# Why one games sets in volleyball?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-one-games-sets-in-volleyball/630945>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 9, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-one-games-sets-in-volleyball/630945 "2012-08-09T12:51:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-one-games-sets-in-volleyball/630945/1 "2012-08-09T12:51:51Z")

</div>

That’s pretty much it. They are playing best of three or five games yet refer to individual games as “sets”. I assume its just a carryover from tennis. I know, there can be one item in a set but usually it refers to a group of things.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-one-games-sets-in-volleyball/630945/2 "2012-08-09T12:59:51Z")

</div>

As far as I can tell, “set” and “game” are synonymous in volleyball, and “set” has become official usage in 2008, at least in the NCAA, according to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball)

> [@](#):
>
> In 2008, the NCAA changed the minimum number of points needed to win any of the first four sets from 30 to 25 for women’s volleyball (men’s volleyball remained at 30.) If a fifth (deciding) set is reached, the minimum required score remains at 15. In addition, the word “game” is now referred to as “set”.