Volleyball 2017

[valpopal]

Just watched the post-game interview with Coach Carin Avery after the 3-0 loss to Drake. Her first comments were about the horrible conditions in the ARC during the back-to-back matches Friday and Saturday. She noted temperatures in the ARC were well over 100 degrees both nights and that Valpo is the only MVC member without air conditioning. (I know my family attended Friday night but we consciously stayed away on Saturday rather than suffer the extreme heat and humidity again. We left early Friday and my wife came home with a headache from the heat.) With a subtle dig, Coach Avery even mentioned the players will be pleased to have air conditioning in the bus to their away game in Southern Illinois. I know Mark LaBarbera could not have been happy. I saw him walking around the court, and his shirt was completely soaked in sweat.


I know we feel like discussions about poor facilities are like beating a dead horse; however, when the head coach focuses on this as a great detriment in her opening comments, the conversation is unavoidable. In addition, these two nights were Valpo's introduction of the ARC to the MVC: with the oppressive heat affecting players and fans, as well as the lack of streaming video, VU certainly failed to make a good first impression on the league and its fans. Indeed, the ARC looked pathetic this weekend, and it was embarrassing. We had hoped Valpo would step up if invited to the MVC; however, I fear to the contrary there will be a lack of urgency to upgrade facilities now that the entry into the MVC has happened, and VU will return to complacency.

[vufan75]

I also watched the interview and agree with valpopal. I'm sure enhancements will come one day but.....when I wonder? The ARC is used for so many different events at the university. I know late-September weather is not usually this hot in Valpo. Might MH have been in the house to witness the heat and poor conditions?? I feel bad for MLB, the coaches and the players.

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[vu72]

I also watched the interview and agree with valpopal. I'm sure enhancements will come one day but.....when I wonder? The ARC is used for so many different events at the university. I know late-September weather is not usually this hot in Valpo. Might MH have been in the house to witness the heat and poor conditions?? I feel bad for MLB, the coaches and the players.

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I know Mark L has on several occasions mentioned the need for air-conditioning but, I think those comments referred to Hilltop, not the ARC itself.  Obviously the ARC is a much bigger venue and thus, much more expensive.  Hopefully he was referencing both.

[valpo64]

Let's get with it, VU Administration!  It is time to get started on improving our facilities for athletics and student recreation. 

[agibson]

So I'm listening to the match (Great performance so far--1-1) and the sound is AWFUL!!  I have emailed the Source.  Commercials are fine, announcer is barely hearable!  Same problem with the football broadcasts, Todds mike is low and his counterpart is fine.  Does anybody at the station actually listen??   

Emailing them is a good step - I have gotten responses sometimes that make it sound like they do care. And no, I'm not convinced that they monitor the internet feed.

The FM broadcast of the football yesterday hadd Todd coming through loud and clear - the interview with the coach also sounded fine. I think I caught some play-by-play later in the game too. Everything I heard FM sounded fine.

[agibson]

Dude, chill out.  As has been mentioned in many other threads

Even on this thread!

The MVC's agreement with ESPN requires broadcasting events to a higher standard than the Horizon League.  We have invested in all new state of the art equipment that will be housed in a new, permanent control room in the ARC.  The process of ordering that equipment started in late May right after we accepted the invitation to join the MVC.  The equipment is scheduled to be delivered and the control room completed by early October.  We needed to take the old system down to build out the new system.  We are on track to have everything completed in time to start streaming events the weekend of October 13/14. 

[agibson]

I know Mark L has on several occasions mentioned the need for air-conditioning but, I think those comments referred to Hilltop, not the ARC itself. 

I think Hilltop air conditioning is actively planned for. Maybe already scheduled, or even already finished?

[VULB#62]

Yes, but how many games are played in Hilltop?  There is a cost associated with aspiring to a higher status. I sincerely hope the administration understands this.

[agibson]

(I know my family attended Friday night but we consciously stayed away on Saturday rather than suffer the extreme heat and humidity again. We left early Friday and my wife came home with a headache from the heat.)

I made it to the last few points of the UNI game, and most of the Drake. I thought it was noticeably worse of UNI. But, hardly comfortable for Drake. You could definitely be reminded of a high school gym.

I thought the real tragedy for volleyball in the non-air conditioned ARC was being forced to move their home tournament last year, in the middle of the tournament, to the Courts. The floor at the ARC was ruled unsafe, with humidity related condensation.

