Ball contacts and faults
Volleyball ball contacts and common faults
How the three-hit limit, legal contacts, blocking exception and common ball-handling faults work under current FIVB rules.
Three team hits and the block exception
A team may use a maximum of three hits to return the ball, in addition to blocking. A block contact does not count as one of those three hits, so after a block the team still has three hits available. The first hit after the block may be played by any player, including the blocker who touched the ball.
What counts as a legal contact
The ball may touch any part of the body. It must rebound rather than be caught or thrown. Contact with different body parts at the same time is legal; on the first team hit, consecutive contacts with different body parts are also allowed when they occur during one action. Consecutive block contacts are likewise permitted during one blocking action.
Common ball-handling faults
Four hits is called when a team uses a fourth hit before returning the ball. Assisted hit applies when a player takes support from a team-mate or an object to play the ball. A catch is called when the ball is caught or thrown instead of rebounding, while double contact normally means one player hits the ball twice in succession or makes successive body contacts outside the stated exceptions. Simultaneous touches by two or three team-mates count as two or three hits, except at blocking.
FIVB 2026 double-contact interpretation
For the 2026 international rule tests, FIVB states that a double contact during the setting action on the second team contact will continue to be allowed when the ball remains on the same side of the court. FIVB explicitly says that no rule change is required for this interpretation. This is not a blanket removal of the double-contact fault in other situations.