‘Battle on the Turf’: South Range puts on 20-team exhibition event outdoors to open volleyball season
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BEAVER TOWNSHIP -- The sunshine occasionally fought through the cloud cover, the wind was weak and the temperature and humidity were in mid-August form on Saturday, as the cheers and communication normally heard inside of a gym filled the air at Rominger Athletic Complex.
The Mahoning Valley saw an unofficial start to the high school volleyball season as 20 teams converged on South Range's football stadium for the first "Battle on the Turf."
"It definitely was a good experience," Mineral Ridge senior Meeyia Barta said. "Since our first game is next Wednesday, it's good to have this experience and give our team a couple matches to play to see where our season could go."
The tri-county area was well represented in the outdoor event as area teams got ready for the upcoming season.
Mahoning County sent Campbell, Canfield, Lowellville, Struthers, Jackson-Milton, Poland, Austintown Fitch, Boardman and host South Range. Trumbull County featured Girard, Hubbard, Lakeview, Mineral Ridge, McDonald and Howland. And Columbiana had East Liverpool, Crestview, Columbiana, East Palestine and Beaver Local make the drive across the county line.
Proceeds from the event went to the Mahoning Valley Volleyball Officials Association, which distributes scholarships to area athletes later in the calendar.
"A lot of the organization [of the event] has been my assistant coach Kalie Luklan and Stacie Goodman, who is with the Mahoning Valley Volleyball Officials Association," South Range volleyball coach TJ Irons said. "This whole event is a preview in conjunction with them, because they raise money for scholarships. Some of these kids will be getting scholarships from them.
"Those two and myself have been sending out a lot of emails. We all have a lot of friends in the volleyball community. So when we say 20 teams, it filled quick because we all have friends that coach. It was almost to the point where anyone we asked said, 'We're in.'"
Because the matches were exhibitions, the rules were slightly different. Teams only played a couple sets, whereas normal matches are a best-of-five, and each team started with four points.
"You definitely have to see where you're at, because it definitely is really hot," Barta said. "I feel like it changes how you play, because you gotta keep that momentum. We could definitely tell that we were getting hotter in the second set, and it brought us down a little bit."
South Range used an outdoor court from a distributor in Michigan. The blue-and-red court was picked up on Thursday and assembled near the sideline. It took four hours for the crew to get everything into place.
"It was all in one," Irons said. "All we had to do was open the trailer, unpack and kinda put it together like a puzzle."
But once the players got on the court, it was just like any other volleyball match. There were some adjustments needed, however, as things like the sun and wind were factors.
"I thought it was very different because the sets weren't going as far as they usually do because of the wind pushing it back, and at some points it was kinda hard to see the ball because the red (from the court) is reflecting on the ball," Hubbard setter Lylah Taylor said.
Irons and members of the South Range community spent a couple years trying to organize the outdoor matches. They were inspired by the University of Nebraska's outdoor match in 2023, which saw 92,003 in the audience, setting the world record for the largest crowd for a women's sporting event.
"It was kinda like, 'We could do this. We know enough people, we have enough support in our community.' And South Range was a great place to host it because we do have the support of our administration and the community's gonna show up," Irons said.
Irons said there were more teams that wanted to play on Saturday, but they "had to draw the line somewhere." He said that if "Battle on the Turf" becomes an annual kickoff to the season, he can get more teams involved in the future.
Irons said the parents and members of the South Range athletic department played a key role in the game-day production. They assisted with concessions, the court assembly and the other features around the stadium.
It was all so that the Mahoning Valley volleyball community could come together for nine hours of uninterrupted play in a unique setting.
"I think it really just shows how much the sport has grown, because it's really coming from college," Taylor said. "You see college girls on a football field. It seems pretty cool, and there's a whole bunch of people watching them. And getting to experience that as a high school player is really exciting and fun."