Intramural Volleyball Rules

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Tommy Hewett, M.D. Wellness Center 

580-559-5744  ∙  wellns1@ecok.edu  

1100 E. 14th St. Ada, OK 

Facilities and Locations

McBride Basketball Gym 

Bill S. Cole University Center, 2nd Floor 

League Format 

  1. The Tommy Hewett, M.D.  Wellness Center Volleyball League will be broken into a regular season and playoffs. 
  2. Male and female leagues will be separate.
  3. All games will be played on Tuesday evenings (additional nights may be added if needed).
  4. Regular season: 
    1. Each team will play a minimum of five (5) regular season. 
  5. Playoffs: 
    1. Single elimination tournament. Playoffs will begin the week following the regular season. 
      1. Playoff schedule will be posted after the final regular season game. 

Equipment 

  1. Jerseys: Teams must have jerseys or shirts of the same color for each player in every game (including the first game). 
    1. Intramural department jerseys are available upon request. 
  2. Balls: the game ball will be provided by the league. The ball may not be played with by any team before or after a game.  

Roster and Players 

  1. All teams must submit a roster prior to their first game. 
  2. Rosters must be submitted through the official ECU Intramural registration channels. 
    1. Each player is required to sign the liability release that is provided in player registration. 
      1. Players will not be permitted to participate in the activity without the liability release. 
      2. If a player is found to have intentionally not sign the liability, the team will forfeit the match. If more than one occurrence takes place, the team will forfeit the league. 
  3. Teams MUST have a minimum of one (1) male and one (1) female player on the court at all times to be eligible to participate.  
  4. Rosters size: 
    1. Teams shall have a minimum of 5 players and maximum of 8 players.
    2. Regular game play will be two teams of 6 players. 
    3. Teams are permitted to play with less than 4 players in a forfeit game.  
  5. Players may be added to your roster up until game time of the second regular season game. 
    1. Each player must be enrolled currently at ECU, ECU alumni, or ECU staff/faculty.  
    2. Cannot be on a college or professional roster (at any time during the academic year).  
    3. Each player can only be on one rostered team. 
  6. Players must present ECU ID (government-issued ID for alumni) at time of check-in.  
  7. Rosters are final at game start. 

Team Captain Role 

  1. Each team shall designate one team captain before the game begins for each game. 
  2. Team captains must attend a mandatory captain’s meeting prior to the first game of the season. If the team captain is unavailable for the meeting, they may send another team representative. Meeting details are included in the intramural registration form. 
  3. The designated team captain (and only the team captain) shall be responsible for all interactions with the officials. 
    1. Captains may discuss rule interruptions but may not discuss judgement calls. 
    2. Captains are expected to be respectful toward officials – the team captain does not have the right to question judgement calls or speak to the official in a rude or disrespectful way. Penalty: technical foul 
  4. Team captains are responsible for ensuring that all players and spectators who are with their team behave in an appropriate manner. Penalty: technical foul 
  5. The team’s captain is responsible to disclose the full name of any player that has assessed a technical foul or has been ejected. The game will not resume until this information is disclosed. If a captain refuses to disclose a player’s information, the captain will be held out of future games until the name is disclosed and game will be forfeit. 

Game Time 

  1. Games will begin promptly at the scheduled start time. 
    1. If a team only has 5 players present at game time, they must play with 5. 
    2. If a team does not have 5 players present 5 minutes past the scheduled game time, they will forfeit the game. 
  2. Games will consist of three (3) 15-point matches or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. 
    1. The best two out of three games to fifteen (15) determines the winner. 

Official Score and Scorekeeper 

  1. Managers or a team representative must fill out the scorebook at the score table prior to each game. 
  2. Players' first and last name along with the jersey number shall be entered in scorebook. 
    1. Only players who are present shall be listed in the scorebook at the beginning of regulation play. 
  3. Players must present ECU ID (government-issued ID for alumni) at time of check-in.
  4. Players arriving late (if they are on the team roster) may be added to the scorebook without penalty.
  5. Players may not enter the game until they’ve been entered into the scorebook. 
  6. The running scorebook (kept at the scorer’s table) will be the official foul and score count. 
  7. Teams shall alert the officials immediately if any errors occur. 
    1. If a team alerts the official to an error that requires a clock stoppage and no error is found, that team shall be assessed a time out. 

Game Play 

  1. Teams will volley for serve. 
  2. Rally scoring will be used for all matches. 
  3. The ball must be served by the right back, behind the rear line and may be hit in any manner with the hand or arm. 
  4. While the ball is in play, it is a foul for a player to touch the net, go under the net and touch an opponent, or to step over the centerline. 
  5. Holding, carrying, double hitting, or throwing the ball while it is in play is a foul. The play must be a distinct hitting (bumping), setting, or spiking of the ball. Holding, carrying, double hitting, or throwing the ball with one or two hands will be determined by the referee and may be called a foul. 
  6. Players of the serving team must rotate clockwise when receiving the ball to serve. Substitutes are to enter the center back when their team begins service. 
    1. The serve will take place at the top right corner of the court. If the server gets a rally point there is no rotation of players. Rotation only occurs when the server loses a rally point and then successfully wins a rally off the opponent serve. Players will then rotate clockwise around the court. If the roster has 8 players, the bottom right player will rotate off the court and the new player will rotate in to the serving position. 
  7. Only one serve is allowed per side and it must land within the opponent’s court, if it lands outside of the court it’s a point for the returning team and they get the ball.  If the ball touches the net on the serve it is a live ball and will remain in play. 
  8. Teams will switch courts after each game. 
  9. Playing off the net is allowed. However, if the ball hits the ceiling it will be a foul. The ball touching the ceiling will be determined by the referee on duty, if necessary.   
  10. The ball may be played three (3) times by one team in a volley and a player may not play it twice in succession. If the ball hits a player twice in succession, it is a foul. A block is not considered a hit. If the ball touches a player or a player touches the ball, he/she is considered as having played the ball. If the ball hits two (2) players simultaneously after being spiked, it is considered as having been played only once. 
  11. Blocking the serve is NOT allowed. 
  12. Front-line players may spike from anywhere on the court, but back-line players must JUMP from behind the attack line to do so.  
  13. A ball landing on the boundary line is IN. 

