Mud Volleyball Tournament digs up some good clean fun

Last Saturday, the Student Alumni Association put on the annual Mud Volleyball tournament near the intramural fields. The event has been going on for 13 years and they had the best turn out this year. Over 30 teams showed up to play on September 15, but due to cold weather, it was postponed until this past weekend and only 20 teams showed up.

Joseph Tolsma, a senior mechanical engineering student, was impressed with the event.

Photo: Isaac Sachs Bump, set, spike! Rose students participated in the annual Mud Volleyball Tournament this past Saturday for a messily good time.

“As a senior, I’m trying to experience most of the events on Rose-Hulman’s campus before I leave. I made sure I was on more than one team so I could play for several games.” Tolsma also encouraged his freshman to become involved. “As an RA, I wanted to get the freshmen involved in a lot of Rose-Hulman activities from the start. There are many things on campus I never did until I was on residence life staff, like Mud Volleyball, and I’ve missed out on some of those things for three years. I’m trying to get them started early on trying everything so they can get the most out of Rose.”

Brodie Smith, a graduate assistant and engineering management student, was one of the players on the winning team. “[Our team] was Do Something, and we had Adler Edward, Paul Gagnon, Daniel Goodwin, Kenny Hurst, Simon Leavitt, Adam Stolz and myself.” He further commented by saying that, “The weather was perfect for playing volleyball in the mud. It was great to see so many students out having a good time. This event is always a lot of fun, and this one was no exception. It’s a great break from the day to day rigors of Rose.”

Tolsma also commented on what he thought of the event. “The best part about Mud Volleyball is getting your teammates muddy afterward. The volleyball part is only half the fun. We were really fortunate that the weather cooperated. After it was canceled due to cold, I thought we were out of warm weather for the year, but the next weekend was perfect and we had a great time.”

A variety of prizes were given to the winning teams consisting mainly of various donations from local businesses, which mostly consisted of dinners and gift cards. “thus far our winnings are a small pizza each from Boston’s,” commented Kenny Hurst, a senior mechanical engineering student.