University of Nebraska Kearney - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Kearney, NE)

Page 29 text:

Scot Rosendahl, Creston, makes Kris Krajicek, Gretna, eat dirt near Jodi Kinder, Papillion. much work. How hard can it be?” Well let me tell you! I am usually a fairly decent server. Nevertheless, the ball flew into the air and bounced off the net back to me and splashed me with the thick mud water. I dove for the ball and slipped, the water was up to my waist now. We lost the point. Come to think of it, we lost a lot of points. I stepped into my next playing position and fell six inches deeper than my last position. The uneven ground under the unknown blackness of the water was not a very sturdy base! A friend wanted to get into the game. I tagged out. I lost my footing getting out of the pit and took along the person who was helping me. My shoes were full of muddy and sticky debris. I was done for this game. We lost to the understaffed “Mud hens.” They also beat us the following game which only allowed us to fall on our faces a couple of more times. After all of the “fun” was over, I got a chance to talk to some of the players. Mindy Duhlgren, 18 and a freshman from Gibbon, really enjoyed her first ex- perience in mud volleyball. “It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but I did think I would get muddier!” Doug Falk, 18, a freshman from Al- bion, said he had expected more mud and less water. All in all, it wasn’t quite what was expected but we all had a great time! Pam Kenkel Sandra Larson, North Platte endorsing her new line of mud bathes for college students! After digging through my drawers for about five minutes I found what I was looking for. My official team uniform for the 1987 KSC mud volley- ball league; grey (once white) socks, shorts, shoes and a shirt. My teammates came to get me. They were wearing their nice leather sneakers, favorite sweatshirts and still salvageable sweats. “Wrong!” I told them. “Those clothes will never be the same color again! Go change.” After some of their own drawer dig- ging, they too are dressed in appropriate attire. The males that made up the other half of our team, called the “Killer Pigs,” picked us up in a pick-up truck. We were off to our first game. Making it up the hill to the court was a feat. This explained the need for the four-wheel drive pick- «T t wasn yt as bad as I thought -I- it would be.” -Mindy Duhlgren up. I volunteered to play in the first of two out of three games. The court wasn’t filled yet. A pipe was channeling run-off water from the nearby canal to fill the 30X60 foot space which was our court. I stepped in, shoes and all, and sank about three inches into the grimy, rocky mud. The dirt-filled water came up to my calves or past my knees, depending upon what position I was in on the court. “I guess I’m ready to start the game,” I thought. “Wait! The other side only had four players compared to my team’s six. Looks like I won’t have to do 25

Page 28 text:

Darrell Ritenour, North Bend, splats the mud ball while Tim Soto, Wood River, and Jodi Kinder, Papillion, stay clean ? IT’S A DIRTY GAME INTRAMURAL SPORT PROVES TO BE FUN AND EXCITING ... AND DIRTY! Mud volleyball has consis- tently attracted KSC students for over five years. According to Irma Odell, intramural director for KSC, the sport is extremely popular. There were 30 teams last fall and the sport seems to be increasing in populari- ty every year. One volleyball pit may not be enough to accommodate the demand in the future. Odell has hopes of expan- ding, “We would like to move to a new location with more pits, but the problem lies in the availability of water ’ she ex- plained. The current location of the KSC mud volleyball court is a landfill north of College Drive near West Campus. The physical plant maintains the pit by dig- ging it out every year and refilling it with 9 to 10 thousand gallons of water chan- nelled from a nearby canal. Any group or organization may par- ticipate in the program by paying a $10 entrance fee. The rules are not much dif- ferent than traditional volleyball, ac- cording to Bob McDonald, referee and supervisor for the sport. Some exceptions. One girl has to hit the ball at least one time before it goes over the net, the boundries are the land and water, and there is a 15 minute time limit on each game. “However,” McDonald says, “I give them lots of time and I let them go over if they are close to winning at 15 points.” KSC owns and runs the courts. Nev- ertheless, the students are liable for themselves and all injuries. Odell said there have never been any serious acci- dents. “Of course, the players usually get scrapes and scratches, but that usually occurs after the game is over and they are just playing around in the pit,” she ex- plained. 24

Page 30 text:

I “IS YOUR LAND”