Arnie Ball

IPFW

Arnie Ball is in his 34th season as head coach of the IPFW men's volleyball team.

One of the longest tenured and most well-respected coaches in collegiate volleyball, Ball has amassed over 500 career wins and has filled a trophy case with honors from around the world. With a resume that includes six trips to the NCAA Final Four, six regular-season MIVA Championships and rosters dotted with All-Conference, All-American and U.S. Olympic team selections, Ball’s time in Fort Wayne has pushed IPFW to the forefront of collegiate men’s volleyball.

IPFW’s finest national finish under Ball came in 2007, as the ‘Dons took home a National Runner-Up trophy, falling 3-1 to UC-Irvine in Columbus, Ohio. For the storied season, Ball was named both the AVCA Division I-II National Coach of the Year and Asics/Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year.

In addition to the Runner-Up season, Ball has led teams to fourth place finishes in 1992 and 1994 and third place finishes in 1991, 1996 and 2006. Fifteen players have been named AVCA All-American, six have been honored as the MIVA Player of the Year and two have gone on to play in the Olympics.

The Mastodons men’s sideline isn’t the only one that Ball has roamed during his thirty year tenure. Following a successful player career at Ball State, Coach Ball began his coaching career at Fort Wayne’s Harding High School, where he led the Hawks to three Indiana Volleyball Coaches Association Championships. In 1981, Ball made the move to IPFW, taking the helm of both the men’s and women’s programs.

At the helm of the women’s team, IPFW captured four Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) championships and earned bids in the NCAA Division II Tournament in 1987 and 1988. He wrapped his eight-year women’s team tenure with an overall record of 231-102 (.693).

Kyle Shondell

Indiana Tech

Kyle Shondell is in his first year as Head Men’s Volleyball Coach at Indiana Tech. Shondell has spent over a decade involved in high level volleyball training. Prior to starting the program at Indiana Tech, he spent 4 years at the helm of the Huntington University women’s program; winning more regular season and conference matches in those four seasons than the 8 previous seasons combined. In the 8 years prior, Shondell was the 1st Assistant at Western Illinois University and Chicago State University, as well as one season as the head coach at Rock Valley College where he led his team to a top-ten national finish. He started his career with a 5-year stint on staff with the Purdue Women’s Volleyball team.

Heather Sawyer

Lakeview High School

*From Orono, Ontario, Canada - played for Clarke High School - 2nd in the Provincial Championships in 1982.
*Ontario Provincial team - Bronze Medal1983 Canada Games.

*Western Michigan University from 1982-1986. *
Appeared in 4 NCAA tournaments (1982 – 85)
*Mid-American Conference (MAC) MVP 1982 &1984
*Academic MAC All Conference 1984/1985
*All Mac 1st Team 1982-1985.
*Graduated with a B. Sc. in Physical Education/Minor Health Education.
*Masters – Sports Pedagogy/Coach Education

1986 - 1989 Team Canada Volleyball
*Competed Internationally: 1986 World Championships (Prague, Czechoslovakia), World Cup 1986 (Seoul, South Korea), Canada Cup 1986-1989, Olympic Zone Qualifications/NORCECA’s 1987 (Cuba), World Student Games 1987 (Zagreb, Yugoslavia), Pan American Games 1987 (Indianapolis, USA) , Olympic Qualifications 1988 (Forli, Italy) and various other domestic/international tours.

*Played Professionally: Herentals, Belgium 1989-90 Division Champions, 2nd *Round European Club Championships (CEV).
*Head Coach at the University of Regina, in Saskatchewan (1990-1994) *Assistant Coach for the Junior National Team - (Jr. NORCECA 1989, World Students Games 1991
*Played Professionally France: Lyon-Francheville, France, 1995-96 Division II Champions, Best Setter Award

*1996 USA Michigan (1996-1999) as the Regional Training Center Coordinator & Coach
*2002 to Present: Physical Education/Health Teacher at Lakeview High School

Meet our Dallas Guest Coach

Tara Cross-Battle

4X Olympian

Tara Cross-Battle is a retired female volleyball player of the U.S.A. Women’s National Team. She is a 4-Time Olympian and a 2014 International Volleyball Hall of Fame Inductee. She played professionally overseas for 9 years. Tara also played collegiate at California State University of Long Beach “aka” Long Beach State. She was a 4-Time All-American and 2-Time Player of the Year while playing for the 49ers. Recently, inducted into the Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Tara is currently coaching for the Houston Juniors Volleyball Club. She is one of the head training coaches and the head coach for HJV 16 Elite. Tara has been coaching club for 14 years.

Tara is married to Spencer Battle and has 2 beautiful children, Lauren age 14 and Marcus age 10.

Lloyd Ball

4X Olympian

Lloy Ball is the Owner and Director at Team Pineapple VBC. He is also one of the coaches. Lloy was NCAA Freshman of the year at IPFW. He was 1st team All-American twice and 2nd team twice. Lloy led the Volleydons to THREE NCAA FInal Fours. Lloy is a 4-TIME Olympian (96, 00, 04 and 08). He won a Gold Medal in the 2008 Beijing Games. Lloy has played 14 years professional. He has won 15 European Titles. He is the ONLY player to have won Championships in Italy, Greece and Russia. Lloy is the originator of the "Pineapple" tip. He has had it trademarked and uses it as his Beach, Indoor, Club, Camp, Clinic and Clothing line Brand!!
Lloy Ball is a 4-time Olympian!! Lloy won a GOLD MEDAL in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Lloy's Team Pineapple PVL team won the 2015 Gold Medal in Detroit and won again this past year in Orlando. Team Pineapple PVL is the first Back to Back Champion in the PVL. Lloy has also: Played 14 years with the USA National Team, played 15 years combined professionally in Japan, Italy, Greece and Russia. He has won 15 European and domestic league titles. He was named Best Server in the World and Best Setter in the World TWICE!!! Lloy was a 3-time 1st team NCAA All-American. He was also the NCAA Freshman of the Year.

