The ball touches a blocker, is passed by a teammate, set and then attacked over the net. A new spectator counts four contacts and expects a whistle. In indoor volleyball, the block contact is treated differently from the team’s ordinary hits.
The FIVB’s basic-rules explanation states that an indoor team has three hits in addition to the block contact. It also highlights a contrast with beach volleyball, where a block into the team’s own court counts among the three touches.
Follow a complete sequence
In an invented indoor rally, a front-row player blocks an opponent’s attack and the ball drops back into the blocking team’s court. A teammate controls it, another player sets and a third sends it across. The block is not the first of those three ordinary team hits.
A blocker may also make the first team hit after the block under the applicable indoor rules. Do not automatically call a double contact merely because the same player touches the ball at the block and again in the next action.
Identify a block before applying the exception
Not every touch near the net is a block. The action, player position and contact circumstances matter. Use the current official rules when examining a disputed incident, rather than deciding from the player’s intention alone.
For a viewing exercise, replay a short rally and label each contact: opponent attack, block, first team hit, second team hit and return. Stop if the camera angle does not show whether a touch occurred. An uncertain replay should remain uncertain.
Keep the format attached to the explanation
Indoor, beach and local recreational formats can differ. Before correcting another spectator, establish which rules the match uses. A rule remembered from a beach tournament may be perfectly familiar and still be the wrong rule for the indoor match in front of you.
Counting becomes easier when the first question is about the kind of contact, not just the number of visible touches. That distinction helps the rally make sense without turning every deflection at the net into an assumed fault.