JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The NCAA recently changed a rule that will allow double contact in women's volleyball, which has caused a stir on social media among several athletes.
"The double rule does not mean you can hit it to yourself and hit it over or anything like that. It's still one contact, just the spin won't be called as much as it was previously," said University of North Florida setter Annie Antar.
The NCAA states the double contact rule as "allowing women's volleyball players to contact the ball more than once with any part of the body in a single attempt on a team's second contact when the ball is played to a teammate."
UNF volleyball head coach Kristen Wright believes the intent of the rule is to keep the victories and losses in the hands of the athletes.
"There have been a lot of matches that have fallen into the hands and subjectivity of refs, so we're more focused on what ref walks into the gym. We don't worry about doubles at this level of Division I," said Wright. "There's a lot of gamesmanship on our end as coaches, where we are in the ref's ear and priming them to make calls. So, that takes that away."
In the past, players never really thought about double contacts when practicing, but now, it will be a factor.
"Setting is about location and running your offense and seeing the other side. So, there's a little bit more risk that can be taken at this point. So maybe I wouldn't have pushed a ball across the entire gym to get it to the outside or right side, but now that it can have a little bit of spin, maybe you can take more risks and make better decisions based on that instead of just playing it safe all the time," said Antar.
And this change should make the game more exciting.
"I think it's going to enhance our game. Do I think it's going to create longer rallies? I think it's going to create saves. But I think we're going to grow closer to the men, where I think that we're going to be able to put the ball away more. The intent, that everybody was a part of kind of saying the pros and cons, I think it's going to make our game better and more fun to watch," said Wright.
Another major rule change is that there can be two liberos per set, as it used to be only one.
The NCAA states the rule as "each team being allowed to designate two liberos for each set of the match. Only one libero would be allowed on the court at a time, and the libero would be allowed to serve in one position. The rationale for the proposal is to allow more players the opportunity to compete and to increase action and improve play."
The rules will be in effect during the spring volleyball season.