Blocking from under the height of the net

[OmniSpiker]

I know it seems like an impossible thing to perform correctly but, what happens when you've got JOV girls playing and they're blocking. Anyway their hands make block actions but contact with the attack are below the height of the net. Do I call that a block or do I consider those as one of the team's three contacts?

14.1.1 Blocking is the action of players close to the net to intercept the ball coming from the opponents by reaching higher than the top of the net. Only frontrow players are permitted to complete a block.

Normally I don't call those blocks, but for JOV? The girls are shorter and generally don't reach much higher than the height of the net anyway.

[refnrev]

I don't want to appear overly ignorant here, but what is JOV?

[MCBear]

refnrev, JOV is the shorthand for Junior Olympic Volleyball, i.e., USAV girls' club.

As to your situation, Omnispiker, if the contact is below the height of the net, it is considered to be the first contact and the team has two more legal contacts remaining. USAV 14.1.1 (which you posted in bold) is quite specific. To be considered a block, the player must be reaching higher than the top of the net when she makes contact with the ball.

Here is goofy example, but I have seen it happen: Girl goes up to block with hands above the top of the net and the attacker slams the ball straight down toward the court. Spike never touches the blocker's hands but makes contact with her foot and pops straight up in the air. Even though the contact was made with the foot (remember that is a legal contact in USAV or NCAA rules), the contact is considered as a block because the player still had hands above the top of the net at the moment of contact. The team has three hits remaining.

Hope that helps to clarify. You must not be doing any 16's, 17's or 18's if you have not encountered JO girls who get above the top of the net.

One word of caution, however, please do not apply this situation to NFHS rules as contact below the waist is still illegal in High School matches.

[OmniSpiker]

Yep, the majority of my girls are 14's and 15's so I've got a short team. I do have some that can reach above the height of the net, but the majority of my girls jump reach barely even clear the height of the net so most contacts are below the height of the net.

Oh yeah, I saw a most similar rally in the Men's FIVB USA vs Japan

however in that instance where the Japan's rightside hitter hit in between the seams and USA's middle blocker was way off and used a kicking foot action to prevent the ball from grounding on the floor. Since that action may have happenned while the middle blocker was in the air and in a blocking motion, but the use of his foot was clearly a separate action indicating that is was not part of one single blocking execution. The remaining team's contact had to field the ball back in two more hits and they did manage that too. It was an exiciting rally.