With a subtle dig, Coach Avery even mentioned the players will be pleased to have air conditioning in the bus to their away game in Southern Illinois.

I've been surprised how candid Carin's been in these videos. Fun for the fans!

In addition, these two nights were Valpo's introduction of the ARC to the MVC: with the oppressive heat affecting players and fans, as well as the lack of streaming video, VU certainly failed to make a good first impression on the league and its fans.

Assuming the refs were organized by the league (they are in basketball, right?) I personally thought the officials at the Drake match were more embarrassing, from a league perspective, than the lack of AC or streaming video. But, I'm biased. (I'm very much a volleyball neophyte. But, the referee above the net, he's in charge, right?, seemed not entirely in touch with match. He seemed to need help in the form of significant explanations from other officials, more than once. The match ended under protest, and with a long huddle among the officials. That after a 60 second discussion between the corner official who was animatedly signalling the ball out, and the net ref.)

One wonders if they could play in Hilltop instead...

[vu72]

Just watched the Valpo-SIU game.  If you haven't watched a volleyball game you are really missing something!  Exciting for sure.  Unfortunately we lost again, 3[1 but a very close, hard fought match. No doubt, the travel, after  two games playing in an oven no doubt hurt us tonight.  We are better than this and I suspect it will show as the season wears on.  However, we are playing with a horizon League team against The Valley.  We are just too small.  That will have to change.

As for the SIU venue, I would compare it to Hilltop.  If, Hilltop is in fact air-conditioned, we should be playing there when the weather is to hot or humid.  Granted, it is a fairly rare occurrence in the fall in Indiana but still, what happened last weekend is unacceptable.  Hilltop, in its day, sat 3500 but I'm wondering whether or not all the seats have been removed now that it is a dedicated practice facility.  The gym at SIU probably sat 500.  I doubt we have ever had 500 for a volleyball game.

[valpopal]

The gym at SIU probably sat 500.  I doubt we have ever had 500 for a volleyball game.

The attendance for the match against NIU drew almost 700, though many left during the break after two sets due to the heat.

[valpospartan]

The gym at SIU probably sat 500.  I doubt we have ever had 500 for a volleyball game.

The attendance for the match against NIU drew almost 700, though many left during the break after two sets due to the heat.

72: It is not unusual for VU VB attendance to be over 500.
      It is also not unusual for the ARC to be quite hot for September games, although not as hot as this weekend.

[UNIFTW]

The gym at SIU probably sat 500.  I doubt we have ever had 500 for a volleyball game.

The attendance for the match against NIU drew almost 700, though many left during the break after two sets due to the heat.

You hosted Northern Illinois last week?

If you're referring to UNI the there is no way in any gods green earth there was 700 there. I saw photos and highlight video.

[valpopal]

The gym at SIU probably sat 500.  I doubt we have ever had 500 for a volleyball game.

The attendance for the match against NIU drew almost 700, though many left during the break after two sets due to the heat.

You hosted Northern Illinois last week?

If you're referring to UNI the there is no way in any gods green earth there was 700 there. I saw photos and highlight video.

Sorry. yes, UNI: I'm still getting used to new teams! As for the attendance, it was listed as 685. I believe there were that many there during the match spread throughout the whole arena, though as is often the case at volleyball games, the crowd fluctuated with people coming and going. In fact, during the second set my section and the one next to mine were mostly filled, but a s I mentioned, perhaps half left following the second set due to the heat.

[ml2]

I'm pretty sure that the ceiling in Hilltop is too low to accommodate a varsity volleyball game.

[agibson]

As for the SIU venue, I would compare it to Hilltop.

That was certainly my thought. Last time I was in Hilltop there was still one large set of bleachers. Could maybe seat 1,000? Large enough, I suspect, for the fans.

I'm not sure about height. I don't remember it feeling particularly constrained. They play off the video scoreboard in the ARC.

The video quality, and the broadcasters, at SIU were definitely impressive.

I did have some buffering/stuttering issues, and I was on a pretty fast network at the time (on campus). I didn't try debugging it - maybe some of the problem was on my end. But, the feed definitely dropped entirely toward the end - I'm pretty sure that was their fault. In an action-packed sport like volleyball I'd probably accept a lower resolution for a rock solid feed.

But, the video quality was definitely higher than MBB in the HLN or Horizon-ESPN3 days.

