Volleyball Rotation
Rules for Alignment and Overlap

A volleyball rotation overlap or player out of alignment fault is called for players not being positioned correctly on the court at service. The fault for out of alignment is point for the other team and loss of service (if your team was serving).

In this diagram, do you know which players are out of alignment? Are there any?

There are two types of volleyball rotation faults...

Row position faults
An example of a row fault is the middle front player being overlapped with the right front player. This is a row fault because the fault involved two players on the same row.

Back row / front row position faults
An example of a back row / front row fault is middle back player being overlapped with the middle front player. This is a back row / front row fault because it involved two players on different rows.

With overlap faults that occur between players on the same row...

Its judged by player closest to the sideline
For example, when determining whether the player in position 1 and the player in position 6 are overlapped, the player in position 1 must have a foot touching the court closer to the sideline than either foot of the player in position 6.

With overlap faults that occur between back row and front row players...

Its judged by player closest to the centerline
For example, when determining whether the player in position 1 and the player in position 2 are overlapped, the player in position 2 must have a foot touching the court closer to the centerline than either foot of the player in position 1.

In the following volleyball diagrams, the arrows indicate which players can't be overlapped.

Volleyball Alignment for Players in Position 1

The player in zone 1 can't be overlapped with players in zone 2 or zone 6.

Basic serve receive for setter in zone 1.

Volleyball Alignment for Players in Position 2

The player in zone 2 can't be overlapped with players in zone 1 or zone 3.

Basic serve receive for setter in zone 2.

Volleyball Alignment for Players in Position 3

The player in zone 3 can't be overlapped with players in zone 4, zone 6, or zone 2.

Basic serve receive for setter in zone 3.

Volleyball Alignment for Players in Position 4

The player in zone 4 can't be overlapped with players in zone 3 or zone 5.

Basic serve receive for setter in zone 4.

Volleyball Alignment for Players in Position 5

The player in zone 5 can't be overlapped with players in zone 6 or zone 4.

Basic serve receive for setter in zone 5.

At first glance, the line up doesn't look legal, but it is. Player 4 is closer to the net than player 5. Also, player 5 is closer to the sideline than player 6.