Editing Volleyball (section)

=== Gameplay ===
[[File:Uutinen 1954-07-14 Kolmattakymmentä poikaa SPR n poikaleirillä Äkäslompolossa (JOKAEES5 03-7).tif|thumb|Finnish children playing volleyball in a rural area (1950s)]]
[[File:Volleyball pano IMG 0658.JPG|thumb|White is on the attack while red attempts to block.]]
[[File:Monks play volleyball in Sikkim India.jpg|thumb|[[Buddhist]] monks play volleyball in the [[Himalaya]]n state of [[Sikkim]] in [[India]]]]
Each team consists of six players.<ref name=":0" /> To get play started, a team is chosen to serve by [[coin toss]]. A player from the serving team throws the ball into the air and attempts to hit the ball so it passes over the net on a course such that it will land in the opposing team's court (the ''serve'').<ref name=":0" /> The opposing team must use a combination of no more than three contacts with the volleyball to return the ball to the opponent's side of the net.<ref name=":0" /> These contacts usually consist first of the ''bump'' or ''pass'' so that the ball's trajectory is aimed towards the player designated as the ''setter''; second of the ''set'' (usually an over-hand pass using wrists to push finger-tips at the ball) by the setter so that the ball's trajectory is aimed towards a spot where one of the players designated as an ''attacker'' can hit it, and third by the ''attacker'' who ''spikes'' (jumping, raising one arm above the head and hitting the ball so it will move quickly down to the ground on the opponent's court) to return the ball over the net.<ref name=":1" /> The team with possession of the ball that is trying to attack the ball as described is said to be on ''offence''.

The team on ''defence'' attempts to prevent the attacker from directing the ball into their court: players at the net jump and reach above the top (and if possible, across the plane) of the net to ''block'' the attacked ball.<ref name=":1" /> If the ball is hit around, above, or through the block, the defensive players arranged in the rest of the court attempt to control the ball with a ''dig'' (usually a fore-arm pass of a hard-driven ball). After a successful dig, the team transitions to offence.

The game continues in this manner, rallying back and forth until the ball touches the court within the boundaries or until an error is made.<ref name=":0" /> The most frequent errors that are made are either to fail to return the ball over the net within the allowed three touches, or to cause the ball to land outside the court.<ref name=":0" /> A ball is "in" if any part of it touches the inside of a team's court or a sideline or end-line, and a strong spike may compress the ball enough when it lands that a ball which at first appears to be going out may instead be in. Players may travel well outside the court to play a ball that has gone over a sideline or end-line in the air. A standard competitive volleyball match is played in a best-of-five sets format and typically goes on for about 90 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brooks |first=Nathan |date=2024-02-14 |title=How Long is a Volleyball Game?: From High School Volleyball Game to Olympics 2024 - Infools |url=https://blog.infools.com/how-long-is-a-volleyball-game/ |access-date=2024-03-20 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Other common errors include a player touching the ball twice in succession, a player catching the ball, a player touching the net while attempting to play the ball, or a player penetrating under the net into the opponent's court. There are a large number of other errors specified in the rules, although most of them are infrequent occurrences. These errors include back-row or libero players spiking the ball or blocking (back-row players may spike the ball if they jump from behind the attack line), players not being in the correct position when the ball is served, attacking the serve in the front court and above the height of the net, using another player as a source of support to reach the ball, stepping over the back boundary line when serving, taking more than 8 seconds to serve,<ref>{{cite book |title=Official Volleyball Rules 2017–2020 |chapter-url=http://www.fivb.org/EN/Refereeing-Rules/documents/FIVB-Volleyball_Rules_2017-2020-EN-v06.pdf |access-date=2019-02-05 |year=2016 |publisher=FIVB|chapter=Section 12.4.4 |quote=The server must hit the ball within 8 seconds after the 1st referee whistles for service. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205014730/http://www.fivb.org/EN/Refereeing-Rules/documents/FIVB-Volleyball_Rules_2017-2020-EN-v06.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-05 |url-status=live }}</ref> or playing the ball when it is above the opponent's court.