I was refereeing the Boys' Far Western National Qualifier this past weekend and had several instances where I called overlaps.
In one situation, the captain of the serving team asked me to watch the setter on the receiving team because he was "leaving" early. In that instance, I responded that since I was watching the serving team, I could not see if the setter was leaving early or not. However...in Set 2 (have to be sure that I am using the new terms properly!!!
), The receiving team was on my left and the setter was in LF. After I whistled and beckoned for the serve, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the setter take off for the middle of the court. After the ball was contacted, I blew my whistle and signalled the overlap on the receiving team's setter since he was
only 8 feet out of position!
Then, in another situation, the team's setter #8 was in serving position 2 and the player leading him was either #4 or #9 (they used both players in different games). They are receiving the serve in Rotation Order 4 (meaning that #9 is LF and #8, the setter, is LB). As I check the positions of the receiving team prior to turning my head to whistle and beckon the serving team to serve the ball, I notice that the receiving team's setter is apparently in the front row. In looking, he has overlapped his teammate by a good 10 feet. I whistled for serve and as the ball was contacted, I called the overlap (since it was really obvious that the setter and LF were in the wrong positions).
Both of the above were teams in the 18 Silver Playoffs.
Then, in the 16's division, a team was running a stack left where all of the front row players were pulled over to the left side of the court and the back row was located sideline to sideline in correct order. They had subbed #7 in to serve for #15 and the libero was in the CB. As I look at them prior to beckoning serve from their opponent, I notice that the #7 (the RB) is on the attack line and #17 (the RF) is three feet behind the attack line on the opposite side of the court. I whistle and beckon for serve and after the ball is contacted, I blew the whistle and called the overlap on #7 and #17.
The wonderful thing about working all these various levels is that, as an official, I see all sorts of defensive alignments that really make me work to know the serving orders of the teams. In addition, since Juniors do not usually have two certified referee's working their matches, oftentimes the receiving team gets away with a lot of overlaps because the second referee (who is usually a player or a coach) does not look for the overlap or does not recognize it when it occurs. Having done as many matches I have done over the years, I will catch the overlap much quicker from the stand than I do from the floor.