Volleyball: Shawnee, Spencerville set to meet in outdoor match

Volleyball is a versatile sport.

Most times it’s played on a court and other times, on a beach.

Not often is it played on a football field, but that’s exactly what’s happening at Shawnee on Saturday night.

They’re calling it “Sets and Spikes at Sundown” starting with a junior varsity game against Spencerville at 6:30 p.m., with the varsity game to follow.

The festivities also include a Live DJ, concessions and a 50-50 drawing.

The idea came together about two weeks ago when Shawnee coach Brooke Hutchins presented it to Athletic Director Steve Owen. It was inspired by a similar event at the University of Nebraska, which drew over 92,o00 fans, and a summer scrimmage series called the “Showdown at Sundown” at Newark Catholic High School.

Shawnee needed to add one more game to complete its schedule, so Owen contacted Kelli Williams at Spencerville to get the Bearcats on board, and that set the plan in motion.

To make things clear, this is an official game between Shawnee and Spencerville, not an exhibition.

“I think Spencerville’s coach and everyone over there thought it was a pretty cool idea after seeing Nebraska do it last year on TV and some other schools in the state who have done events like this,” Owen said. “It’s been kind of a learn-as-we-go type of thing. The floor was delivered on Tuesday and we’ve played with it a bit just to see how this was going to piece itself together. We’ve learned from Newark where to start assembling it and how it goes together.”

Hutchins contacted Newark Catholic about getting the “sport court” which is similar to floors used in offseason travel volleyball in places like convention centers.

It’s made up of thin, 16-square-foot sections that lock together. The inbounds area is red and outside the lines, it’s blue.

Assembling the floor should take around two hours, and that’ll start after the JV football game (10 a.m. start time) is finished on Saturday morning.

After that’s completed, the only thing that stands in the event’s way is the threat of weather.

Currently, there’s a high chance of rain in the morning.

Owen said that as long as the rain stops in time to assemble the court and play the game, everything should go according to schedule. The backup plan is to move it to the gym.

His expectation is that as long as the weather cooperates, it should be an eventful night for both the Shawnee and Spencerville communities.

“Everything has fallen in place and I think if the weather holds, it’s going to be a great event for both schools. It was a quick turnaround to get everything together but I think we’re in good shape.

“I expect that some non-traditional volleyball fans might come out just to see what this is like. We’ve had other high schools and some universities reach out with questions about the logistics of the event so I think people are interested. We’re hoping the weather holds out and we have a great night of volleyball at the stadium.”

Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter/X at @Lima_Howell