Striking the serve

  • Hi, I had an argue with one of my colleagues regarding whether you can strike a serve (note: not block, but strike). Now I know that you are not allowed to block the ball which is higher than the net. But what about such situation:
    The server makes so called "baloon" serve (striking under the ball, when the ball goes very high with low pace toward the end on the opponent's court), and the opponent's player strikes the ball back (by jumping or not jumping depending on his height) toward another team like he would strike his own serve. Would that be a fault? The referee would somehow have to determine if the ball was above the net or not, but that's hard to determine as the horizontal distance between the net and the ball would be big (almost half court). Or the height of the ball compared to the net does not matter in this case?


    Thank you.

  • I don't think that the rulesmakers have thought about that.


    To see this type of serve, you are either outside (no roof, so skyball serve) or have a really big arena.


    In the game we are conditioned to reserve the serve (not spiking it).


    FIVB Official Beach Volleyball Rules 2013-2016
    Rule 13.2.4
    A player completes an attack hit on the opponent’s service, when the ball is entirely higher than the top of the net.


    FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2013-2016
    Rule 13.3.4
    A player completes an attack hit on the opponent's service, when the ball is in the front zone and entirely higher than the top of the net.

  • Screening a serve is forbidden. By screening a ball, you stop a served ball from entering your court when the ball -
    1. is partially above the net;
    2. is within the front zone of your side.
    3. bounces back to your opponents' side (so the ball is regarded as an attacking ball).


    Examples:
    A is a front row player, when the ball is served and enters into A's court, A hits the ball with any part of his/her body when the ball is entirely above the net and still within the front zone -
    Case 1: the ball bounces and flies in A's court, A's teammate B does the second hit. - Blocking a service is called.
    Case 2: the ball bounces back and hits the antenna/flies to the opposite side beyond the two antenna. - Touched out is called.
    Case 3: the ball bounces back to the opposite side within the two antenna. - Screening is called.


    C is a front row player but now standing after the 3-meter line, when the ball is served and enters into C's court, C hits the ball with any part of his/her body when the ball is entirely above the net and beyond the 3-meter line -
    Case 4: the ball bounces and flies in C's court, C's teammate B does the second hit. - No violations.
    Case 5: the ball bounces back and hits the antenna/flies to the opposite side beyond the two antenna. - Touched out is called.
    Case 6: the ball bounces back to the opposite side within the two antenna. - No violations, C is regarded having committed an attack.


    Refer to 12.5 and 13.3.4 in the latest official rules. I'm not an expert. The above is just my understanding of the official rules.


    Also do note that there's differences between different violations:


    For a back row player, his/her spiking in the front zone is a fault when the ball is entirely above the net.
    For a libero player, his/her spiking in the front zone is a fault when the ball is partially above the net.

  • "Spike" is actually not an accurate term in the official rules. The closest one should be "an attack hit", which simply means the ball travels from one side of the net to the other side of the net. It doesn't matter how high the ball is when it starts to travel, how fast it travels, or how powerful the player hits the ball.