By: Syd Bickers Photo by: Lindsey Campbell
Though next year’s men’s volleyball team will not be a varsity sport, Milligan Volleyball Coach Doneva Bays said the team will “set Milligan apart from other schools” and will give the women’s team an advantage in preparing for conference play.
“It’s been a thought for several years and just came to fruition,” said Bays.
Bays who has coached Milligan’s women’s volleyball team for five seasons, said she had been thinking about adding a men’s team since she came to Milligan.
In a news release sent across campus on Wednesday, Mark Fox, vice president for student development, announced the addition of a men’s club volleyball team. Fox told Stampede he and Bays thought it was time to add the team. Fox said the “untraditional” team will “help us grow our men population on campus.”
Bays said she was very pleased with the number of responses she had received from men interested in playing since the press release had been sent out. She received 12 to 15 responses yesterday alone from high school students and current Milligan students.
Bays and her assistant coach, Makayla Barber, would like to start with a small team. Only six players play at a time in volleyball, and Bays would like to make sure all the men get a chance to play.
“We would like to have 6-8 guys,” said Bays. “We feel like that would be a good mix to teach and get a good core for the future. We would like to carry 12 to 15 guys in the years after that.”
Bays said she does not feel like taking on the men’s team will interfere with coaching the women’s. The women’s volleyball season is in the fall and men’s is in the spring. She sees each team as an asset to the other, and hopes to get them in the gym together.
“We spend a lot of time on our females, making them more athletic, and guys are given that natural ability,” said Bays.
Barber will be given hands-on experience with the men’s team, and Bays hopes to use the women to teach the men skills. They also to use the men to help prepare the women for conference play.
“We will definitely use the guys as a big block or a big hit to get us ready for conference play, and vise versa. Women are so much more skilled than men…so we will use our women to teach some skill.”
Women’s volleyball players Katelin Henson and Kylie Whaley said they are both happy to see a men’s volleyball team emerge.
“I think that it’s awesome,” said Whaley. “I know that they are going to scrimmage against us in the fall. I think it will be very helpful for us. It’s an advantage.”
Junior Kelly Chism was not as excited to see the addition.
“I’m not really sure why we decided to add another volleyball program, when we could do a completely different sport like football, which would actually bring a lot of people out to watch,” said Chism. “A lot of people would come to see that. I don’t see a lot of people coming out to see volleyball.”
The men’s team will not be a varsity team, as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which Milligan is a member of, does not sanction men’s volleyball as a sport. The team will compete in the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation. Bays said only 20 men’s club teams were in the NAIA, and she believed the nearest was in the St. Louis area.
“Men’s volleyball is an emerging sport within the NAIA,” said Bays. “The club gives us a few more avenues…we can play University of Tennessee’s club team or Middle Tennessee’s club team and some other (NCAA) D2 schools around us like King College and Lees-McRae.”
The addition of the team gives Milligan 22 sports teams, according to the athletic website.
Bays will continue to recruit this spring and summer, and said current Milligan students who are interested in playing should email her at DLBays@milligan.edu.
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