[FWalum]

However, we are playing with a horizon League team against The Valley.  We are just too small.  That will have to change.

Watched the game on ESPN3 replay.  It didn't look as if we were as athletic as their hitters.  Hard to believe SIU started the season 1-11 with the athletes they appeared to have.  Wish the Northern Iowa game had been streamed, would have liked to see what type of athletes they put on the court.

[UNIFTW]

Nice thing about the valley, outside of your campus, every game is streamed and archived on espn 3 if you want to catch up.

[valpospartan]

As for the SIU venue, I would compare it to Hilltop.

That was certainly my thought. Last time I was in Hilltop there was still one large set of bleachers. Could maybe seat 1,000? Large enough, I suspect, for the fans.

I'm not sure about height. I don't remember it feeling particularly constrained. They play off the video scoreboard in the ARC.

The video quality, and the broadcasters, at SIU were definitely impressive.

I did have some buffering/stuttering issues, and I was on a pretty fast network at the time (on campus). I didn't try debugging it - maybe some of the problem was on my end. But, the feed definitely dropped entirely toward the end - I'm pretty sure that was their fault. In an action-packed sport like volleyball I'd probably accept a lower resolution for a rock solid feed.

But, the video quality was definitely higher than MBB in the HLN or Horizon-ESPN3 days.

I did not have an stuttering/buffering issues, watching it at my home.

[VULB#62]

Nice thing about the valley, outside of your campus, every game is streamed and archived on espn 3 if you want to catch up.

Please have a little patience.

[valpotx]

Good lord, read the thread!!  You cannot simply upgrade your streaming services over a few week/month period.  Working at SiriusXM, I can tell you that it is no small feat to do such a thing.  We have always streamed all Volleyball games, and only don't at the moment because of the upgrade.

[VULB#62]

NOTE:  This message posted before I was finished. It is now complete.

And it is not just VB.  None of our Fall sports have been streamed from Valpo venues. 

It has been only 2 months and 28 days since we were formally accepted into the MVC.  In coming on board as the new kid on the block, there were a myiad of tasks that needed to be completed. Those tasks needed to be prioritized by criticality level.  I am sure that video/media upgrade is in the high priority category, but you just don't go to Best Buy, pick up a new TV camera and microphone and plug them in.  Folks, this is a major IT project that requires new hardware, buying and programming new software, functional testing, user testing - the full system development life cycle.  Even if fast tracked, this takes time and skilled resources.  And some of the steps required have to be done sequentially, not concurrently.

Going back to July 1, no business in it's right mind would initiate any significant expenditure prior to a conclusive contract being signed.  So the internal Valpo procurement process, even if initiated on day one (July1), would take a little time (reviews and approvals) before the PO is released. This is also dependent on vendor responsiveness -- i.e., how long it would it take for all HW components and SW to be delivered.  Then the difficult part begins:  pulling new cable, building out a new media room, installing the HW, setting up the HW, testing the HW, followed by the SW installation and all of that subsquent testing.

And all of this cannot be done while leaving the old HL system in place. 

I think everyone is in agreement that the reason we joined the MVC was basketball.  The video upgrade, I am sure, was planned and is being implemented so that, from day 1 of the basketball season, MVC quality video will be available to fans.  It is a shame that VU Fall sports could not be covered immediately, but the rest of the MVC will miss only those away contests played at Valpo and have the rest of their schedules streamed as before.  As for Valpo fans, it is disappointing to be without any video streams of home contests this season, but in the end things will work out.

[vu72]

And it is not just VB.  None of our Fall sports have been streamed from Valpo venues. 

It has been only 2 months and 28 days since we were formally accepted into the MVC.  In coming on board as the new kid on the block, there are a myiad of tasks that needed to be completed. Those tasks needed to be prioritized by criticality level.  I am sure that video/media upgrade is in teh high priority level but, you just don't go to Best Buy, pick up a new TV and plug it in.  This is a major IT project that requires new hardware, programming new software, functional testing, user testing - the full system development life cycle.  Even if fast tracked, this takes time 

Plus the construction of a control room!

[Dave_2010]

Honest question: would it have been possible to maintain the old system during installation of the new or did we have to so thoroughly gut our AV infrastructure that such a venture was impossible?


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[FWalum]

I was told that leaving the old system in place was not a real option.  I was also told that the upgrade will include video for baseball and other outdoor sports that were not previously streamed.