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I have had some intersting discussions with people as we prepare for another year of SVC Sports Talk (which starts a new season early next week on SVCsportszone.com). Obviously, baseball/softball has a 10-run rule...football has starting using some clock rules to shorten games when the score gets out of hand. Early in the year I have noticed some crazy scores in volleyball. This has brought on the question: Does high school volleyball need a mercy rule? Maybe the set is over when a team leads by 12 points or perhaps 15 points. What are the opinions of some volleyball people here in southeast Ohio?

NO

A full Football game goes 4 quarters
Golf goes 9 holes
Basketball 4 quarters
Soccer 3 periods
Softball and Baseball 7 innings

Now a "Mercy Rule" softball or Baseball game goes only 5 innings if one team is dominating the other, like wise Volleyball has a similar rule in place.
A volleyball match is designed to go 5 sets unless one team is able to dominate the other.
If a team is dominating the other a volleyball match can end in 3 or 4 sets instead of the full allotted 5 sets.

The better teams are already punished enough by only getting 3 sets in a night,
This punishment comes in not receiving post season awards that are mainly based on stats.
A really good player playing on a really good team will not have the stats a lesser caliber player will have playing on a sub par team.
We see this a lot in the SVC as teams that finish mid pack always seem to have more players on the all league team than teams that finish above them with multiple more wins.

Also I don't think "Mercy Rules" make for better competition.
They are designed to make the loser feel better about themselves.

X

Also for fair/unfair
Is it fair or unfair to claim this season of SVC Volleyball as "Epic"?
The top 3 are very good but does the rest of the league deserve the "Epic" title?

Interesting question warningtrack,,,,the short answer is Hail No!

Besides not hurting the losing teams feelings/self esteem part of the mercy rule in softball/baseball is time, as in the game could go on forever. Since the advent of rally scoring in volleyball sets generally last 20-25 minutes, and a match if it goes in three less than an hour to take, And in a drubbing it should last way less than that. So the time factor is a non issue. In football the length of the game is a set time but one of the reasons for the football mercy rule is to stop injuries from happening...in volleyball although injuries do happen its is kinda rare. Again inuries is a non issue.

Here's what the losing team needs to do....take your beating, go home and practice to get better and don't let it happen again!

My bell curve on a losing team's score..
If the losing team scores....18+ points - competitive match
17 - 13 points - at times it was competitive but the losing team lack consistency
13 - 8 points - losing team got waxed, were not competitive
7 - 0 points - bus driver needs to get the bus warmed up, the losing team will show signs of quitting and lack of heart

X - good points on the stats issue regarding awards, etc. And yes its fair to call this SVC season epic. You have three teams battling it out in a traditionally tough conference that for the most part (last 2 years the exception) has been dominated by one team. The talent level is extremely high in this league (there are at 9 players who have won a Gold regional championship) it so happens that the talent is concentrated on just 3 teams. Three teams will go to Regionals and one (maybe 2) will go to the Nutter Center, so yeah, Epic indeed!

Ditto, X and Von Hagen. NO on a mercy rule in volleyball. Bottom line is you must get better. Since going to rally scoring the game has sped up, been more fun for both the fans and players. So say one team is up 13 to 1 and you want to call it! Volleyball and with the addition of rally scoring the momentum can switch rapidly and it could be 13-8 or 9 or so on. Warning track must need topics for his show and this one should be dead conversation. Its not broke, so don't fix it!

NO!!! ... BUT ... if it is done then reducing games to two sets IF Team A beats Team B by a combined points equal to or greater than 40. Example set 1 25-5, set 2 25-5.

Not all varsity teams keep a 12-15 on the bench every night. After the JV games, many players change and help with varsity stats. Therefore, they can't be inserted in a varsity blowout. After beating a team 25-5, 25-5 it is really hard to play a 3rd set and not be accused of stat padding.

Stop a game at 15 if opponent has 3 or fewer points.

Stop a game after 20 if has 5 or fewer

If you have to have one. I see no reason for one.