How is beach volleyball scored, and how is it different from indoor?
Rule- South Africa
- Volleyball South Africa
- FIVB Beach Volleyball Rules
- Beach volleyball
- Open
- 2025-28
- Players
Under the FIVB Official Beach Volleyball Rules 2025-2028, which apply in South Africa through Volleyball South Africa as FIVB's member federation:
- Rally point scoring (Rule 6.1): every rally wins a point, whoever served.
- Sets (Rule 6.2): sets 1 and 2 go to 21 points with a 2-point lead. At 20-20, play continues until one team leads by 2 (22-20, 23-21, and so on).
- Match (Rule 6.3): best of three sets. At 1-1, the deciding 3rd set is played to 15, again with a 2-point lead.
- Default (Rule 6.4): a team that refuses to play or doesn't turn up on time loses 0-2, with each set 0-21.
Main differences from indoor:
| Beach | Indoor | |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 2, no substitutes | 6, with substitutes and a libero |
| Sets | Best of 3, to 21 (3rd set to 15) | Best of 5, to 25 (5th set to 15) |
| Court | 16 x 8 m sand | 18 x 9 m |
| Block | Counts as one of the 3 hits | Doesn't count |
| Positions | Free, no positional faults | Rotational order on the receiving team |
| Time-outs | 1 per set |
Added 22 Oct 2026