Friday, August 24, 2001
[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
Wahine break in At the State Farm Classic/ NACWAA tournament today, the University of Hawaii Wahine volleyball team won't just be adjusting to a new lineup and a new offense. The team has a new set of rules to contend with as well.
new rules
The four teams in this weekend's
State Farm Classic will be the first
women's teams to try out rally scoringBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comFour rule modifications, one experimental, mark the beginning of the 2001 collegiate volleyball season.
>> Rally scoring: Point per play scoring replaces traditional sideout scoring, where points were only earned by the serving team.
The first four games will be played to 30 points, with the winner holding at least a two-point advantage. The deciding fifth and final game will be scored to 15 points with the winner having at least a two-point lead.
"There may be some things that may have been important in sideout matches that might not be too important now," UH coach Dave Shoji said.
>> Let serve: A served ball that contacts the net and continues to the opponent's side of the net will remain in play. Balls that hit the tape and dribble over the net will be scored as points instead of serving errors.
"It's challenging," setter Margaret Vakasausau said. "We have to move our passing formation up so we have to take the deep balls with our hands all the time."
>> One toss per serve: A server has eight seconds after the referee blows the whistle to serve the ball and must do it on the first toss.
>> International pursuit: A player can retrieve a ball (on second contact) that has crossed the plane of the net to the opponent's free space, as long as the player does not touch the opponent's court and sends the ball back to their court over or outside the antennae. Coaches must agree to enact this rule before a match.
The National Association for Girls and Women in Sports, the rule-making body for women's collegiate volleyball, adopted the first three rules and has the international pursuit rule as an experiment for the 2001-02 season.
The libero, a defensive player who can sub in any position in the back row but can't attack or serve the ball, was not adopted.
The rule changes bring women's volleyball into compliance with the international rules set forth by the FIVB, the international federation of volleyball. NCAA men's volleyball played by the new rules this past season.
The rules, particularly rally scoring, were created to increase the marketability of volleyball. With rally scoring, the length of matches becomes easier to predict and more television-friendly.
Though rally scoring has the greatest impact on the sport, the let serve also contributes to changes in the Wahine offense.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
