The Ball State athletic department revealed new, state-of-the-art TaraFlex volleyball courts to the men’s and women’s teams this morning. After years of elite play, 1,242-527 all time record for the men and a 995-633-2 mark for the women, the program has earned the upgrade.
Coaches and players from both teams came together on the concourse of Worthen Arena earlier this morning to enjoy drinks and donuts before going into the gym to see the floor.
“It was a fun morning,” senior Aaron Hernandez said. “We made it like a big special event [with], the men's team obviously here and the women’s team too. It was a great time for everyone before coming in here to see this amazing new surface.”
The new surface is a TaraFlex floor which is used by most high level volleyball programs. Talks of putting a floor down have been in the works since men’s head coach Donan Cruz arrived on campus in 2021.
“I came into the arena for the first time and I felt like the only thing missing from my wishlist was a TaraFlex floor,”Cruz said. “I felt like our program profile for volleyball just made sense that this was only appropriate for us to have.”
Over the past decade, both programs have proven to be at a higher level. The women’s team lives near the top of the pack in the Mid-American Conference (MAC)and won the conference title in 2021. This kind of upgrade was earned by the coaches and players' consistent success.
“When I came down here I just had a lot of excitement,” women’s head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. “It was a lot of pride and so many feelings. I was excited and speechless at the idea of where we can continue to grow from here.”
“It feels like we have endless opportunities to build on what we have already established here and how we can continue to grow with this program. We can’t be satisfied with where we are now, but the possibility of where we can go.”
In women’s volleyball, the NCAA requires teams to have a TaraFlex in order to play host to a regional. Not only can the Cardinals host a regional, but they are also the only team in the conference to boast a TaraFlex playing surface.
We want to keep Ball State on top of the MAC and we have incredible support from people like Jeff Mitchell and all of the admin,” Miller Phillips said.“They were so supportive of the entire process and did so much for our programs. It goes to show how important volleyball is here.”
The new floor has a wood finished middle and a black out of bounds area. Ball State is written in red and white on both ends of the court making for a simple but unique design that excites players to perform on.
“It’s really awesome,” senior Megan Wielonski said. “It gives us another thing to be excited about coming out to perform here. Obviously we can’t wait to get back out and compete but it gives us another thing to look forward to along with competing as a family.”
Contact Logan Connor via email at logan.connor@bsu.edu or on X @_loganconnor
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