SWCAC Volleyball Rules (revised August 2024): 

Please be sure that all of your coaches see and familiarize themselves with the rules. It is important that  athleƟc directors provide copies of these rules to their coaches.  

The SWCAC generally follows NFHS rules for match compeƟƟon, except where a difference is noted in  our league rules below.  

A. Court specificaƟons: (all apply to both high school and middle school courts)  1. Courts should be a minimum of 60 feet long and 30 feet wide, with a spike line running across the  width of the court, 10 feet from the net.  

 2. The net height must be 7 feet, 4 1/8 inches.  

 3. The minimum ceiling height is 23 feet.  

 4. If the court does not meet these standards, no league regular season or playoff match can be played  there. For a regular season match to be played on a court that does not meet these standards, an  excepƟon must be submiƩed by request to the volleyball commissioners and approved by league vote  before the season begins. (A “league match” is defined as a match that counts for league standings. If  your court does not meet these specificaƟons and you intend to play a non-league match there, please  sƟll communicate with your opponent ahead of Ɵme to make them aware of the court specificaƟons and  to allow them to choose whether they wish to play on your court.)  

B. Ball specificaƟons 

 1. All matches (high school and middle school) will be played with a volleyball that is at least 25 inches,  but no more than 27 inches, in circumference.  

 2. The ball should be 9-10 ounces when inflated.  

 3. Home teams are responsible for providing game balls of the proper size and weight.  

C. Match specificaƟons 

 1. All matches (high school and middle school) should be played via a best-of-five sets format. Rally  scoring is used, and each set will be played to 25 points (must win by two points).   2. If the match is Ɵed aŌer the fourth set, the fiŌh set will be played to 15 points (must win by two  points).  

D. OfficiaƟng 

 1. A minimum of two officials must be present for all league matches (high school and middle school).   2. Two licensed officials must be scheduled to work each match.  

 3. Two qualified line judges will be assigned, by the home team, to work each match.   4. If the home team fails to schedule officials for a match, the home team will forfeit the match.   5. If only one official shows up (but the home team did properly schedule the officials), the coaches can  decide whether they are both willing to play the match. If both coaches are not willing to play the  match, the match should be rescheduled (at the original away team’s home court, with the original  home team paying for the officials).  

 6. If both officials don’t show up for the match (but the home team did properly schedule the officials),  the match should be rescheduled (at the original away team’s home court, with the original home team 

paying for the officials).  

 7. If a match has to be rescheduled due to a problem with officials not showing up, but there is not  enough Ɵme leŌ in the season (or either team has no possible open dates remaining), the maƩer will be  referred to the league volleyball commissioners for a decision.  

E. Tie-breaking procedures 

 1. High school and middle school secƟon Ɵebreakers (for division ranking and playoff seeding) are 1)  head-to-head match record between all Ɵed teams, 2) head-to-head set differenƟal between all Ɵed  teams, 3) head-to-head point differenƟal between all Ɵed teams, then 4) coin toss. There is a 30-point  cap on credited point differenƟal for any match.  

 2. When applying Ɵebreakers and the first Ɵebreaker is used, the next step is to go to the second  Ɵebreaker; there is no situaƟon in which the first Ɵebreaker will again be applied. For example, if three  teams are Ɵed and the first Ɵebreaker is used (and one team is eliminated based on those teams’ record  against one another, whereas the other two teams have idenƟcal records against all Ɵed teams), the next  step is to move to the second Ɵebreaker (instead of re-applying the first Ɵebreaker by looking at head to-head record between the two remaining teams).  

 3. For playoff Ɵebreakers, any forfeit is credited as a 3-0 win (with a 30-point differenƟal) for the team  receiving the forfeit win. A team that forfeits any league regular season match will automaƟcally lose  any playoff Ɵebreaker. (In other words, a team cannot benefit from forfeiƟng a match, for playoff  seeding purposes.) Any concerns, objecƟons, or appeals to forfeit rulings (and their impact on playoff  standings) will be referred to the volleyball commissions for a decision.  

F. Playoff qualification and seeding

 1. The top three teams in each high school secƟon (Tri-County and Greater PiƩsburgh) will qualify for  the playoffs. The top four teams in each middle school secƟon will qualify for the playoffs. Playoff  format, schedule, and locaƟons will be discussed at the spring meeƟng. If any secƟon does not have at  least three teams, league athleƟc directors will confer to adjust playoff format and seeding.   2. The volleyball commissioners will periodically discuss playoff qualificaƟon and seeding as the regular  season nears its conclusion and will communicate with league schools to noƟfy them to make them  aware of their teams’ playoff qualificaƟon and seeding. 

G. All-conference team (high school varsity only) 

 1. The league shall appoint an individual to coordinate and oversee the all-conference voƟng.  2. That individual will communicate with league athleƟc directors and coaches to gather nominaƟons  from each team, organize and send out a ballot for voƟng, and collect and tally votes in Ɵme for the  teams to be announced at the league championship match.  

3. It is not required that each team have a player represented on the all-conference team.   4. The all-conference coordinator will announce (as part of the process) the number of players that will  be selected each year. (Typically, we use a number equivalent to 2.5 x the number of teams in the  league, as the number of overall all-conference players.) For each secƟon (Greater PiƩsburgh and Tri County), a six-player first-team will be selected, and the rest of the conference’s all-conference selecƟons  will be evenly divided between a second team and a third team (comprised of players from both  secƟons). A most valuable player will be named for each secƟon (Greater PiƩsburgh and Tri-County).