South Shore CVA hosts Midwest Crossover Volleyball Tournament at Hammond Sportsplex for the battle of best conference in the Midwest

On Friday, October 17, hundreds of collegiate volleyball players from across the Midwest came to the Hammond Sportsplex for the fifth annual Midwest Crossover Volleyball Tournament. Teams played their first slate of games on Friday, and the tournament will extend into Saturday, October 18.

The Midwest Crossover Volleyball Tournament has been an annual event at the Hammond Sportsplex since 2021. Featuring more than 38 teams and 600 athletes, this tournament consists of NCAA Division II teams from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and the Great Lakes Valley Conference. 

Kris Dunbar, commissioner of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, considers this event to be the ultimate collaboration for high-level volleyball in the Region.

”It’s a major undertaking for all three conferences, but it’s terrific for our institutions and our volleyball programs,” Dunbar said. “These athletes get a chance to match up against teams within their abilities. We do a ranking system every year, so you can see the top teams from three conferences play against other top teams. It provides for some very competitive volleyball.”

In most cases, conference opponents are some of the biggest rivals for most collegiate sports programs. What’s unique about the Midwest Crossover Volleyball Tournament is that some of the athletes are cheering on other teams in their conference. The tournament has a very nostalgic feeling for most of these athletes who grew up playing travel volleyball.

“Almost all of these student-athletes have played club volleyball at one point or another,” said Jim Naumovich, commissioner of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. “This really takes them back to how most of them played growing up. The athletes played a bunch of games on multiple courts over the weekend. It’s a time where everybody coalesces around the league, and some of the athletes might be rooting for teams they normally play against. It’s truly a battle between conferences.”

Tom Daeger, commissioner of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, believes that this tournament serves a beneficial purpose to allow student-athletes to experience games with higher stakes, especially for underclassmen.

“A lot of these students have circled this weekend for a long time,” Daeger said. “It’s special to have a tournament atmosphere in the middle of the regular season. It also provides extra experience for these teams, especially if some of them don’t advance to a postseason tournament.”

While teams range from all across the Midwest, Daeger considers Northwest Indiana to be the perfect spot for all three conferences to come together for this tournament.

“The geographical proximity to this is really a natural fit,” Daeger said. “This is at the heart of all three of our leagues. Of course, we have schools from Indiana, but we also have schools here that are coming from states such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri. This building is an opportunity for us to connect everyone at one location, and it’s serving us well.”’

Between having a facility like the Hammond Sportsplex to play the games and an organization like the South Shore CVA to help orchestrate this event, all of the conference commissioners are always excited to see how this event continues to be successful year after year.

“This event provides an outstanding situation for so many of our student-athletes to compete in a great facility,” Naumovich said. “The regional hotels have been amazing. The South Shore CVA’s support of this event has been incredible. Jimmy Nelson does an amazing job as director of sports, and his entire group makes this possible. That’s why we’re back for the fifth year.”

With the South Shore CVA always motivated to promote tourism in Northwest Indiana, events like the Midwest Crossover Volleyball Tournament help spotlight what amenities the Region has to offer.

Games took place from sunrise to sunset on the first day of the tournament. More games will be played on Saturday, October 18, with the remaining schedule based on how the teams performed on the first day. 

“It’s such a fun event for us to be a part of as we watch conferences come together,” Dunbar said. “It’s magical when you can see four or five different teams that are normally fighting against each other as big rivals, yet they’re cheering on their fellow conference members to be a part of the best conference here. It’s great camaraderie that’s unlike any other.”

For more information on the South Shore CVA, you can visit southshorecva.com.