With hopes of making volleyball more appealing to fans both at the venue and on television, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) is experimenting on two new rule changes that targets to make the game more exciting.

For the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Under-23 World Championships in Uberlandia, Brazil, and the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Under-23 World Championships Open in Tijuana, Mexico, the first to fourth sets will be played up to 21 points instead of the usual 25. The fifth set remains a 15-point affair.

All sets will be decided by a minimum lead of two points if tied at 20-20 (1st to 4th sets) and if tied at 14-14 for the 5th set.

Before the race to 25 points per set rule, all sets were to 15 points, with the first four sets having a ceiling of 17 and the final set requiring at least a two-point winning advantage.

The second rule change is the transition to a 15-second interval between a referee’s whistle and a serve. From the Official Volleyball Rules for 2013-2016 approved by the 33rd FIVB Congress in 2012, players are given just eight seconds after a referee’s first whistle for service.

Another subsequent change applies to time-outs. Technical Time Outs (TTO) are called automatically when the leading team reaches 12 points. Previously, two TTOs are called when the leading team reaches 8 points and 12 points.

Both inaugural tournaments for the specified age group, the Men’s U23 is scheduled from Oct 6 to 14, 2013, while the Women’s U23 is set from Oct 4 to 12, 2013.