Trine Reviving Men’s Volleyball Program
Trine University outlines plans for expanding health services programs
As Trine University gears up for the launch of several new sports this fall, plans are now in place for another sport to return to the Angola campus. Trine says it will bring back men’s volleyball as a varsity sport in 2018, after being gone from the university since 2002.
Men’s volleyball began as a club sport at the university, then known as Tri-State University, in 1990 and became a varsity sport in 1991. The team won the MIVA/NAIA Championship in 1998. Under the revived program, Trine will compete in the NCAA Division III.
"Men’s volleyball gives Trine another avenue of competition for our student-athletes in a sport that is growing across NCAA Division III," said Matt Land, athletic director and assistant vice president of athletics at Trine. “This is an exciting time for our athletic department and we expect men’s volleyball to be a big part of that moving forward.”
Trine will have the only NCAA Division III men’s volleyball program in the state and will be just one of four Hoosier schools to offer collegiate-level men’s volleyball. The university says a national search for a head coach is underway and details regarding conference membership for the team are pending.
Among the new sports beginning in the 2017-2018 are the men’s and women’s NCAA Division III hockey programs, which will operate out of the new $8.2 million Thunder Ice Arena, scheduled for completion this fall. The university will also launch men’s and women’s club bowling and an esports program this year, which will eventually be housed in the new $13 million MTI Center, slated for completion in January 2018.
Trine will also kick off its new women’s triathlon program this year. Head Coach Danny Powell told Inside INdiana Business Television in January the team will be the first of its kind in Indiana.
"We are excited to revive the men’s volleyball program at Trine University and look forward to welcoming a new group of athletes to campus," said Trine President Earl Brooks. "The continued growth in our athletic programs mirrors and contributes to the overall growth of our university and adds to the vibrancy of campus life here at Trine."