Students huddled under the bright lights of the Little Circle on Oct. 30 to battle it out at the BYU-Hawaii Intramural Spikeball Tournament. This marks the second Spikeball Tournament put on by Intramurals. This year, after two hours of intense, heated competition, OJ Evans and Tyler Murdoch claimed 1st place.“We realized that it was becoming a popular sport, and we decided that it could be a sport that gets a lot of people involved out here,” said senior Ryan Belliston, a Intramural worker and business major from Loveland, Ohio. Spikeball is a relatively new sport that is gaining popularity throughout the country and here on campus. Played on the beach, on grass, or any smooth surface, Spikeball combines elements of volleyball and four-square in an intense two-against-two competition. Teams of two face each other across a round Spikeball net in the middle. A round baseball-sized plastic ball is served from one team to the other by hitting the ball on the net to the opposing team. The opposing team then has three touches to hit the ball back to the other team. Once the ball is served, players are free to move wherever they want. The object of the game is to hit the ball into the net so that the other team cannot return it. “Spikeball is such an exhilarating sport,” said Spencer Burr, a freshman studying business from Salt Lake City, Utah. “It combines power with finesse in a fast-paced game. I like it because you can play anywhere and with pretty much anyone.” 12 teams played in a round-robin format with the top two teams advancing to the playoffs. “The tournament was way fun and I know the more people hear about it the bigger and better the tournaments will get,” said Lou Arne, a junior studying graphic design major from Draper, Utah. “There was a great combination of people who are just starting and people who have been playing for awhile.” BYU-Hawaii intramurals will be holding another Spikeball tournament this Thursday, Nov. 6, at 7 P.M. at the Flag Circle. Students can sign up in teams of two: all male, all female, or mixed. Sign ups are open until the tournaments start.
Writer: Matthew Roberts ~ Multimedia Journalist
