I nearly died!

[refnrev]

Was talking with a fan about soccer and volleyball the other day. In all seriousness she said, "You know, I liked volleyball a whole lot better when they played side out instead of that point on every serve and they didn't have that player with the other color uniform." I nearly died!

[Scrapper1]

Ok, as a newbie, I don't get why this almost brought about your demise. I never heard of a libero before I started reffing and isn't "rally" scoring relatively new? So wasn't this person just saying that she prefered volleyball the "old" way? Is the new way just much much better, in your view?

[refnrev]

Much! Much! Much! Much ... Especially Rally Scoring. Games are faster and more fun. Some small schools I officiate still don't use the Libero and because girl's VB and boy's soccer seasons coincide I don't do a whole lot of Varsity VB games each year. The Libero does add a certain dimension of excitement by the excellent defense and hustle, but when you're first getting adjusted it can get confusing if you haven't done club ball.

[MCBear]

Scrapper, as Rev indicated, hearing that from a fan IS funny! As an official, I am SOOOOO glad that we no longer have side-out scoring. When we played via that rule, if neither team had a decent server, we would be playing all night with few points due to net serves! With rally scoring and the "let" serve being allowed, every time there is a rally, at least the scoreboard moves so it feels like we are making progress toward an end.

[TimTaylor]

Originally Posted by MCBear

Scrapper, as Rev indicated, hearing that from a fan IS funny! As an official, I am SOOOOO glad that we no longer have side-out scoring. When we played via that rule, if neither team had a decent server, we would be playing all night with few points due to net serves! With rally scoring and the "let" serve being allowed, every time there is a rally, at least the scoreboard moves so it feels like we are making progress toward an end.

Amen!

[OmniSpiker]

Ahhh. SOS...I still like that better...

Whereas it does take a lot out of the ref core and may put some fans to sleep. It is a testament of player athleticism and ball control over the endurance of the match.

The rotation design of volleyball positions brings out an element that differs from other sports in that players strengths and weaknesses are brought out, especially that crucial skill of passing/digging. That which the libero has changed that one aspect of the game and changed the strategem of the sport with the player replacement instead of taking a substitution.

RPS takes the best server and caps their opportunity. If you play to 25 points, unless the best server begins the match, basically they'll have at the max of 5 chances, if there were to be an overturn in each point. While with the old SOS, there still wouldn't be any score.

[blueump]

Originally Posted by MCBear

With rally scoring and the "let" serve being allowed, every time there is a rally, at least the scoreboard moves so it feels like we are making progress toward an end.

Off topic....but:

Since they now allow the let serve, don't you think its time to bring back the legality of blocking the serve? In my opinion it seems the let serve gives the server a slight advantage, and the ability to block that serve would be a way to nuetralize that advantage. What do you think?

[FMadera]

Originally Posted by blueump

Off topic....but:

Since they now allow the let serve, don't you think its time to bring back the legality of blocking the serve? In my opinion it seems the let serve gives the server a slight advantage, and the ability to block that serve would be a way to nuetralize that advantage. What do you think?

I think that would be a really bad idea.

The ability to block a serve FAR outweighs any small advantage a let serve might provide.