Rules & Procedures

• Open teams check in at 8 am for an 8:30 am start Saturday
• Come to check in table for court assignment.
• Other teams check in at 8:30 am Saturday for a 9:15 am start
• Sunday Divisions check in at 8:30-9:30 am for a 9:45 am start
• Non-registered teams: PRE-REGISTRATION STRONGLY SUGGESTED. Fill out team registration card available on table. Proceed to main registration table to pay entry fee. Be prepared to provide active AVP America Membership Number
• Pre-registered teams do not have to fill out a registration card; the online registration program will have done that for you already. Any pre-registered team not checked in by the end of check-in will lose their spot.
• Memberships: Silver AVP America Membership required for all tournament players: $25/player. All memberships are valid for 365 days from date of purchase. Membership fees will be used for sand, grass & juniors programs, National Ranking System, National Championships and insurance coverage.
• Team announced as work team for 1st match should pick up clipboard for your net and get matches started. Remember that the best way to finish on time is for work teams to get matches started no later than 10 minutes after the conclusion of the previous match. All teams should report directly to assigned net in the morning.
• Anyone having trouble with a particular team causing a pool to run late should contact tournament director.
• Record scores using score sheet on clipboard, then enter scores on schedule sheet. The scores are necessary for playoff seeding. At completion of the net’s final match bring clipboard back to main registration table. Playoff teams will be announced as soon as all nets in your division are finished.

Rule Clarifications

• FIVB Beach Rules; used by the AVP America, EEVB & USAV
• Chase down ball on adjacent court: A player cannot step onto any other court’s playing area (inside the boundary line) while chasing down a ball. It is a violation even if you step onto another court after playing the ball and your momentum carries you on to the court.
• Touching the net is a violation.
• East End Volleyball will back referees calls 100%. Only rule interpretations can be appealed to the tournament or competition director. We will back all yellow and red cards handed out by referees. Refereeing is not fun so we expect players to respect the players refereeing.
• Over sets: balls cannot be deliberately over set unless the ball goes forward or backward perpendicular to the player’s position as determined by shoulder and foot position. Balls can be set over the net if unintentional; referees will determine the setter’s intent.
• Only 1 toss per service attempt.
• Double hits: From FIVB Rule Book:
  • 13.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HIT
  • 13.4.1 The ball may touch any part of the body.
  • 13.4.2 The ball must be hit, not caught or thrown. It can rebound in any direction. Exceptions:
    • a) In defensive action of a hard driven ball. In this case, the ball can be held momentarily overhand with the fingers.
    • b) If simultaneous contacts by the two opponents leads to a “held ball”.
  • 13.4.3 The ball may touch various parts of the body, only if the contacts take place simultaneously. Exceptions:
    • a) At blocking, consecutive contacts (Rule 18.4.2) by one or more blockers are authorized, provided that they occur during one action.
    • b) At the first hit of the team, unless it is played overhand using fingers (exception Rule 13.4.2 a), the ball may contact various parts of the body consecutively, provided that the contacts occur during one action
  • EEVB reads this as double hits are allowed on any 1st ball over the net if taken with open hands as long as finger action is not used to control direction of ball
• Players cannot interfere with a ball that is hit into the net from the other side. It is legal for a ball to hit a player through the net. However, if the player deliberately touches a ball hit into the net from the other side, a net violation will be assessed.
• Players may run through an opponent’s court to play a shanked ball but they may not interfere with players on the opposite side of the court. Such a ball must be passed back into play without crossing the net. A ball may only cross the net once in the 3 hits allowed to a team.
• Ball-On: Only the referee can call ball on to stop a play. Many times a ball just rolls on to a far corner and does not affect the play. The referee should allow a play to continue if the ball on is not close to affecting the current play. All “ball on” calls are subject to referee discretion. The goal is to keep play going while protecting player safety.

Tournament Day Procedures:

Pool Tiebreakers in Order of Importance (Teams will not be eliminated from tournament based on point differential)

• If there is a tie for the last pool position that will eliminate a team from the tournament, the tied teams will play 1 game to 15 points, rally scoring, win by 2 with the winner advancing.
• If there is a tie for a position where both teams will advance, ties are broken based on the following criteria in the following order of importance:
  • Head-to-head game results
  • Head-to-head point differential in games between tied teams if 2 or more games played
  • Point differential for entire pool schedule (# of points by which you won minus the number of points by which you lost).
  • If tied on all of the above, a coin flip will determine positioning.
• 3-way ties will be broken by above procedure to identify team order. If any tied teams are to be eliminated, they will play 15 pt. games to determine who is eliminated; team with top point differential receives bye and other two teams playoff. Winner will then play team with bye if 3-way tie for 2nd. If no teams are to be eliminated (all 3 teams qualify for playoffs), then point totals determine playoff position.

Seeding hierarchy for playoffs:

• One and 2-Pool Divisions: top 3 teams qualify (2nd and 3rd place teams crossover with winner playing 1st place teams. Courts are set by #1 seeds with 3rd place team staying on it’s own court to allow tournament to move along at the fastest pace unless otherwise assigned by tournament director)
• Divisions with over 2 pools:
  • Final position after pool play
  • Winning percentage
  • Point differential: In cases of comparing pools that played to different final scores (i.e., 21 or 28 pts), positive points will be expressed as a percentage of total positive points possible.
  • If tied after above criteria, teams will be placed to minimize teams from same pool meeting in playoff’s 1st round.

Determining Final Finish position in case a division does not finish due to dark or other factors:

• Double Elimination Format:
  • Current place in tournament counts first. Teams a bracket behind will receive lower spot. Teams in the same round will be seeded next by:
  • Teams coming out of winners bracket receive higher finish than teams from consolation bracket.
  • Tournament seed is then used to place teams
  • Agreement between all of the teams involved can overrule the above criteria.
• Single Elimination Format:
  • Actual finish counts first (i.e.; teams that have played into the semi-final round will receive higher finish than teams that have not made it to that round, and so forth
  • Teams in the same round are placed by playoff seed, then tournament seed

Weather:

• Tournaments are very rarely cancelled due to weather. It does not usually rain all day long. We will not start a tournament in the rain but once it is started we will finish it. In 45+ years of running tournaments we have had only a few weekends when the tournament was cancelled before the morning of the event. On average we have lost 1-3 tournament days per season due to rain (In 2001 we lost 8 days which is very unusual)
• Calling off a tournament due to rain is usually made early on the morning of the tournament. We look at the radar maps on the weather channel and do not to what the announcers say to make the decision. The announcers are giving a forecast for a large geographic area. We are making a decision for a very small geographic area.
• If a tournament is cancelled in the morning a message will be left on the East End Volleyball Facebook page. Or call EEVB cell phone 631-355-1293