BYU-Idaho students gathered on June 25, to play mud volleyball from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“Volleyball is a great sport in itself, but playing in the mud is very fun,” Olivia Machen, a junior studying history education, said. “We’re going to dive for the ball, get soaked and trash our clothes; it’s going to be great.”

Miriam Borsella, a senior studying recreational management, and other co-managers put together this activity for their program management class.

There were 20 teams and they each got the opportunity to play four games each. The games were limited to 10 minutes or whichever team got to 15 points first.

“We’ll record all of their points, add up their totals and then whichever two teams out of the four divisions have the most will play in the tournament,” Borsella said.
The two courts being used were constantly being filled with running water during the games to keep mud consistency.

“I might have to walk home after these games are done and then find a hose somewhere to wash off,” Emma Holmquist, a freshman studying photography, said before the mud games started.

After her team’s first game, Elicia Blue, a junior studying math education, said, “It was really fun, but it’s sort of hard with the puddles because your feet go straight to the bottom and so it’s hard to get somewhere fast, but my teammates and I all plan to get really muddy before our next game and then maybe we’ll play better because we won’t be so focused on getting dirty.”

This is not the first time BYU-Idaho has sponsored a mud volleyball tournament.

“They did mud volleyball games about four years ago and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Borsella said.

The winning team received bags full of water bottles, towels, candy and championship shirts from internship and career services.