Front row libero
 

NFHS rules...

We had play last night where team A won the rally and service. When they rotated, the libero went to the front row and was not replaced. I was R2, so was more focused on the team about to receive serve. My R1 did not catch it either. After the rally, Team A called a timeout. The libero tracker then informed me that the libero had rotated to the front row. After the timeout, when team A returned to the floor, the libero had been replaced in the front row by the proper player, but the libero was on the floor for another back row player. I did not allow the libero to stay in the game, since she would not have sat out one rally and was not serving. I had the libero replaced and continued with the set.

After looking in the book between sets, we realized that we screwed this up several ways from Sunday, but still had some questions:

1. Should the libero tracker have notified me immediately by sounding the horn? At what point should the LT let me (R2) know?

2. What is the violation? I could not find any specific mention of a penalty for the libero playing in the front row. Through inference and assumption, the best I could come up with is an illegal replacement.

3. Besides being more aware and catching it in the first place, what should we have done with this situation?

Absolutely! The libero in the front row is illegal once the serve is beckoned/contacted so the LT should notify you on contact.

Illegal Alignment/Out of Rotation since the Libero is not allowed to play in the front row.

That's about it except for having your table people working with you.

BTW, the Libero replacement during the time-out was illegal since an exchange is not allowed during a Time-Out and should have been sanctioned. Since you caught the switch after the Time-Out, the illegal replacement should have been sanctioned with an Unnecessary Delay Time-Out. Per Rule 10-4 Penalty #1:

One additional clarification, since it was not obvious from the original post...I hope team A didn't win the rally and then continue to be allowed to serve.

I understand why this is a violation, but it seems silly to call it a delay. She didn't delay the game at all. All the players were back on the court and ready to begin play when the time-out ended. The replacement is illegal, obviously. Just strange to call it a delay.

Scrapper:

The delay is for the delay in resumption of play in having to address it and make them do it properly. Of course, with NFHS rules mandating this as a timeout/LOR, it's a pretty steep penalty.

Further reason I'm in support of the delay warning/penalty structure.

I assume this was a HS game. I've never seen a L in the front row. That would be a first!
BT

Yeah, that is pretty clearly the rationale; just seems counter-intuitive at first. Of course, there's plenty of counter-intuitive things in the rules (in basketball, too), so that in itself shouldn't have surprised me :)

Front row libero
 

Actually, there are, unfortunately, occasional mistakes even in the Division I NCAA college women's volleyball where I've seen the libero rotate to position 4. Sometimes, the libero tracker has not caught it and a mess ensues. Any time the libero is in position 5 for the receiving team, the libero tracker should be prepared to see a libero exchange when this team wins the rally and rotates to serve. Frequently, the libero will move from this on-court position to position 1 to serve the next rally but, otherwise, she has to exit the court for at least one rally before returning. Curiously, in high school matches, I've seen fewer problems.