Volleyball tournaments are a common way for teams to find out where they stand in comparison to their competition. They are played at the high school, college and Olympic levels. In tournament play, teams compete against multiple opponents and might play several matches in one day in the early stages of the tournament. Once tournaments get into the elimination stage, teams are not likely to play more than one match in a day.
Types of Tournaments
Volleyball tournaments are held as invitationals, league championships or national championships. In an invitational tournament, as many as 16 teams will come together and hold a competition that will last four days or more. On many occasions, these tournaments are held over holidays and will include teams from several areas of a state or a region. A league tournament will involve teams from a league and they will be seeded with the highest-ranking team playing the lowest-ranking team. As the matches proceed, winners will advance and a champion will emerge. In a national championship college tournament, 64 teams will meet and a national champion will emerge.
Pool Play
In an invitational tournament, teams will participate in pool play to determine who advances to the elimination rounds. For example, there might be two pools of six teams. In the pool round, all the teams in pool "A" will play each other and all the teams in pool "B" will play each other. The two teams that finish with the best records in each pool advance to the championship rounds. The top team in pool A will play the second-place team in pool B and the first team in pool B will play the second-place team in pool A. The winners will meet in the championship round.
Rally Scoring
Volleyball scoring has changed dramatically. In the past, only the team serving could score a point. But that changed in the mid-1990s and rally scoring is used. The team that wins the point also gets to serve. If the serving team wins the point, it holds on to the ball. If the receiving team wins the point, it gets a point added to its scoring total and gets to serve.
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