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Athletics

Volleyball Installs New Scoreboards at Brophy | Gravina to Throw Out First Pitch in the Quad Cities | Volleyball Earns Academic Award | Hanson Field Turf Installation Continues | Football Opener to be Televised | Kimura Honored at White House | Summit League Unveils 30th Anniversary Logo

Volleyball Installs New Scoreboards at Brophy Hall

Western Illinois' 2011-12 volleyball schedule calls for the Fighting Leathernecks to play seven games inside Brophy Hall. Fans will notice one major difference from last season, when new player wall clings and new team banners were mounted.

New scoreboards were installed over the off-season and the retrofit will bring some much-needed improvements to the Western Illinois volleyball experience, says tenth-year head coach Kym McKay.

"The old scoreboard was outdated and past its prime," said McKay. "Volleyball uses a sixty minute running clock for warmups and the scoreboard was so antiquated that the clock maxed out at thirty minutes. Additionally, numerous sockets were irreparable and it was very tough to distinguish the score at a quick glance."

Read more.

Gravina to Throw Out First Pitch in the Quad Cities

Fighting Leatherneck women's basketball coach JD Gravina is preparing to throw out first pitch at a Quad City River Bandits game on August 10. The River Bandits are the Class A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The River Bandits will be playing host to the Burlington Bees at 7:00 p.m. at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa. That night will also feature several promotions including a river Bandits' hat giveaway, half-price tickets and Belly Buster Wednesday.

The leader of the women's basketball program has enlisted the help of Leatherneck baseball coaches Mike Villano and Todd Coryell.

Photo courtesy of WIU Visual Productions Center.

Volleyball Earns AVCA Team Academic Award

For the third straight year, the Western Illinois volleyball team received the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for maintaining a team grade point average of at least 3.30 for the entire 2010-11 academic year.

Head coach Kym McKay's squad is one of only 92 Division I women's teams to earn the honor. Western Illinois is one of two Summit League teams to receive the award (South Dakota State) and has now captured the team honor five times in the last six years.

Read more.

Photo courtesy of WIU Visual Productions Center.

Hanson Field Turf Installation Continues

Renovation continues with the installation of the Matrix Turf brand artificial surface, installed by Hellas Construction, at Hanson Field.

The new surface will be completed by late August. The Leathernecks open their home schedule on September 10 against Jacksonville. The track and field enhancements are scheduled to be completed in late September.

Matrix Turf is one of the field surfaces used at Cowboy Stadium by the Dallas Cowboys, installed by Hellas Construction. The company also installed Matrix Turf at: Baylor University's stadium and indoor facility, the University of Texas El Paso, Texas Tech's practice complex and the Alamodome.

Read more.

Photo courtesy of WIU Athletics.

Football Opener to be Televised on WGEM-FOX &
WHBF-TV RTV4 (Channel 4.2)

WGEM announced July 8 that the 2011 Western Illinois Football season opener at Sam Houston State will be televised live on WGEM-FOX. WHBF-TV RTV4 (Channel 4.2) in the Quad Cities will also carry the game live.

Kickoff on Thursday, September 1 is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

The game is part of the Southland Conference TV network package, and can now be seen throughout west-central Illinois and the Tri-States area. Southland Conference TV announcers for the game have yet to be announced.

Western returns 13 starters and 37 letterwinners off last year's 8-5 team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division I playoffs. The Fighting Leathernecks defeated Sam Houston State last year at Hanson Field 56-14 as part of the 6-0 undefeated home record.

Read more.

Photo courtesy of WIU Visual Productions Center.

Major League Soccer Champions, Kimura Honored at White House

Fifth-year Colorado Rapids defenseman Kosuke Kimura, a Western Illinois standout from 2003-2006, and the rest the Rapids team were honored by President Barack Obama June 27 at the White House in Washington, D.C.

Before the team's meet-and-greet with the President, they were treated to a tour of the White House and put on a youth soccer clinic in the front lawn for children of military members.

Read more.

Photo courtesy of the Colorado Rapids: President Obama shaking Kosuke Kimura's hand.

Summit League Unveils 30th Anniversary Logo

The Summit League recently unveiled its 30th anniversary season logo for the 2011-12 academic year. Selected through voting on the league's Facebook page, the logo will be used as the league's primary mark in publicity materials through June 2012.

Originally formed as a Division I league on July 19, 1982, The Summit League, then known as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities and later as the Mid-Continent Conference, is entering its 30th season at the Division I level.  

Read more.

Photo courtesy of the Summit League.

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