Illini Volleyball 2024
MustangWally
- Mayfield
The only issue I have with women's basketball is that State Farm Center is simply too big for them. If the program continues to progress, I would think playing in front of packed arena of 7,000 to 10,000 fans would be much more exciting than playing in a half empty SFC. They can continue to practice at Ubben, but play their games in the new arena.
We were the superior team today by far. Maryland served great to stay close, but I don’t believe we lost any rallies where the ball crossed the net more than 5 times.
Why isn’t Kayla Babbage playing? She listed on the roster but I’ve not seen anything game related about her.
Preseason shoulder surgery. She was originally thought to be out for the year, but there have been rumors she will be cleared to play before the end of the season.
Medically retired due to repeated concussions.
Thanks
We have a brand new $20 million soccer stadium, and since it was built our soccer program sucks. It's not just about facilities.
splitter
- and not Nebraska
May be too big to fill up for now but it is exciting and going in the right direction. Recruiting is headed right too. Moving from State Farm isn't the answer and may just hurt the progress. With revenue sharing coming funding are going to be tight. Volleyball facilities should be a priority.
MustangWally
- Mayfield
Exacty right. To fund new volleyball facilities, they'll have to share them with other sports. Like women's bball and men's hockey.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I thought that looked like her standing with the reserves in the last Illini game.........hope she can play some before end of season.........
Thanks for answering that. I've been wondering for a while.
I'm all in favor of new facilities, and obviously they will have to be shared with other sports including women's basketball, gymnastics and wrestling. Putting a volleyball court on top of ice, coupled with the distance from the stands to the volleyball court because of the size of the hockey rink, is a terrible idea.
MustangWally
- Mayfield
Well, there are ten NBA arenas that are shared with the NHL, so putting a court on top of an ice rink is not a terrible idea. As for sight lines, any decent stadium architect, knowing the shared purposes of the stadium, could create a functional design.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
I totally get what you’re saying. I’m not an architect, but I think you can mitigate this with the right seating design.
I’ve attached the seating chart for Vibrant Arena in Moline (I’m a Quad Cities native). Note that one end of the arena (left side) has no permanent seating. The arena did that so they could put a concert stage at the end and maximize concert seating. However, we could also flexibly expand seating. You could put a basketball or volleyball court as close to the permanent end seating as you want, or if you want to expand seating you can center the court.
A hockey rink has a recommended width of 85 feet. I would imagine that you couldn’t lay a volleyball court crossways across the rink, as the boards would be a safety risk 12-15 feet from the court end line. But, with boards that could be easily removed maybe you can configure seating to set a court crossways. That way, you can put the volleyball court at the end with seating and maybe create a really unique seating arrangement to maximize crowd noise.
Just throwing ideas out there. I am always thinking about how an arena like this could be used as much as possible, including concerts and (with a convention space possibly attached like the Iowa Events Center/Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines) other types of events. I stand behind the idea of an arena with 6,000-7,000 permanent seats, with the ability to easily configure seating.
Popular stadium design during that era, here is Now Arena (formerly Sears Center) in Hoffman Estates. Might be great for a concert but feels really awkward for sporting events. I've been there several times for the latter but never the former.