Volleyball Rotation Rules

It’s important to follow volleyball rotation rules because not doing so can result in a fault. When a player is out of position, a rotation overlap fault is called by the referee. The fault for being out of alignment results in a point being awarded to the other team. If your team was serving, you also must pass the ball to the other team for service.

When to Rotate

A volleyball teams rotates each time it is called on to serve. The player in the position to the back and the right serves. If the serving team wins the point, the person who served the ball continues to do so until his side loses the ball. The player rotates out of the serving position when the team gets the ball back.

Go Clockwise

Volleyball players rotate in a clockwise manner. Each player moves into a new “zone” for which he is responsible when there’s a rotation. There are six zones. Zone 1 is in the right back corner, where the server is. The zones move clockwise, so Zone 2 is the right front, and Zone 6 is the rear middle. The most common rotation fault occurs when the front right side hitter in Zone 2 is not in front of the outside hitter in Zone 5 when the ball is served.

Switching Position

Switching positions can only be done after the serve. Position switching is only allowed among the team’s front-line players. In the back row, the server becomes a setter, the person in the middle is a blocker and the person in Zone 5 is considered and outside hitter. In the front row, the person in Zone 2 is the right side hitter, Zone 3 is a middle blocker and Zone 4 is another setter.