Let the Libero Questions begin

[DaveASA/FED]

I went to my state rules interp meeting last night, boy was it fun. We (Indiana) are going to the Libero position this year. I had a question about this position. One rule that made me think, if the Libero sets the ball in front of the attack line no other player can attack it over the plane of the net or it is considered an illegal attack. How often does this happen / get called? It seems like a hard thing to enforce / watch for am I over thinking this and it is easy or does it just not happen so don't worry about it?

Thanks in advance!

[MCBear]

Dave, the libero is a back-row defensive specialist. With that being said, if the libero is in the front zone and sets the ball with fingertip action so that while the ball is completely above the top of the net, it is attacked (either on a slamming attack by a hitter or as a dump by the setter), it is an illegal attack. The whistle is blown to kill the play, the illegal back-row attack signal (NFHS Signal #8) is given and the open hand is pointed at the libero indicating that they are the one who committed the fault.

This play happens occasionally, especially when the libero receives a first-ball over with a setting motion while in the front zone and she just happens to set it to the setter who decides it would be a great idea to dump the ball to the other side. That is the play you have to be aware of.

The other one is the libero doing a back-row attack from behind the attack line. It is a fine line sometimes as to whether the libero completed the attack while the ball was completely above the top of the net or not. If the ball is completely above the top of the net, we have an illegal back-row attack committed by the libero.


Good luck as you get used to looking for and seeing these plays.