[Andy]

I had a similar situation in a HS match last week.

Team R passes, sets, attacks, the ball hits near the top of the net and rebounds back to R's court. I (R1) saw a Team S player up for the block and believe that I saw her touch the ball prior to it rebounding off of the net.

My R2 and I have worked together for several years and have a very good rapport and enjoy working with each other. She blows her whistle and gives me the 4 hits signal. I immediately go with her call and award the rally to Team S. We discussed this later and she told me from her angle there was absolutely no touch of the ball by Team S.

I believe that if I had called her over to discuss the call, then at that point, we are going to have to deal with an unpleasant situation no matter what we decide. I would rather award the rally and keep the set going in this situation.

For the record, I am not averse to dealing with unpleasant situations as an official, I just think that in this particular instance, we can avoid it.

My take on this is, as R2, discreetly give the 4 signal if you are 100% sure of the call, if your R1 does not see or recognize you, blow the whistle and stop play.