Joel Walton

Ball State university

Joel Walton is preparing for his 22nd season as Ball State head men’s volleyball coach, looking to guide the program to its 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. On Feb. 28, 2009, Walton earned his 200th career victory when he led the Cardinals to a 3-2 win over then-No. 14 Loyola. Four matches earlier, Walton led Ball State to a 3-0 victory over the Milwaukee School of Engineering (Feb. 13, 2009) to mark the program’s 1,000th overall victory. BSU is one of only three NCAA Division I/II men’s volleyball programs to eclipse the 1,000 win mark, joining UCLA and Ohio State.

In 2002, Walton coached the Cardinals to MIVA regular season and tournament titles, plus led the team to the NCAA Tournament, where it faced No. 1 Pepperdine in the national semifinal match. During the 2003 season the Cardinals were ranked sixth in two-straight polls, while the 2008 squad was ranked sixth in the final March poll. The No. 6 rankings are the highest under Walton, and the program’s best rankings since the 1995 final poll had the team fifth. Along with the team accolades, Walton has coached seven All-Americans in his 18 seasons, including 2002 AVCA All-America First Team selection Paul Fasshauer.

A former four-year letterwinner for the Cardinals, Walton became the third head coach in program history when he accepted the position in June of 1998. Walton had spent the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach under Don Shondell and helped led Ball State to three MIVA Championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances. During his four-year playing career, Walton helped Ball State to two league titles and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. Walton held the BSU single-match record for digs until the 2006 season, scoring 25 in a 3-1 victory at Ohio State April 1, 19

Peter Hason

Former Ohio State

· Served as Ohio State head since 1985 (35 seasons)
· Captured three of the last eight NCAA national titles (2011, 2016, 2017)
· Owns an overall record of 712-359 (.665) and 312-102 (.754) clip in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) matches
· Posted a 63-5 (.926) mark during back-to-back national championship runs in 2016 and 2017, which included the longest winning streak in Ohio State Athletics history (42 straight matches) for a head-to-head sport and best ever by a MIVA squad
· Three-time Hall of Fame inductee — USA Volleyball Hall of Fame (class of 2019), Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame (’17) and America Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame (inducted in 2015 as one of just 70 members overall at the time of enshrinement)

· Named National Coach of the Year four times — AVCA (2000, 2011, 2016), Volleyball Magazine (1998, 2011) · Celebrated under the confetti in front of 8,000+ fans at St. John Arena after seizing the 2017 NCAA Championship in Columbus
· Ohio State’s 2016 national championship came exactly five years to the date (May 7) after the program’s first crown in 2011 · Furthering the parallel, both titles were also clinched in the same facility, Penn State’s Rec Hall. The ’17 triumph was witnessed by over 8,000 fans packed into St. John Arena.

· Totaled 18 MIVA regular season crowns (1986, 87, 93(co), 95(co), 98, 99(co), 2000, 04, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12(co), 16, 17, 18) and 13 MIVA Tournament titles (86, 87, 93, 2000, 01, 05, 08, 09, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18)
· 13-time MIVA Coach of the Year (1988, 93, 96, 98, 2000, 04, 07, 08, 09, 10(co), 11, 16, 17)
· Advanced to the NCAA Tournament 13 times (1986, 87, 93, 2000, 01, 05, 08, 09, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18)
· Racked up 20-or-more wins in 22 of 34 seasons and swept through an undefeated home slate six times
· Prior to Ohio State, served two seasons (1980-81) as assistant coach for the University of Wyoming women’s volleyball team before becoming the program’s head coach in 1982.

· Collegiate playing career began at Kellogg Community College in Michigan for two seasons (1976, 77) prior to his transfer to Ball State University (1978, 79) · Named an NJCAA All-American in 1976 following the first of two national junior college championships at Kellogg

· Two-time All-MIVA and team MVP selection for the Cardinals, including during Ball State’s conference title and fourth-place finish in the 1979 NCAA Championships

· After graduating with a Natural Resources and Geology degree, he remained in Muncie as an assistant coach for the 1980 campaign

· USA Volleyball coaching stints include: Assistant Coach National Sports Festival (1986); Assistant Coach Olympic Sports Festival (1987); Assistant Coach National Elite Junior Training Camp (1988); Head Coach Olympic Sports Festival (1989); Assistant Coach USA Men’s “B” Team (1994, 95); Assisted U.S. Men’s Olympic team in Atlanta (1996); Head Coach Junior Continental Championships (2012); Head Coach Men’s U-21 World Championship (2013)
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· Pete and his wife, Marianne, have two grown sons, John and Phil · John is an Ohio State graduate and is in the process of completely a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering at MIT. Phil graduated from Marquette University and earned his master’s degree from the University North Carolina in Public Health and City and Regional Planning in the Spring of 2015