• High school volleyball teams in Wisconsin play by the rules of the WIAA.volleyball girl image by alice rawson from Fotolia.com
  
  The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association is the governing body for high school sports in the state of Wisconsin. The boys and girls volleyball programs in the state are subject to the same set of playing rules, defined by the WIAA with on-court playing rules taken from the National Federation of State High School Associations rule book.
  
  

Player Eligibility

• Players are eligible to participate in high school volleyball in Wisconsin at the school within whose boundaries her parents reside. This is the case even if a student has reached the age of 18 and moved out of her parents' home. Players participating with a non-school volleyball team are allowed to practice with that team during their high school season, but they may not play in any games with the non-school team if they are ineligible for high school competition. Athletes must maintain a GPA of not less than 2.0 and cannot have a failing grade in more than one class to be eligible for volleyball.
  
  

Divisional/Tournament Structure

• Once the regular league season ends, the girls' teams are positioned for postseason play based on school size. The largest 116 teams are Division 1 teams, the next largest 116 go to Division 2 and the remaining teams are split equally into Divisions 3 and 4. The teams are further divided geographically. Boys volleyball postseason play is all one division, divided geographically. The teams play section, then regional championship rounds, before the winners of eight regions at each level advance to the state championship tournament.
  
  

Rally Scoring

• Varsity volleyball teams in Wisconsin use the rally scoring system and every point that is played results in a point going to one team or the other, regardless of which team initiated the serve. Except when agreed to by coaches in regular season non-league matches, matches are played in the best three-of-five games format. The first four games are played to 25 points, with the winning team needing to hold a two-point advantage or play continues until a team earns a two-point advantage. If a fifth game is needed to decide a match, that game is played to 15 points.
  
  

Libero

• The libero rule is in effect in Wisconsin High School volleyball. The libero is a defensive specialist, who substitutes in for a teammate only on the back row. This player is a defensive specialist who is not allowed to attack at the net. A coach must indicate his use of the libero at the beginning of each game in which he intends to use that option and the libero is designated by wearing a different jersey color than his teammates.