Location: Outdoor sand court at the University Inn apartment complex.

Time: TBA (pending amount of teams). Games will begin Thursday, August 25, 2011. Games will be played on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Normally, a team will play one to two games a week.

• Game Duration: Each match will only be allowed to last one hour but will be the best of three games. (2 or 3 games = 1 match)
• Late Start: If a game starts late, both teams can either re-schedule the game at a time when the other teams will not be playing, or play a short game (ending at the time the next game is scheduled to begin). If the game begins half an hour late, I would suggest automatically re-scheduling or the team that is not present should forfeit (this is up to the captains who can consult with the IM coordinator for help).

Team

• Number of Members: A maximum of four players will be allowed on the sand court. A minimum of two will be allowed to play (the other team can still play with four). There is no limit to the number of members of a team, nor is there a requirement of how many members must be male or female.
• One Team: Each athlete is only allowed to participate on one team per sport. Substituting for a different team is only allowed for the first 5 minutes of game time to allow for a regular team member to arrive a little late (please don’t make this a habit).
• Team Captain: Each team will have one team captain or two co-captains. Captains will be responsible for: 1) Submitting the roster, spouse waiver forms, and team name; 2) Contacting other captains if re-scheduling is needed; 3) Resolving concerns during games regarding team member sportsmanship (if members of the other team are not acting appropriately, please contact the IM coordinator) and game calls; 4) Ensuring that a volleyball will be present (contacting the other team may be necessary if you can’t find one in your team).

Game Rules

• No Carrying: Defined as prolonged contact with the ball. This normally occurs during sets, bumping with the hand open such as when diving for the ball, and spiking that portrays catching or throwing the ball. Hitting with an open hand is permitted, but it must be a brief hit and not a catch-and-throw style of play.
• No Double-Hits: Players must alternate hits. Hitting or setting with two hands is permitted so long as both hands make contact with the ball at the same time and leave the ball at the same time.
• Number of Hits: A maximum of three hits per team is allowed per volley.
• Serving: Serves must begin behind the serve line–jump serves are allowed if the jump is started and contact made behind the serve line. Serves hitting or grazing the net first are fair play (if the ball falls in bounds it is a good serve, if it falls out of bounds without touching an opponent first it will be considered out and a point will be rewarded to the team returning the serve). Returning a serve by spiking is not allowed unless the receiving team has recorded a hit first. In other words, spiking or leaving your feet to return a serve is not legal.
• Blocking: Blocking spikes and volley returns is legal. Blocking a serve is NOT legal. Reaching across the net to block or tip a ball is NOT legal. Tips, while blocking, are not counted in the maximum number of hits per volley. If a player tips the ball while blocking, that player is allowed to immediately hit the ball again (only applies to blocking tips). Spiking the ball as a first hit for your team’s volley, however, is permitted. If a player touches the net or feet cross under the net during a serve, return or block the other team is awarded the point.

Scoring

• Rally: Each winning play counts as a point and the opportunity to serve–you do not have to be serving to score.
• Play to 25, Winning by 2: The first two games will be played to 25 points (rally score) and can only be won if one team is winning by at least 2 points.
• 3rd Game Scoring: Rally scoring will still be used; however, the game will only be played to 15. Winning by 2 points is NOT necessary to win this game.

Tournment

The tournament will be single elimination with each team earning a seed based on regular season performance. Criteria will be based on 1. Win/Loss Record 2. Number of sets played (less is better. If two teams have the same win/loss record the team with less sets played will be seeded higher 3. Point differntal (Points scored – points allowed) 4. Points allowed (less poiints allowed will be the higher seed) 5. Rabbit out of a hat.Tournament games will be scheduled on the regular days (Tues. and Thursday evenings). Winner will be the DCOM Sand Volleyball Champions.