Fouls 

  1. Technical Fouls: 
    1. All technical fouls will result in 1 point being automatically awarded to the opposition plus the ball out of bounds. 
    2. Any player who receives two technical fouls in a game will be ejected from the game and will be suspended for a minimum of one game.  
    3. Any player who receives 3 technical fouls during the season will be suspended for the remainder of the season.  
      1. Playoffs are included in the suspension. 
      2. Refunds (if any) will not be given to suspended players.  
      3. Players who receive their third technical foul in the final game of the season will be suspended for the following season and will not be permitted to participate.  
    4. Any misinformation about a technical foul may result in team suspension. The following is considered misinformation: 
      1. Refusal to give score table the offending players name.
      2. Lying about the name of a player who has received a technical foul.  
      3. Attempting to play with a suspended player.  
  2. Flagrant Fouls: 
    1. A flagrant foul may be a personal or technical foul of a violent or savage nature, or a technical non-contact foul which displays unacceptable conduct. It may or may not be intentional.  
    2. If technical, it involved but is not limited to violent contact such as: 
      1. Striking, kicking, kneeing or an attempt to injure.  
    3. Any player who receives a flagrant foul will be ejected from the game and will serve a minimum of one game suspension.  

Player Conduct 

  1. The ECU Intramural League is a recreation program aimed at creating a welcoming environment for all players. As such, the following conduct expectations are in place for all Intramural events. 
  2. The following actions may result in an automatic out: 
    1. Use of profanity. 
    2. Complaining about or questioning an official’s call by a non-team captain. 
    3. Persistent complaint about judgment calls by any player, including captains. 
    4. Abusive or profane language by a spectator (automatic out shall be assessed). 
  3. The following actions shall result in an automatic out, double automatic out = ejection: 
    1. Use of profanity toward an official or opposing player. 
    2. Making a comment that is personal in nature to or about an official or opposing player. 
      1. Any attempt to “bait”, taunt, or otherwise instigate an opponent. 
    3. An attempt to physically intimidate an opponent or official. 
    4. Any physical contact with an official will result in ejection from league and notification of authorities. 
      1. Note: The officials’ jurisdiction begins from the time a player arrives on site until the player leaves. Actions that occur before, during or after games are all subject to a personal foul, flagrant foul, team foul, or ejection. 
    5. Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are not permitted to be on-site during any ECU activities.  

Fighting 

  1. Any player who is ejected for or found to be fighting will be ejected from the game and may be ejected from the league for the remainder of the season, including playoffs. 
  2. We use a strict definition of fighting and shall impose the fighting for penalty for any of the following action: 
    1. Throwing a punch (regardless if it landed or not). 
    2. Slapping or pushing a player’s face or head area. 
    3. Grabbing or pushing a player during an altercation (exception, trying to restrain a player from your own team). 
    4. Any violent, physical act on another player outside of the actions allowed in the activity. 
      1. Example: throwing a player on the field. 
    5. Any player who leaves the bench or dugout while an altercation is happening shall be considered to be fighting. 
      1. Exception: if an official specifically asks for help from players to restore order. 
  3. The officials have the right to halt and discontinue any game if it is believed that allowing a game to continue may result in a fight or an out of control situation. 

Officials 

  1. The officials for the ECU Intramural League are contracted and are not employees of East Central University. However, these officials are expected to treat players in a professional and respectful manner and uphold all the rules and policies in this manual. Players are expected to treat officials with same level of respect. 
  2. There will be at least one official on the field per game. 
  3. In the event that neither official is present, teams may decide to proceed in one of the following ways: 
    1. Solicit a volunteer(s) to officiate the game. 
    2. Play a self-officiated game. 
    3. Declare the game a no-contest, so neither team standings are affected. 
    4. If the option A or B are agreed upon, the game must be played to completion. If an official shows up, the game will resume with the official taking over to complete the game and the game will not be restarted. 

Team Conduct 

  1. Any team which consistently exhibits poor sportsmanship may be eliminated from the league with a forfeit of all fees. 
  2. Officials and teams shall report all poor sportsmanship to the League Director. 

Rules Not Listed 

  1. Any rule not listed in this manual will be governed by OSSAA rules. 

Forfeits 

  1. If you forfeit, you must notify the League Director as soon as possible. 

Weather 

  1. In the event of inclement weather, contact the League Director to determine whether games have been cancelled. 
    1. Information will be posted on the Tommy Hewett, M.D. Wellness Center social media pages.  
    2. Team captains will be informed via text message, email, or phone call. 
      1. It is the responsibility of the team captain to inform their team of cancellations. 
    3. We cannot guarantee that games cancelled due to inclement weather will be rescheduled.  
      1. Cancelled games will result in a tie if needed for post season play.