# Volley Serve or Drop Serve: What Does the Rulebook Allow?

Source: https://picklecall.app/blog/rules/pickleball-drop-serve-vs-volley-serve. Rules, published 2026-11-06, updated 2026-11-06. Kallos Labs.

> Both are legal. You may serve underhand out of the air (a volley serve), or drop the ball and hit it after it bounces (a drop serve). You can pick either one on every serve.

Both are legal. In pickleball you may serve underhand out of the air, which is called a volley serve, or you may drop the ball and hit it after it bounces, which is called a drop serve. You choose on every serve, and the ball has to end up in the same place either way.

If you want the whole picture of where to stand and where the ball must land, the [serving rules guide](https://picklecall.app/blog/rules/pickleball-serving-rules) covers it, and the other [rules guides](https://picklecall.app/blog/rules) sit beside it. This one is only about the choice between the two serves.

## What are the two legal serves?

The rulebook allows a serve that is underhand, struck below the waist with the paddle below the wrist, or a drop serve. Here is how the two compare.

| | Volley serve | Drop serve |
| --- | --- | --- |
| When you hit the ball | Out of the air, before it bounces | After it bounces once on the playing surface |
| Stroke | Underhand: below the waist, paddle below the wrist | Dropped, then struck after the bounce |
| Where it must land | Crosscourt, beyond the kitchen line | Crosscourt, beyond the kitchen line |

A volley serve is the classic motion: you hold the ball, swing the paddle up and through, and strike it before it touches the ground. A drop serve lets the ball bounce first, so you let it fall and then hit it on the way up.

## What do both serves have in common?

Where the serve goes. According to the [official rulebook page on serving](https://usapickleball.org/strategies/how-to-play-pickleball/), the serve must be hit crosscourt into the service box, it must land beyond the kitchen line, and it must be made from behind the baseline and between the center line and the sideline.

The serve also has to bounce on the receiving side before the returner hits it. That is the [two-bounce rule](https://picklecall.app/blog/rules/what-is-the-two-bounce-rule-in-pickleball), and it applies to a drop serve and a volley serve alike. A volley serve is only "out of the air" on the server's side. It still has to land and bounce on the other side before anyone volleys it.

## Where did the drop serve come from?

The drop serve is the newcomer. It arrived as a provisional rule in 2021. In July 2021 a [rule change request](https://rules.usapickleball.org/view/rule-changes-view-all/entry/20/) asked to keep the 2021 rule as it stood and remove the word "provisional". The record shows the rules body's board voted to approve it and the rules committee voted to pass it.

The same record notes another idea: a committee recommendation to let the ball be struck either before or after a bounce, under one set of serving-motion criteria. The international committee approved that version, but the national rules committee rejected it.

A later request for the 2022 rulebook tried to merge the two serves into a single rule, [letting the ball be served "either out of the air or immediately after the ball bounces once"](https://rules.usapickleball.org/suggested-rule-changes-all-years/entry/186/). The rules committee voted to fail it, so the two serves stayed separate rules.

## Which serve should you use?

Either one. The rulebook does not rank them, and it does not ask you to declare which one you are about to use. Players tend to pick what feels reliable: some like the drop serve because the ball is already moving up from the bounce when they hit it, and some prefer the volley serve because the timing is familiar.

What matters is a legal motion and a serve that lands in. A serve that is struck cleanly but clips the tape is its own question, covered in [the guide to a serve that hits the net](https://picklecall.app/blog/rules/serve-that-hits-the-net-pickleball-fault).

## Could the serve rules change?

Possibly, but keep proposals and rules apart. A suggestion filed in June 2026 for the 2027 rulebook would require an [underhand low-to-high stroke and a ball released no higher than the shoulders](https://rules.usapickleball.org/entry/2796/), for both serves. It would define a volley serve as one struck before the ball bounces and a drop serve as one struck after one bounce, and let a player use either.

The page does not say whether the proposal will be adopted, and submissions for the 2027 rulebook are closed. Until a new rulebook says otherwise, play by the 2026 one.

## Try it with Pickle Call

Whichever serve you hit, the call stays the same. Pickle Call is coming to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and it [keeps the call for you](https://picklecall.app/features/pickleball-score-call): one tap per rally, with the server number and the serving side kept, so you can think about your serve instead of the score.

## Bottom line

Underhand out of the air, or dropped and hit after one bounce: both are legal, and you can switch whenever you like. Both go crosscourt, behind the baseline, and beyond the kitchen line. Anything about a new release height or stroke is a proposal for 2027, not a rule today.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Is a drop serve legal in pickleball?
Yes. The rulebook allows two serves: an underhand serve struck out of the air, and a drop serve, where you let the ball bounce once before you hit it.

### Can I serve overhand?
No. A serve struck out of the air has to be underhand, below the waist with the paddle below the wrist.

### Does a serve have to bounce?
The ball has to bounce on the receiving side before the returner hits it. That is the two-bounce rule. A volley serve is simply hit before it bounces on the server's side.

### Can I switch between the two serves during a game?
Yes. Nothing ties a player to one serve type, so you can pick either one on every serve.

## More you might ask

### Is a drop serve legal in pickleball?

Yes. The rulebook allows two serves: an underhand serve struck out of the air, and a drop serve, where you let the ball bounce once before you hit it.

### Can I serve overhand?

No. A serve struck out of the air has to be underhand, below the waist with the paddle below the wrist.

### Does a serve have to bounce?

The ball has to bounce on the receiving side before the returner hits it. That is the two-bounce rule. A volley serve is simply hit before it bounces on the server's side.

### Can I switch between the two serves during a game?

Yes. Nothing ties a player to one serve type, so you can pick either one on every serve.

## Where the facts come from

- [Official rulebook: How To Play Pickleball](https://usapickleball.org/strategies/how-to-play-pickleball/)
- [Official rulebook: Rule Change 20, Drop Serve](https://rules.usapickleball.org/view/rule-changes-view-all/entry/20/)
- [Official rulebook: Rule Change 186, serve out of the air or after one bounce](https://rules.usapickleball.org/suggested-rule-changes-all-years/entry/186/)
- [Official rulebook: Suggested rule changes for 2027, entry 2796](https://rules.usapickleball.org/entry/2796/)