The scoresheet is a record of who served, who scored and who came on and off, kept so the referees can check the serving order and the limits at any moment. The fields and their order are much the same on every sheet, whether your tournament uses a club (USA Volleyball) sheet or a high school (NFHS) one. Scorerdesk draws its own sheet with those fields, so what you practise here carries over to the sheet at your table.
The steps, in the order a set happens
- Write the lineups before the set. Copy each team's six starters into positions I to VI in the order on the lineup sheet, list the liberos in their own boxes, and note which team serves first.
- Mark every point on the running score. Each time a team wins a rally, strike through the next number in that team's running score column, and nothing else, so the column always shows the score.
- Close each term of service. When a team loses the serve, write that team's score in the service box under the player who was serving. The next server is the next position in the serving order.
- Record substitutions under the position. Under the position of the player leaving, write the entering number and the score with the substituting team first, then tick the next number on that team's substitution count.
- Record time-outs with the score. Write the score, requesting team first, in that team's next time-out box. Two per set; a third request is not allowed.
- Write sanctions in the sanctions box. For every card, delay or improper request write the team, the type, the number (T for the team, C for the coach) and the score, sanctioned team first.
- Finish the set. When a team reaches 25 (15 in a deciding set) with a two point lead, close the last term, write each team's final points and mark the winner.
Serving order is the backbone
Everything on the sheet hangs off the serving order in positions I to VI. When a team wins the serve back it rotates, and the player in the next position serves. Your service boxes tell the second referee whose turn it is, so a missed box is how a wrong server slips through. Under NFHS the lineup is written in serving order, so each team's first server is position I. Under USA Volleyball the lineup is written in court positions, so the receiving team rotates first and its first server is position II. Our club vs high school guide covers the other differences.
Worked example
The first rallies of a set, computed by Scorerdesk's rule engine under the USA Volleyball profile. Home serves first with 4 in position I; the away lineup is 8, 5, 11, 17, 13, 19. Serve lines are left out.
| The feed says | What the scorer does |
|---|---|
| Point home. | mark home running score at 1 |
| Point home. | mark home running score at 2 |
| Point away. | mark away running score at 1; 2 in the home service box under I, term 1 |
| Sub request home: 21 in for 7. | 21 in the home substitution 1 under IV (number); 2-1 in the home substitution 1 under IV (score); mark home substitution count at 1 |
| Point away. | mark away running score at 2 |
| Point home. | mark home running score at 3; 2 in the away service box under II, term 1 |
| Time-out, away. | 2-3 in away time-out 1 |
| Point home. | mark home running score at 4 |
| Point away. | mark away running score at 3; 4 in the home service box under II, term 1 |
Notice the side out after two home points: home's term ends, so 2 goes in the service box under I. Away's first server is 5, the player in position II, because the club lineup is in court positions. The substitution is written under IV, where 7 stood, with the score 2 to 1 because home is the substituting team.
Common mistakes
- Writing the score in the service box when the server scores, instead of when the term ends.
- Putting a substitution under the entering player's old position rather than the position of the player leaving.
- Writing the score the wrong way round: substitutions, time-outs and sanctions always put the team concerned first.
- Forgetting the substitution count, so the 15th or 18th substitution passes without the warning to the second referee.
- Recording an illegal request instead of stopping it. If a request breaks a rule, flag it; do not write it.
- Missing the libero boxes: the libero is not a substitution and is kept on the libero tracking sheet.
Practise before the tournament
Reading the steps is not the same as keeping up while the ball is in the air. The daily set plays a set to you one event at a time and checks your sheet after every event; the cheat sheet fits on one printed page for the table itself. Your region's or state's scorer course still decides who may keep the official book.
Sources
Checked against these sources on 27 September 2026. Rules are paraphrased, never quoted at length, and local procedures differ by region, state and tournament; where yours differ, follow your referees.
- NFHS Volleyball Rules Book, 2026-27 edition. rule 5 (scorer and libero tracker duties), 6 (positions and serving order), 7 (lineups), 10 (substitution and libero replacement), 11 (time-outs).
- USA Volleyball Indoor Rules 2025-2027, published August 2025. rules 7 (rotation), 15 (substitutions, time-outs and improper requests), 16 (delays), 19 (the libero), 25 and 26 (scorer and assistant scorer).
- 2026-27 NFHS Volleyball Rules Interpretations, 6 August 2026. situations 1 to 4 on two liberos: one shared serving position, circling each libero's first entry on the scoresheet, and nothing on the tracker for an exchange between liberos.