Legal Or Illegal Back Row Attack

Play Of The Week Analysis:

Full Disclosure: The back row attack is legal.

Let’s get real nit picky.

The second referee does an excellent job in her transition. She is on the new receiving team side in time to see the first contact.
She has a great line of sight to analyze that the third contact (attack) is made by a back row player. She also has a great line of sight to analyze that the takeoff point of the back-row player is behind the attack line.

For the first referee, the key is to watch the takeoff of the player approaching the ball for the third attack. The first referee must know:

1. Is this player a front row or back row player?
2. If this player is a back row player, then where does said player take off in his jump? Is the takeoff point behind the attack line?
3. If the takeoff point were to be on or in front of the attack line, then where is the location of the volleyball?

With that said, the first referee must have a focus on the feet if the player is confirmed to be a back row player.

We must know the status of our players as back row or front row players.

We don’t want to make the mistake of calling an illegal attack on a player and said player is a front row player.

The point of this play is about being sure we know our front row and back row players, where they are when they contact and attack the volleyball, and where the volleyball is when it is attacked.