[Andy]

Similar situation in my match last night.

Score is team A - 24, Team B - 20. player from team A runs toward her bench to play the ball, makes the hit directing the ball back to the court and team A wins the point. I was the referee, I saw the team A player going toward her bench, but turned my attention away from her and back to the ball after she hit it. I thought she may have continued into the bench area, which was defined in pregame as non-playable area, but was not sure. Just after I blew the whistle to award team A the point, my partner runs over to me and tells me the team A player definitely broke the plane of non-playable area. I decided to award the point to team B and continue the game with a 24-21 score. Team A coach grumbled a bit, but accepted the ruling.

Was this handled correctly?

I had only worked with this partner once before and was not impressed. I did tell him later that he should have blown the whistle and made the call when it happened.