Season Overview

• Each league season runs for 10–16 weeks.​

• Teams are placed in an initial tier based on previous season or general self-assessment.

• Each team plays 2 matches over the course of 95-minutes time-slot every week - a 15-minute warm-up followed by two matches.

• Teams play in round-robin format and get re-tiered every few weeks based on rankings.

• Final 2 weeks of each season are playoffs. Winning Tier 1 team receives a prize.

• Play-times are distributed between early and late matches among all teams as evenly as possible.

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Team Requirements

6 Player Commitment
Be aware that if you have signed up for the league, you are committing to being there every week with 6 players.

• [COED ONLY] At least 2 non-libero women must be on court at all times.

• Showing up to a match with less than 5 players is a default (immediate loss)

  • Teams that default twice will be removed from the league immediately with no refunds.

• Need players? Refer to the Find Players/Teams section above the Co-Ed League Rules on the Volleydome Website.

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Team Reps
Team reps are responsible for checking schedules and communicating game times to players, as well as recording scores at the end of each match.

• ​Schedules and Standings will be updated regularly and can be found at the top of this page.

• Potential players and subs can be found in the Find Players/Teams section on this page.

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Match Format

Matches & Scoring [UPDATED OCTOBER 7th 2026]

During Round Robin, matches are Best-of-2-Sets that go to 25 points.

• Sets are win-by-2 up to a maximum of 27 points per set. In other words if the score is 26-26, the next point will win.

• If teams are tied after 2 sets, they must start a 3rd game up to 15 (win-by-2 up to a maximum of 17). If the buzzer goes off before the Set ends, it only counts if the winning team has at least 5 points.
• [NEW] [2-HOUR Leagues ONLY] After 2 sets, depending on how much time is left, teams may agree if the 3rd set will go to a certain cap (15, 25, etc). By default, games will go until the buzzer goes off (even if scores exceed 25).

 

During Playoffs, matches are Best-of-3-Sets that go the 21 points.​

• Sets are win-by-2 up to a maximum of 23
• Game 3 must go until one team has 5 points (keep playing after the buzzer if necessary)

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Buzzer
A Buzzer sounds at the end of each match period (40-45 minutes).

• If a rally is in progress when the buzzer sounds, complete the rally.

• If the game is tied after that rally, play 1 final point to determine the winner of that set.

• If the game ends during the 3rd set, the winning team may only record it with their scores if they had at least 5 points. Otherwise it is not counted.

• Certain buzzer sounds might only apply to certain courts. Check with the front desk for more details.​

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Recording Scores

Captains must record match results on the whiteboard by the front desk​

• Recorded results indicate the number of games won by each team (2-0, 2-1, 0-2, 1-1,​ etc)​

• If no score is recorded, organizers will contact teams. If there is no response, the match will be recorded as a draw (1-1)
   

Playoffs

First match Start times begin when the Warm-up begins.

• Please take no longer than 10 minutes to warm-up before starting the match

• [CO-ED ONLY] Matches are Best-of-3-Sets, with all sets going to 21 points (Cap at 21 due to time)

• [WOMEN'S ONLY] Matches are Best-of -3-Sets unless otherwise posted, with all sets going to 21 points (Cap at 21 due to time)

  • Alternatively, Top 8 teams may agree to do Best-of-3-Sets to 25 points (3rd game to 15, win by 2 with no maximum)

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Gameplay Rules

All leagues are run on the honour system. Please call your own net violations and ball touches.

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International Rule Updates [UPDATED OCTOBER 1st 2026]

Our rules are based on international rules. Please note that there have been some recent changes to international rules.

• Ball handling rules, particularly 2nd contacts, a lot more lenient. Double touches and spinning sets are, generally speaking, far more acceptable.

• Rules around pushing balls over the net with 'attack' sets (aka dump sets) have gotten a lot less lenient. Players should be self-calling for dump sets that are not cleanly handed

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Short-Player Scenarios
Teams must have at least 5 players to start a match.

• [COED ONLY] If a team has only 1 woman (regardless of the number of men), the team must play with an empty 6th 'phantom' player.

  •  'Phantom' players occupy a spot in the rotation, meaning your team will alternate between 2 and 3 front-row players.

  • Whenever it would be the phantom player's turn to serve, your team instead forfeits 1 point and gives the serve to the other team.

• [COED ONLY] If a team has 2 women but only 5 players, play as normal with a team of 5.

• If a team has 4 or fewer players 5 minutes after the match start time, they lose the first game. If they still have fewer than 4 players after 20 minutes, they default (immediate 2-0 loss of the match).

• If an injury occurs during play, the team may continue with 5 players without consequences - no forfeit, default or phantom player rules apply.

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Substitutions
Subs must be present at the start of the match or the opposing team must be made aware of their arrival.

• If a Sub has not arrived before the start of Game 2, they cannot play.

• A player may not play/sub for more than one team during a single time slot.​​

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Disagreements

In general, please do not try to call the lines or ball handling calls on other teams.

• Ref your side only. This includes net touches, line violations, ball handling, faults and lines in or out.

• If you feel a team is regularly abusing these rules to make repeated false calls in their favour, let us know and we will have a discussion with that team.

• If there are disagreements over a call, or over something not covered here, a re-serve is often the best way to handle things.

• If you and another team really cannot find a resolution to something, please contact us at bensax@volleydome.net or ask the front desk for assistance rather than fighting over it on the court.

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Suggestions?

We welcome positive feedback or suggestions for improving rules or schedules. Let us know what you think!
bensax@volleydome.net