How Long Is A Volleyball Game?

Volleyball is a high-intensity sport that requires a lot of running and jumping. If you’re interested in picking up the sport, consider your level of athleticism and choose a volleyball league that’s the right fit for you. Competitive volleyball requires a lot of stamina, so consider if you’re up for the challenge before you commit.

A typical volleyball game played to a best 2-of-3 sets usually takes between 60 and 90 minutes, though there’s no time restriction in a volleyball game. Each set may take around 20-30 minutes. A Rally Point System is used in the game, and whichever team gains 25 points wins the set, as long as they lead by 2 points.

The rest of this article will discuss the playing duration of a volleyball game and its scoring system. In most sports, the players have a certain amount of time to score as many points as they can. In volleyball, the game goes on until the players score a certain number of points.

A volleyball game usually takes between 60 and 90 minutes, which includes 3 sets being played. There is no time limit for each set, so players can play as long as they want. Expect longer sets if competitive, high-level players are playing.

**Competitive teams produce longer rallies.**

A typical volleyball game is played in best 2-of-3 sets. However, some games, leagues, or tournaments call for the winning team to win the best 3-of-5 sets. Again, the exact game duration may vary, depending on how long it takes for the players to score enough points to win the game.

Best 2-of-3 vs. Best 3-of-5

A volleyball game can be played to either two different set rules:

2-of-3 sets
3-of-5 sets

The 2-of-3 sets rule means a volleyball team wins the game when it wins 2 out of 3 sets, whereas a 3-of-5 sets rule means a volleyball team wins when it wins 3 out of 5 sets.

Either team has to win the majority of the sets to qualify as a winner. That means a team may win a few sets but still lose the overall match. If one team wins enough sets, the remaining sets are discarded since they’ve already won the match.

To read more about the details on how many sets you need to win in different situations, visit this post.

How Many Minutes in a Volleyball Game?

A typical volleyball set takes around 20-30 minutes. A game of 3 set plays usually takes between 60 and 90 minutes, depending on how good the players are against each other. A game that plays best 3-of-5 sets, on the other hand, may run as long as 150 minutes (2 ½ hours).

Best 2-of-3 sets are common among players below high school, while best 3-of-5 sets are common among varsity high school or older players. The number of points in the set influences the duration of the set. For example, if the set has 25 points, the players may take 20-30 minutes, while a tie-breaker set that’s played to 15 points, is often much shorter.

However, volleyball games don’t necessarily last more than 15 minutes. A good example of this is a volleyball match between Algeria and Serbia back in 2015. Serbia beat their opponents in under 10 minutes!

Sometimes a volleyball match needs to be shortened to under 60 minutes. Matches like these are usually during tournaments, in pool play.

Playing A Best of 2 Match

Teams will play just 2 sets, regardless of who wins. Tournaments sometimes go by this rule if space or time is a concern so that they can manage a large number of teams and keep everyone on a predictable schedule. This is usually only used during pool play in the early rounds of a tournament.

The two teams can play against each other for only two sets — called best out of 2. Regardless of who wins, the teams will play two sets, and their scores will be submitted and judged later on.

It’s crucial that teams score as many points as they can in these games because their overall number of sets won and overall points scored will be used to rank them for bracket play.

The team with the highest score wins the overall match. For example, if team A scores 26 in the first set but only scores 21 in the second set, team A has 47 points. If team B scores 24 in the first set but scores 25 in the second set, team B has an overall score of 49, which means team B is the winner.

How Many Sets in a Volleyball Game?

A volleyball game usually has three sets, although some games require five sets. Different matches have different rules. Junior varsity volleyball games typically have three sets per game, whereas regular-season varsity games have five sets.

However, some Junior Varsity volleyball games do play to 3-of-5 sets in their final matches. Beach volleyball is played in the best three sets – 21 points for the first and second set and 15 points for the tie-breaker set. Below is a list of the most common number of sets for different volleyball levels:

2-of-3 Sets	3-of-5 Sets
Middle school	Varsity
Junior varsity	College
International beach	International indoor

Most common standards

When two teams are up against each other, they’re both competing for rallies. A rally refers to the time between a serve and the end of the play; both teams must ensure their opponents lose the ball. Whenever a team wins a rally, it gets the point.

Some rallies are short, while some are long. An average rally can take about 5-7 seconds, although sometimes a rally can take less than a second.

The better the teams play, the longer the rally usually is. In some very evenly-matched contests, the teams will have rallies that go for 50 touches or more in one continuous play.

How Many Points To Win a Volleyball Game?

In indoor volleyball, teams need 25 points to win the regular sets in a volleyball match. In a tie-breaker set, the players will only need to get 15 points to win the set. In beach volleyball, teams need 21 points in the first 2 sets, but 15 points for the tie-breaker. In all cases, the winning team must win by 2.

The points for best 3-of-5 sets are the same as the best 2-of-3 sets, except a team has to win three sets instead of 2 sets to win the match. Sets 1-4 are played to 25 points in the first four sets. However, the fifth set is only played to 15 points.

Based on the Rally Point System, a team can only win a set when it wins by two points. That means until either team can score enough to lead by two points, the match continues. Competitive games can take a very long time, especially when two strong teams are involved.

On February 25, 2021, the second set of a volleyball game between Brigham Young and Grand Canyon University finally went to Grand Canyon when they took a 45-43 lead over BYU. The 88-point set is now the longest set in NCAA history, topping the 86-point record set in 2010.

Beach volleyball has a slightly different point system. Instead of playing to 25 points, beach volleyball players play to 21 points instead. In beach volleyball, players will swap ends after getting 7 points in the first two sets. In the third set, players will switch sides after every 5 points.

**The points are a little different for beach volleyball.**

Final Thoughts

A volleyball game does not usually have any time restriction. However, a typical game played to the best 2-of-3 sets usually takes between 60 and 90 minutes. As for the best 3-of-5 sets, they usually can take up to 150 minutes.

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