Beach volleyball doesn’t have a stand-alone program at EIU.  

The players seen playing on the sand in the spring are the same seen on the court in the fall.

“The reasoning, when we added beach [volleyball], was to help our indoor program be better,” EIU Athletic Director Tom Michael said. “It wasn’t from the perspective that we were going to have an entirely separate beach roster.” 

Michael said the idea was for volleyball athletes to cross train in the spring by playing beach volleyball.  

Despite this, construction of a beach volleyball facility is ongoing, as Eastern is working to build a new facility that head coach Ryan Millar says puts Eastern on the same level as other beach volleyball programs.  

“We have six full sized beach courts, which makes us only one of a few programs to have six full size courts in the facility,” said head coach Ryan Millar. “Most facilities only have three or four, but six is a pretty big deal.”  

The facility, located at Linder Sports Complex just southeast of campus, will feature fine white sand so deep that Millar says it feels like playing in California. The project is a joint effort between EIU and the city of Charleston.  

The sand was picked after several meetings with Michael and Charleston city officials.  

“We had multiple conversations and meetings around the type of sand,” Millar said. “We were bidding out different types of sand that we could look at and potentially use. We got a bunch of samples in.” 

The project is a joint effort between EIU and the city of Charleston. 

The facility is an improvement from where the team was previously playing at. Before this new facility, the team practiced and played at Sister City Park.  

The park featured two courts with sand nowhere near as deep as the new facility. 

“When we played our matches at Sister City, it served a purpose for us at the beginning,” Michael said. “But there were some limitations with it, and th surface was one of them.” 

The players, who have already spent time practicing at the facility, have noticed a clear difference in the quality and depth of the sand at the new facility.  

“I think it’ll give us a good home court advantage because we’re already used to playing in that sand, whereas [other teams] might struggle a little bit to move around,” said senior Tori Mohesky.

The home advantage comes from the depth of sand, which was an important feature the city and Eastern worked to make happen. According to Millar, the sand is about 18-20 inches deep.  

The facility isn’t completely finished yet and is waiting for the extra features to be put in, such as ball dividers between courts, individual scoreboards, lighting, and a few more features.  

Michael said once the facility is fully completed, the plan is for Eastern to be able to schedule more home events. 

“I think that’s the expectation for us, and I think it’s certainly the expectation for the city as well,” Michael said. “Our hope moving forward is that we can get some more competitions here.” 

Besides the extra features, the nets are up and the lines are down, making the facility ready for play.  

Even with a brand-new facility and a strong home advantage, Eastern is still at a disadvantage in conference play.  

Almost all of the teams EIU plays against have separate beach volleyball programs. Eastern is one of the only schools that combines their indoor and beach volleyball together.  

“We have that initial handicap pretty much against everybody that we play,” Millar said. “Until the school decides they want to split the programs, it’s going to be a struggle for us to have a beach volleyball program.”  

The school won’t split the two sports until it makes sense financially to do so. According to Millar, the two sports probably won’t split over the course of the next couple of years.  

For right now, the team has a new facility, and they’re excited to put it to use.  

“We have one home game and we’re really just hoping to have a good turnout,” Mohesky said. “It’s just a really nice facility in a really nice area.”  

EIU will play their one home match next Friday on April 3 at 2 p.m. The match will be played at the new facility at Linder Sports Complex against Lindenwood. 

Aaron Coffin can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].