Volleyball Riddles: 30 Riddles for Players and Fans on Riddlepedia
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Volleyball Riddles: 30 Riddles for Players and Fans

30 riddles · tap Hint or Answer to reveal

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Bump, set, spike! Volleyball has its own language of aces, digs, pancakes and liberos, and that makes it a great sport for riddles. These 30 volleyball riddles cover the court, the moves, the rules and a little history, from the game’s odd first name to its first Olympic matches.

The easy riddles are for kids who are just learning to serve over the net. The medium ones test the words every player knows, and the tricky section has rule questions and score puzzles that even experienced players and coaches will need to think about. Every riddle has a hint.

Easy Volleyball Riddles for Kids

I’m stretched tight across the middle of the court. The ball has to fly over me, never under me. What am I?

Hint
Fishermen use one of me too.
Answer
The net

Play me on sand in bare feet, with just two players on each team and the sun overhead. What sport am I?

Hint
You might play me on vacation by the ocean.
Answer
Beach volleyball

How many players does each team have on the court in indoor volleyball?

Hint
It’s the same as the number of sides on a cube.
Answer
Six

Every rally starts with me. One player tosses the ball up and hits it over the net from behind the back line. What am I?

Hint
In tennis, every point begins the same way.
Answer
The serve

The referee blows me to start each rally and to stop play. What am I?

Hint
You can make a sound like me with just your lips.
Answer
A whistle

Volleyball players wear us so they can dive for the ball without banging up their legs. What are we?

Hint
We cover the joint in the middle of your leg.
Answer
Knee pads

What did the volleyball say to the net after the big game?

Hint
Where does the ball go when it crosses the net?
Answer
“I’m over you.”

I’m the hardest, fastest hit in volleyball: a player jumps high and slams the ball down over the net. I share my name with a sharp point on a fence. What am I?

Hint
Sports shoes for running sometimes have these on the bottom.
Answer
A spike

Players at the net jump straight up with their arms raised to stop a spike from coming over. What’s this move called?

Hint
It’s also a toy that kids stack into towers.
Answer
A block

What’s the most times one team can touch the ball before it has to go back over the net (not counting a block)?

Hint
It’s fewer than four.
Answer
Three

Medium Volleyball Riddles

I’m a serve that scores a point straight away, because the other team can’t return it. I share my name with a playing card. What am I?

Hint
In a deck of cards, I can count as 1 or as the highest card.
Answer
An ace

I’m the soft fingertip pass that sets up the spike. I’m also the name for one game inside a match. What am I?

Hint
You do this to a table before dinner.
Answer
A set

When a player saves a hard spike just before it hits the floor, it’s called this, and it’s also what a dog does in the garden. What is it?

Hint
Shovels do it too.
Answer
A dig

I’m the defensive specialist who plays only in the back row and wears a different-colored jersey from the rest of my team. What am I called?

Hint
My name comes from the Italian word for “free.”
Answer
The libero

When your team wins back the serve, all six players shift one position clockwise around the court. What’s this called?

Hint
The Earth does the same kind of thing every day.
Answer
Rotation

In most volleyball matches today, how many points does a team need to win a set, as long as it’s ahead by at least two?

Hint
It’s a quarter of 100.
Answer
25

Volleyball was invented in Massachusetts in 1895, just four years after another famous indoor sport was invented in the same state, using peach baskets. Which sport?

Hint
Today it uses hoops instead of baskets.
Answer
Basketball

A player dives, slides a flat hand along the floor, and the ball bounces up off the back of the hand. This save shares its name with a breakfast food. What is it?

Hint
You might pour syrup on one.
Answer
A pancake

I’m the pass you make with your arms locked straight and your forearms pressed together like a flat platform. What am I called?

Hint
My name is also the word for a small lump on your head.
Answer
A bump

I ran the gym classes at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and in 1895, I invented volleyball as a gentler game than basketball. Who am I?

Hint
My first name is William.
Answer
William G. Morgan

Tricky Volleyball Riddles for Grown-Ups

When volleyball was invented, it had a different name. What was it?

Hint
It sounds like a cousin of badminton.
Answer
Mintonette

Indoor volleyball joined the Olympics in Tokyo in 1964. In which US city did beach volleyball make its Olympic debut, 32 years later?

Hint
Add 32 to 1964, then think of who hosted the Summer Games that year.
Answer
Atlanta, in 1996

The ball lands so that only its edge touches the boundary line. Is it in or out?

Hint
The lines belong to the court.
Answer
In. A ball touching the line counts as in.

A match is tied at two sets each. How many points does the deciding fifth set go to?

Hint
It’s shorter than a regular set.
Answer
15 (and you still have to win by two)

A team wins its first set 25-23, loses the second 21-25 and wins the third 26-24. How many points did the team score in all three sets?

Hint
Add only the team’s own scores, which are the first number each time.
Answer
  1. 25 + 21 + 26 = 72.

A scoreboard shows that a set ended 25-24. Why does a volleyball fan know that’s a mistake?

Hint
Think about what a team needs on top of 25 points.
Answer
A team must win a set by two points, so at 25-24, play goes on until someone leads by two (like 26-24).

A player bumps the ball up, and then bumps it again herself before anyone else touches it. Is that allowed?

Hint
Think about why teams need three different touches.
Answer
No. One player can’t hit the ball twice in a row. It’s called a double contact (a touch on a block doesn’t count).

In this Paralympic version of volleyball, players stay seated on the floor whenever they play the ball, and the net is much lower. What is it called?

Hint
Its name tells you the players’ position.
Answer
Sitting volleyball

Two thin poles striped red and white stick up from the net, one above each sideline. What are they called, and what happens if the ball hits one?

Hint
Old TVs and radios had something with the same name sticking out of the top.
Answer
Antennas. They mark the edges of the space the ball must cross through, so a ball that touches one is out.

An indoor volleyball court is 18 meters long and 9 meters wide, split in half by the net. What shape is each team’s side?

Hint
Divide the length by two and compare it with the width.
Answer
A square, 9 meters by 9 meters.

Make It a Game

  • Riddle rally: split into two teams. A team that answers correctly “serves” the next riddle to the other side. Miss it and the other team scores a point, just like rally scoring. First to 15 wins, and you have to win by two.
  • Warm-up circle: at practice, players pass the ball around a circle. Whoever has the ball when the coach reads a riddle has to answer before the next pass.
  • Rotate the reader: in a group, the person reading the riddles moves one seat clockwise every time a riddle is solved, so everyone takes a turn.

Want more sports riddles? Try our sport riddles, these basketball riddles or our beach riddles.