ASC Sand Volleyball Rules

ACES Sand Volleyball Rules

Teams:
· You can sign up as an individually or a team. Individuals will be placed on a team of 4. You can also sign up individually and request to be placed with a friend.
· Teams will consist a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 players.
· At least TWO people from your roster must be present. (Any gender)
· The games will be 4 versus 4 Co-Ed.
·  You may only have as many subs as players on your roster. For example, if you registered a team of 5 and one person is out, you can still get a sub to satisfy your total roster count.
- You always have to play with 2 guys and 1 girls.
- If only 1 person from the roster shows up, you may play with 3 people. At least one player must be a girl. (This doesn't apply in playoffs where all the players are required to be there).
· All team members should wear their league t-shirts.
· First set is considered a loss after 10 minutes late and then the game becomes a forfeit after 15 minutes.

Advanced only rules:
- No open hand-receive.
- No open hand-dink (redirection of the ball at the net with palm of hand), the ball needs to be a hit or a roll.
- Doubles Rules (minus blocks, not counting as touch).
- Doubles on hand-sets will be called. Maximum of 2.5 rotations on the ball. Ball has to come out of the hands clean.
- You are allowed to double a hard driven ball and the double needs to be "reactionary" (quick reflex and didn't have time to react since the ball was hit fast). Hard-driven is defined as a hit from a swing that has a downward trajectory from the point the start of the hit and is also a hard/fast hit.
- Hand sets can't go over unless it was due to the wind and was meant to be set to a team mate. You can set the ball over/or behind as long as your shoulders are squared (prior to making contact) to the trajectory of the ball and the push is not a double.
- A block does not count as a touch.

Intermediate rules:
- Doubles will not be called on hand-sets.
- Open-hand receive is not allowed on all balls (including serves).
- No open-hand dinks (redirections) allowed.
- Pushing over is allowed as long as feet/arms are squared. You are not allowed to push on serves though.
- Jump pushing in any direction is NOT allowed.

Scoring:
· Points are based on rally scoring; a team gets a point if the ball crosses over the net and hits within bounds on the opposite side. You do not need to serve the ball to earn a point.
· A team that returns a ball can only hit the ball at most 3 times before it needs to cross over the net.
- The ball cannot be hit by the same player twice unless it was blocked first.
· If the ball hits the line, it’s considered in. This is determined by the referee.
· A point and the ball will be given to the opposing team if a person touches the net.
· The first 2 games will be played to 21 points and must be won by 2 points. Maximum cap of 23.
· Players will rock-paper-scissors the 3rd game to decide serve/side and switch sides when a team gets 8.
· The 3rd game will be played to 15 points and must be won by 2 points. Maximum cap of 17.
- There are no caps on championship games.
· The team with the best of 3 sets wins the match.
· A legal hit is a single contact with any part of the body.
· A dink over the net has to be a knuckle hit or closed fingers, no open palm throws/push or finger tips are allowed. In other words, a player has to hit and follow through, otherwise only knuckle and close fingers (all 5 fingers must be close together) are allowed. You cannot redirect the ball with open hands, this is illegal.
·  A push over (trying to set across) requires the player to be squared up and facing the direction he/she is pushing. You cannot redirect across the net unless your body faces where the ball is being shot. This includes both your shoulders and feet facing the direction, the ball can be pushed backwards as long as it goes right behind.
- Jump pushes over are illegal. You must have both feet on the ground when pushing over the net.

Players Rotation:
· You can rotate if you want to or you can stay in your position throughout the game.
· A team member that rotates into the match must rotate in only on the serve. Remember, 1 girls needs to be on the court at all times.

Serving:
· You must rock paper scissors to determine serve or side. Best of 3 wins.
· Only one serve attempt is allowed.
- There is only 1 re-serve attempt that must drop to the ground or catch to re-serve.
· A serve can be underhand or overhand. Jump serves (both feet off the ground) are allowed.
· The player can’t cross the line before the serve has been made.
· Serving continues until a point by the opposite team is scored.
· The ball is still considered in play if it touches the net on a serve.
- If the wrong server serves the ball and the other team determines the error, the ball goes over to the other side and the other team gets a point.

Blocking/Net:
· It is considered a block when the opponent reaches higher than the top of the net and makes contact with the ball (any body part).
- A block does not count as a hit, the blocker is allowed to touch the ball again.
· If the net hits the player because of ball hitting the net, it will not be called.
· You may not reach over the net and block/tip a ball until the attacker has made contact with the ball. Reaching over means making contact with the ball across the net. After contact, opponent can make block/reach over the net. The player has to be attempting to "attack" to block.
· If a ball hits the net outside or right over the pole, the play is over.
· A player cannot block a setter who is clearly attempting to set to their own team mate. If the setter is attempting to hit over, then you can block the attack.
- If 2 players simultaneously block, this is considered one team hit, so you only have 2 more attempts to get over.

Time-outs:
· You are allowed a single timeout per game for no longer than 2 minute.

Violations:
· All violations will be determined by the referee and all decisions by the referee are final. If there are multiple opposing opinions about a play it is HIGHLY encouraged to replay the serve.
- All violations: lifts, open hand dinks/pushes, finger tip redirection, throwing, redirecting on open hand pass.
- You are never allowed to touch the net.
- You may go under the net as long as it does not interfere with the play.
- It is not considered a lift or double if you open hand receive on a hard driven hit. The double has to be reactionary and a reflex, this will be deemed by the ref.
- An illegal hit involves carrying, throwing, or scooping the ball with open hands.
- Players may not touch the post, ropes, or any other object outside the antennae, including the net itself.
· No blocking a serve. If a person jumps and blocks the ball immediately after the serve, it will be a block serve violation.
- You may block or spike from any position on the court since you aren’t required to rotate.
- Players must be respectful and show sportsmanship. Arguing with the referee or insulting players will result in penalty and player suspension. This is a social league, have fun and be courteous!
- Austin Crew & Everything Social reserves the right to send home any player without refund if he or she causes any problems with the league, players, or facility.

- If you have a question about a call, please have the team captain talk respectfully to an ACES staff or ref after the play is over.

Referring:
- Every team will be assigned to ref 3-5 games for the season. You may split up refereeing matches between team members.
- All refs should read the rules above before refereeing.

Scheduling:
- The schedule for the entire season and reffing assignment will be posted at https://www.acesintexas.com/pages/sunday-4s-schedule
- The season will be at least 6 weeks long. 7 weeks total including championship playoffs.
- Playoffs will vary between seasons, normally will consist of at least 4 teams per division.
- You may have a bye-week and double-headers.
- An email will be sent-out if weather doesn’t permit playing. Please check the schedule around 4 PM and/or our Facebook page. If the schedule doesn't show that games are canceled, it is assumed that we will still have games.
-Please be on time. There's a 5 minute warm-up unless the games are running behind. Please be ready to play as soon as the previous game is done if that game is running over.

Playoffs

*There needs to be at least 3 players from the roster for playoffs. If a sub is required, you are allowed only one same gender equal/worse talent as sub (equal or worse talent and at ACES discretion). Please have any sub approved by ACES prior to the playoffs. If you are missing 2 players, you will have to play with 3's, same gender and equal talent sub still applies here.