Volleyball Net Height
Official FIVB net heights for senior, youth, beach, and sitting volleyball
Volleyball Net Height
Official FIVB net heights for senior, youth, beach, and sitting volleyball
What is the Official Volleyball Net Height?
The official FIVB volleyball net height for senior men's competition is 2.43 metres and for senior women's competition is 2.24 metres. These measurements are taken from the floor to the top of the net at the centre. The net may sag slightly at the centre — the FIVB allows it to exceed the regulation height by up to 2cm at the centre versus the sides.
Net height varies by category. Youth and junior volleyball uses lower nets to accommodate developing players — under-16 boys use 2.24m (same as senior women), while under-14 girls use 2.10m. Beach volleyball uses the same heights as indoor volleyball (2.43m men, 2.24m women) but with a shorter net length of 8.5m versus 9.5m indoors. Sitting volleyball (para-volleyball) uses significantly lower nets of 1.15m for men and 1.05m for women.
The volleyball net also has specific requirements beyond height. The net is 9.5m long and 1.0m wide. Two fibreglass antennas extend 80cm above the net at the sideline intersection points — these mark the lateral limits of the crossing space and any ball touching an antenna is out. The net posts are placed 0.5–1.0m outside the sidelines and must be padded.
How to Read This Diagram
Why Net Height Is Tuned Separately for Every Category
A 19cm difference between the men's and women's net might look small on paper, but at the top of a jump it's the difference between a spike being a genuine attacking weapon or barely clearing the tape — which is why the height is set per category rather than using one universal number across every level of the sport.
The antennas matter more than their size suggests: without them marking the legal crossing space above the sidelines, a player could hit a ball diagonally out and over the net well outside the court and technically keep it in play. They exist purely to extend the net's boundary rule vertically, closing a loophole a flat net alone wouldn't cover.
?Frequently Asked Questions
The official FIVB net height for senior women's volleyball is 2.24 metres (7 feet 4⅛ inches), measured from the floor to the top of the net at the centre. For youth women's volleyball (under-16), the height is also 2.24m. For under-14 girls, it is 2.10m. Beach volleyball for women uses the same 2.24m height.
Yes — beach volleyball uses the same net heights as indoor volleyball: 2.43m for men and 2.24m for women. The difference is the net length: beach volleyball nets are 8.5m long (matching the narrower 8m beach court width), while indoor nets are 9.5m long. The court size in beach volleyball is also smaller — 16m × 8m versus indoor's 18m × 9m.
Net heights in school volleyball vary by age group. Under-16 boys and senior women both use 2.24m. Under-14 boys use approximately 2.24m. Under-16 girls and under-14 girls typically use 2.10m. Under-12 boys and girls commonly use 2.0m. Individual school sports federations and state associations may set slightly different standards — always verify with your specific competition rules.
Sitting volleyball (a Paralympic sport) uses a dramatically lower net — 1.15m for men and 1.05m for women, well under half the standing height of 2.43m and 2.24m. This reflects that players remain seated throughout the match with at least one part of their pelvis in contact with the floor during contact with the ball, so the net height is calibrated to a seated reach rather than a standing jump.
FIVB permits the net to sit up to 2cm higher at the sidelines than at the centre — the opposite of sagging, actually a slight upward tension toward the posts. This tolerance exists because a perfectly rigid, dead-level net across 9.5m is impractical to maintain match after match; the small allowed variance keeps officiating consistent without requiring an unrealistically precise net-tensioning standard for every venue.
Posts are placed 0.5–1.0m outside the sidelines, not directly on them. This gap keeps the post itself out of the way of a player diving or reaching for a ball near the sideline — a post planted right on the boundary line would turn a routine defensive play near the edge of the court into a collision hazard, which is exactly why the posts must also be padded per FIVB rules.
Yes — the 1.0m net width (the vertical band of actual netting, not to be confused with net length) is constant across senior, youth, and beach volleyball; only sitting volleyball uses a narrower 0.8m band, consistent with its generally scaled-down net dimensions for a seated game. Net height and net length are what actually change between categories, not this band width.