Students gathered on the Snyder Hall lawn Thursday afternoon for some good, not-so-clean fun. In recognition of the progress made on the Ikenberry Commons dining hall complex, located at Gregory Drive and Euclid Street, University Housing hosted Mudfest ’09, where eight teams of students from across campus competed in a mud volleyball tournament.

Erin Ciciora, the residence communication coordinator for University Housing, helped organize the tournament. She said they know students are overwhelmed around finals and that living in a construction zone doesn’t help relieve any stress.

“Once a semester we try to do an event. We did this last year and it was a big success,” Ciciora said.

The tournament was a good way to de-stress for sophomore in ACES Amber Tomasiewicz.

“I had orgo exams yesterday and today, and it feels good to come play something dirty. I was kind of hesitant at first because of those exams, but I’m glad I did it,” Tomasiewicz said after her team, the Mudslingers, won its first game.

Fellow Mudslinger, and sophomore in LAS, Mark Pingul, also celebrated the team’s first victory.

“I feel dirty. Dirty in a good way, though … in the best way possible. It was a lot of fun. It was harder than I thought, though.”

The outdoor volleyball court was created last Monday, consisting of several inches of wet mud surrounded by hay bales to mark the boundaries.

“We work with housing facilities. They’re really awesome. They create the mud pit and we’ve had some help from Mother Nature, too, because it’s been raining for the past two days, so it was a little bit easier than last year,” Ciciora said.

Outbursts of laughter from those playing and watching were frequently heard as players slipped and slid in the mud. It seemed as though some students seemed to enjoy getting muddy more than playing volleyball.

“It’s for fun, but sometimes teams are really quite good at playing volleyball,” Ciciora said. “But I think everyone’s here just for the fun and to come play in the mud.”

Even before the first match, students couldn’t resist getting dirty, soaking their feet in an ankle-deep muddy puddle. A nearby referee ducked behind a giant umbrella to keep the flying chunks from hitting her and the scoreboard as members of the Preying Manti tackled each other in the mud.

“How’s my hair look?” asked Allison Kennedy, one of the Preying Manti, pulling a large clump of mud from her hair after playing her first game.

Kennedy, a freshman in the Division of General Studies, said that she and her teammates had been looking forward to the tournament all week.

“We were beyond excited,” she said.

“I really liked it. I scheduled my time around it, to have fun and not stress,” said Kennedy’s teammate and fellow freshman in DGS, Rebecca Helberg.

Playing volleyball was a fringe benefit for some.

“We came for the mud,” said Preying Mantis Amanda Ramsdell, freshman in LAS.

Even after their team was eliminated, they remained positive, sticking around to play in the mud some more.

“It’s okay,” Helberg said. “I got to play, and that’s what counts.”

Although everyone came to have fun, some teams were more competitive than others.

“We’re gonna win it all,” said Bryan Hack, sophomore in AHS playing for the Mud Divers, after winning his first game. Hack and the rest of his team members play volleyball regularly at the Activities and Recreation Center.

The Mud Divers made their way to the final match against the Zebras. With the score tied at fourteen points, shouts of “stay hungry” and “this is our time to shine” were heard as the Zebras motivated and encouraged one another to stay focused.

However, as Hack predicted, the Mud Divers took the win in the end with a final score of 21-18. After posing for a picture with their trophies, the elated Mud Divers lived up to their name and performed a group victory dive in the mud.