Oral Interference?

[bob jenkins]

Team A hits the ball over the net. The ball is going to land near the intersection of the sideline and the attack line. A team A player yells, "Out-Out-Out." Team B backs away and the ball lands in.

Replay? Point for A? Point for B?

Card? (certainty at least a discussion with team A and the player who yelled.)

[Scrapper1]

I think having a conversation is the right answer. "I'm not sure if your comment affected the other team, but if I think it's unsporting, it's a card. Please don't make me decide."

[FMadera]

I believe in NCAAW this is a test question. I don't recall off hand if it's yellow or red, but definitely cardworthy. No different from yelling to celebrate a play. You don't yell through the net while you're on the court.

And if that affected the other team's play, you can be sure either I'm stopping the rally or issuing a replay, depending on the result.

[genetoy71]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

Replay? Point for A? Point for B? Card? (certainty at least a discussion with team A and the player who yelled.)

No, yes, no, and no. First of all, if the ball lands in on Team B’s side, by what rule are you going to just give Team B a point? We are not mind readers so we can’t know Team A’s intent. Perhaps she thought the ball was going to land out so she yelled “out, out, out” to warn her blockers to get away from the net so they didn’t commit a violation. Every match I do I tell the players to go until they hear I whistle, not “go until you hear your opponent yell “out”.” Just award the point and get ready to beckon for the next serve.

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by genetoy71

No, yes, no, and no. First of all, if the ball lands in on Team B’s side, by what rule are you going to just give Team B a point? We are not mind readers so we can’t know Team A’s intent. Perhaps she thought the ball was going to land out so she yelled “out, out, out” to warn her blockers to get away from the net so they didn’t commit a violation. Every match I do I tell the players to go until they hear I whistle, not “go until you hear your opponent yell “out”.” Just award the point and get ready to beckon for the next serve.

The intrepetation we have been told is this is an unsportsmanlike action and can result in a card being issued. Intent or not, if the action interferes with the opponents playing the ball, it can be considered unportsmanlike. A similar example is that the receiving team screams "UP" just as the serves tosses the ball. We were told this is to be handled as an unsportsmanlike act and penalized accordingly.