On Sept. 11, members of the Eastern volleyball team walked into McAfee Gym for what they thought was just a team meeting.
However, the players were instead led to a room that had been repurposed into a new state-of-the-art locker room.
As players began to file into the room, their eyes met benches with their own personal chair, storage compartment and nameplate. Jaws hit the floor as they turned to look at a white couch facing the wall where a TV will eventually go, as well a Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinet and a kitchen counter with cabinets.
The benches, which are complimented with blue under glow, have the EIU logo on the face of the storage area above where the players sit. A neon sign that lights up and reads “EIU VOLLEYBALL” was leaning up against the far wall. On the other side of the benches sat a rack with every player’s jersey hung up on it.
“It’s really exciting for the girls for sure,” head coach Ryan Millar said.
Some players were in shock, others began laughing, and even a few were reduced to tears as the Panthers explored their new amenity.
“This was a total surprise to them,” Millar said. “They knew we were transforming a locker room, but they had no idea what it was going to look like until we brought them in.”
The locker room was made possible by the support of the Gardella family, who funded the renovation of McAfee Gym into the new home for EIU volleyball.
The home locker room isn’t the only one that was remodeled. Another room underneath the court was repurposed into the visitor’s locker room. It is complete with a white unit of shelves along the ground on both sides near the entrance, and hooks so visiting teams can hang bags, jackets and other things.
Millar says the visiting locker room’s design and location aid in giving Eastern a home court advantage, adding that the rooms are in the process of being painted, but are more than 90 percent done.
Attached to the visiting locker rooms is a training room, where players can go to receive treatment after games and practices. Like the locker rooms, the training room will have its ceiling and floor painted.
Across the narrow hall from the visiting locker room is the room that the referees will be in before and after games. It’s more climate controlled than nearly any other room in the building, with an air conditioning unit blasting cold air into the small room and an ice machine on the other side of the room opposite the entrance.
“That room gets really cold,” Millar said. “It’s probably one of the coldest rooms in the entire building.”
The south gym now has a brand-new volleyball court, a new volleyball-specific scoreboard, and banners hung up around the gym near the ceiling.
Eastern is also now the only team in the Ohio Valley Conference to have volleyball-specific Taraflex flooring.
Another new addition is the section of chairback seats near midcourt. Fans were given the opportunity to purchase season tickets and reserve their own chair, and the seats that are currently installed are nearly sold out, according to Millar.
He says in the future the entire arena may have chairback seating.
The renovations, Millar says, was a big factor in him deciding to take the Eastern job.
“When I was thinking about where I wanted to takeover and coach, I had a pretty lengthy checklist,” Millar said. “I needed an athletic administration that was very volleyball-forward and that was interested in growing and building the program.
Millar said he was able to make some decisions on the back end of the project despite the renovation starting in October 2024 when Sara Thomas was still the head coach.
“It turned out to be fantastic,” Millar said. “It’s a really cool place to play volleyball too. It’s a really good volleyball facility for us.”
Unlike the referee room, the court gets significantly warmer depending on the weather and amount of people in the arena. Air doesn’t flow very much through the south gym since the windows don’t open, leading to still and heavy air inside on humid days.
The only thing moving air around is ceiling fans, but Milar says that having the fans going too fast affects the play on the court, so they can’t all be going at full speed when games are being played.
Two of the four fans in each corner affect play more than the other two because of the way the gameplay flows. The team inquired on if there was a rule about if the fans can affect play, and if so, how much they can. Millar says it’s up to the home team how fast fans can move.
“We’re hoping that as the weeks go on, that the temperature continues to not be so high,” Millar said.”
The roof has supports that hang over the court, which could interfere with play if balls are hit hard and high enough. Millar compared the overhang to a big scoreboard in other arenas and said a ball has hit those supports about five times during the team’s intrasquad scrimmage and preseason game against Illinois State.
If a ball hits the overhang during a match, it’s playable as long as it comes back onto the same side that it was hit from. The point is declared dead if the ball hits the roof and completely crosses the plane of the net.
If the ball happens to get stuck in the roof, the point will be replayed.
“It’s not a huge deal,” he said. “They’re also pretty friendly. So even when [the ball] hits it, it bounces off pretty nice.”
Eastern will play its first competitive match at the new court on Friday in the Panthers’ first OVC game of the season against Lindenwood.
Friday’s game is set for a 6 p.m. start.
Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
