we appreciate the level of competitiveness in our league, we do not tolerate any unsportsmanlike behavior. This includes anyone who: 
• Antagonizes players on other teams or their own teammates 
• Exhibits excessive uncontrollable play 
• Inappropriately “mouths off” to the referee(s) 
• Verbally or physically threatens a member of our staff 
• Any player ejected from a game will be suspended for a minimum of one game upon league review  
• ZogSports reserves the right to remove any player from a game(s), season and/or future season. 
• ZogSports reserves the right to remove a full team from the schedule and/or future seasons if we feel they are unable to participate in a manner in keeping with ZogSports’ mission to provide a fun, charity-focused, co-ed league.