New volleyball rule: Line judges must switch sides if teams don’t

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Volleyball

Line judges will be required to change sides of the court between sets when teams remain on the same bench, per a new National Federation of State High School Associations rule passed at its January meeting.

The NFHS said the rule change was added to promote fair officiating.

“Since the pandemic, many state associations have adopted the rule to require teams to remain on the same bench throughout the match,” NFHS Director of Sports and liaison to the Volleyball Rules Committee Lindsey Atkinson said in a statement. “The unintended consequence of this adoption is that the same line judge officiates the same lines for the same teams throughout the match. This change allows teams to see both line judges and promote equity in officiating.”

The NFHS also passed a rule that allows for a player to change uniforms if the original uniform is “bloodied or damaged.”