Campus watches volleyball match live via webcast

By Matthew Boyle | mboyle@flagler.edu
Photo by Matthew Boyle
PHOTO CAPTION: Students, faculty and staff watch the Volleyball match in the student center.

Flagler College Sports Information Director John Jordan wishes he had thought of projecting live-streaming athletic events for the campus community before the National NCAA Division II Volleyball tournament.

Jordan, with the help of Flagler’s student services staff, set up a live projection of the match on Thursday, Dec. 3 in the back room of the student center. With a laptop, projector and just the ordinary campus Wi-Fi connection, the Flagler College community was able to watch the Saints beat Dowling College (Oakdale, N.Y.).

“This is the first time we’ve ever done this,” Jordan said. “Now that we know this works, we should do this for big events.”

The Saints keep rolling and, according to Jordan, this is first a Peach Belt Conference team has ever made it to the Final Four in Volleyball. In fact, Jordan said no PBC volleyball team has ever won a set in the national tournament. Flagler won all three sets in its first match in the national tournament.

Sheri Holt, the athletic department’s director of compliance, was impressed with the setup.

“When John Jordan said we’d be able to access it, we thought it was important to do it in a group setting,” Holt said. “There’s so much support all around campus.”

Jordan said the national spotlight will be probably help with recruiting athletes as well. It helps the conference and region out, too, he said.

“I got an e-mail from Wingate’s [N.C.] SID [Sports Information Director] wishing us luck,” Jordan said. “It [being in the national tournament] means a lot to the conference and the division.”

Grant Nielson of student services at Flagler said the school plans on showing the next Volleyball match, which will be at 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4, in the student center as well.