Communication during bang-bang play
 

Today I worked a HS match as R2 with a great official as my partner. We had an interesting play and I'd like to hear thoughts on how to handle it as a team. We were not using headsets. Here's the play.

Setter for Team A is in the back row. He comes to the net to save an overpass. He contacts the ball while it is entirely above the height of the net, but can't pull it back and it goes into the plane of the net.

Team B player jumps to block the back-row attack hit, but misses the ball and hits the net.

Here's what happened. I instinctively blew my whistle and indicated the net fault. And then I gave a discreet "back row" signal.

Normally, I would want to give that discreet signal right away, right? But if I gave the signal, am I going to be late with the net contact? In our post-match discussion, my partner felt that the ball was still in the plane of the net (and was untouched by Team B) when the net contact occurred, so he took the net call.

I absolutely trust him to make that judgment. My question is about how I can be a good teammate on that play. Should I just handle my own net responsibility? Do I give help first? After?

Thoughts?

I think you are right to give the net.

It's not a BRA until the ball completely crosses the plane of the net or is legally blocked. since neither of those things happened, no need to give the discreet BRA signal.

This. When you give discreet help, you should be indicating a fault you feel occurred. Since the attack wasn't completed, the illegal attack signal should not have been given, as no attack is illegal until/unless it's completed.

Ok, I get that. (Like we no longer give "leading fours") But this was so bang-bang, and I wasn't sure if the ball had completely crossed because I'm watching the top of the net, not the ball. So it felt like I should give my R1 information so he could make a decision on the position of the ball. But I bow to the wisdom of the group.

In this play, then, I simply handle my own net responsibility and blow the whistle. If the R1 judges that the ball had completely crossed the plane of the net prior to the net contact, he can tap his chest or something to indicate that he's going with his call prior to my net? Is that how you'd handle it as R1?

Yes -- just like he would judge if a ball was down before the attacker hit the net...'

If he captain comes over to ask about a BRA , and he thinks he might have missed it, he can call you over.

I've had this happen. I've sold the fault that happened first, and explained to the captain that while Y happened, X happened first, and the first fault is penalized (since they weren't simultaneous).

If CRS is in use, they can certainly challenge if it's in the list of allowable categories. If CRS isn't used, then you have an explanation that (barring other weirdness) would survive a protest.

I had a nearly identical situation happen in a Juco match last week. In this case, I was the R1. The play was slightly different, but we had to answer the same question about whether a net fault or an illegal attack occurred.

My R2 whistled the net, but I chose to call the illegal attack. I judged that the blocker touched the ball before the attacker (setter) touched the net.

In our conversation after the match, my partner said, "I'm impressed that you got the back row call". I honestly didn't know how to take that. But that's a different post, probably.