Aug. 20, 2008

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky volleyball team will take to the court for the first time Sunday, August 24th in a Blue/White scrimmage at Memorial Coliseum. The match is open to the public and will begin at 7 p.m.

Receiving votes in the AVCA

The CBS College Sports Network/AVCA Division I Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll was released Tuesday, and Kentucky is receiving votes in the first tally of the season. Defending national champion Penn State tops the list, while three UK 2008 opponents appear on the list. Kentucky received 16 votes in the initial poll.

NCAA Announces Several Volleyball Rules Changes for 2008

The term “game” will be changed to “set” in all references about collegiate volleyball. Set has long been the international term to determine the segments of a match, and the change at the collegiate level has been instituted to provide uniformity.

The number of points now required to win sets one-through-four is now 25. According to the NCAA rules committee, contests that were played to 30 points seemed to show a decrease in the intensity during the middle of those sets. The rules committee cited a desire to increase player focus and fan excitement as the major reason for the change. The fifth set will still be played to 15 points. All five sets will still be played in a rally-scoring format.

Since 2001, the collegiate match has used rally scoring in all games with sets one-through-four played to 30 points and set five played to 15 points. Prior to the 2001 campaign, the NCAA utilized a side-out format with all sets played to 15 points and a rally-scoring fifth set.

The maximum number of substitutions per set for each team is now 12. When sets were played to 30 points, 15 substitutions were allowed, citing a ration of two points per substitution. With the change to 25 points per set, a reduction to 12 substitutions closely maintains that ratio.

Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for complete coverage of the Kentucky volleyball team.