Q. How is the sport of sand volleyball different from court volleyball?

A. Beyond the obvious differences in number of players on a side and the surface for competition, Sand VB is officiated much differently than Court VB. No open handed tipping is allowed and setting is called so tightly in Sand VB that the bump set is more popular than the overhead set. Also, the block touch counts as the first of the three allowable contacts. Another difference is that coaches may only speak to players or give them any kind of input or feedback during time‐outs and between sets. Finally, to mitigate the impact of wind and sun, the players switch sides of the court every seven points in a 21 point set and every five points in a 15 point set.

Q. When is the sand volleyball season?

A. Sand Volleyball is a spring team sport, just like softball and baseball. The DII playing season may begin after February 1 and ends with the school year; the DI playing season starts the 1st Thursday in March and ends eight (8) weeks later or the end of the school year, whichever comes first.

Q. What will college sand volleyball players wear?

A. The uniform regulations are the same for sand volleyball as they are for collegiate track and field. Uniforms must cover the midriff of the body when the student‐athlete is standing still. Numbering and logo regulations follow the same parameters as other NCAA sports.

Q. What is the format for play?

A. Each school will field five (5) doubles teams ranked by ability. Each doubles team plays against the corresponding team or teams from other schools. In a dual meet, the winning team is the school winning three (3) of the five (5) matches. Individual matches are two sets to twenty‐one (21), with a tie-breaker set to fifteen (15), if needed. All sets are rally scoring and must be won by two points. Tournament play will still employ flights. Points are awarded based on finish in each of the five brackets and a total team score determines the winner of the event.

Q. Can court volleyball players play on the sand volleyball team?

A. Yes, they would become a two‐sport student‐athlete and must abide by the rules governing all two-sport athletes in terms of training hours, i.e. no more than 20 hours per week. Court VB players on scholarship participating on the Sand VB team become counters, but their aid does not count against the Sand scholarship limits. The aid of Sand VB players, however, does count again the Court VB scholarship limits.

Q. How many competitions must we play? How many can we play?

A. You must play at least eight (8) dates with three of the competitions being dual matches. The maximum number of competitions is sixteen (16) dates.

Q. Will the NCAA sponsor a championship in sand volleyball?

A. When forty (40) institutions in DI & DII have sponsored varsity programs for two years, the NCAA will sponsor an NCAA Championship

Q. Will sand volleyball have a different coaching staff from the court volleyball team?

A. It depends on the institution. DI NCAA regulations specify that Sand VB may have a maximum of two coaches and Court VB may have a maximum of three coaches. The regulations do not speak to coaches being responsible for more than one sport so an athletics department could assign one or two of the current court coaches to responsibilities with the Sand VB team or they could hire new coaches to fill those positions. There are no coaching staff restrictions in DII, so again the decision rests with the institution.

Q. Is there scholarship money available for sand volleyball?

A. The NCAA has set a maximum limit of five (5) scholarships in DII and six (6) in DI. Individual institutions will make decisions on how many scholarships to offer, just as they do with other sports. See GSU recruiting questionnaire.

Q. Is there a limit to the number of court players who can play on the sand team?

A. There can only be 14 counters, i.e. players on scholarship, on the sand team. If you have new scholarship aid for sand VB and you already have 12 court players on aid, you will need to manage your numbers to not exceed 14 counters on your sand team. If you do not have aid for sand volleyball, then conceivably all of your court players could also play on your sand team if they choose to do so.

Complete list of FAQ's from the AVCA here.