The NCAA Volleyball Rules Committee has endorsed the idea of increasing the number of substitutions from 12 to 15 per game. The committee, which developed the proposal at its annual meeting January 25-28 in Indianapolis, will forward the concept to the Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) for possible adoption and implementation for next season.

"Substitution has been a discussion item for the rules committee since the committee's inception four years ago," said committee Chair Debbie Hendricks, head volleyball coach at Metropolitan State College of Denver. "When weighing all of the pros and cons, we really were most concerned by a team's inability to have enough substitutes to run the 6-2 offense in a longer game."

Many coaches responding to the rules survey said they believed the increase in the number of substitutions per game would increase participation opportunities and provide for greater individual specialization. Other coaches, though, viewed both of those as negative outcomes.

The increase in substitutions, and all other rules changes recommended by the committee, will be forwarded for the PROP's review February 23. Rules changes the PROP approves will be included in the 2005 rules book. Rules changes flagged by PROP will be reviewed by the NCAA governance structure and will not be part of the 2005 rules (see related story elsewhere on this page).

Other changes

The committee agreed to required a minimum overhead clearance, which will be 25 feet above the court, to the rules book. The new rule, which is the same as required for men's and women's basketball, will be listed as administrative and may be changed by the mutual consent of participating institutions.

Another facility requirement will be for the attack line to be extended beyond the court-boundary line starting in 2006. The interrupted line, which can be added with tape, will be highly recommended in 2005.

Committee members agreed to remove the exception that allows a back-row setter in the attack zone to set a ball that is completely above the height of the net toward a teammate without being at risk for committing an attack fault. If, in this situation, the ball is then contacted legally by an opponent, the setter has committed a back-row attack fault.

"This eliminates one of the options that a referee must consider in this difficult situation," said Marcia Alterman, the committee's secretary-rules editor and national rules interpreter. "The referee has to process a lot of information instantaneously, and one less possible outcome will allow referees to apply the rules more consistently. We were asking referees to decide if the setter was sending the ball in the direction of a teammate even though it only traveled a few inches, and we try to avoid making intent-based calls in the rules."

During a team's exclusive warm-up period, the opposing team will no longer be able to warm up behind or adjacent to the court. This is to reduce safety concerns from errant balls that may result from the opponent warming up so closely.

The committee also decided to list provisions on the use of memorial patches in the rules book to reduce confusion. The patch must not obstruct the player's number. If numerals are included in the patch, they should not be larger than one inch within the logo or patch.

Other highlights

Women's Volleyball Rules Committee
January 25-28/Indianapolis

In addition to the recommended changes in the accompanying article, the Women's Volleyball Rules Committee also supported the following rules changes:

• If a team arrives late to a match without prior notice and at least one game is forfeited, the warm-up period for any subsequent games will be the remainder of the 10-minute interval that started with the forfeit. Each team will be allowed one-half of that warm-up period for exclusive use of the court.

• If both coaches agree, the shared court portion of the warm-up period may be reduced from 41 minutes to 10 minutes for a combined event (for example, a volleyball match preceded by a non-volleyball event). This gives the coaches flexibility in the pregame protocol, if desired.

• When points are removed because of a position fault or wrong server, any timeouts taken by the team at fault during that span of points will not be removed.  The committee did not think it was fair that the team that was at fault would lose a charged timeout.

• A team-delay sanction will be assessed only if the referee deems that a delay occurred when a substitution request is granted but the substitution is not completed.

• A player who attacks a served ball while the ball is completely above the height of the net is illegal only if the ball is in the front zone. This aligns with the USA Volleyball and International rules.

• A tournament protest committee will be used only to determine the outcome of a protest if advancement relies on the outcome of the protest. Many tournaments are now round-robins, and the outcome of the protest does not affect the schedule or match-ups. In those situations, the protest procedure for a single-match event will be used.

• A protest filed by a team that loses the protested game but wins the match will now be considered. If the protest is upheld for the game that was lost, the games won and lost by each team will be adjusted as if that game did not happen. The loss of a game affects the statistics and cumulative record of a team and should be adjusted if the protest is upheld.

• The second referee is now allowed to stop play with the whistle if he or she clearly sees the ball hit the floor and the first referee is unable to make that determination. This aligns with USA Volleyball and International rules.