Nighthawk Volleyball Gym
Welcome to Our House
Often referred to as the "Hawk House," the Ironwood Ridge Volleyball Gymnasium has been home to Nighthawk Volleyball since the 2003 season. The gym serves as the school's auxiliary gym by day, but becomes the school's official volleyball venue on game night for both men's and women's volleyball teams.
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The unique design of the Volleyball Venue features a volleyball only lines and an imitate setting with limited seating - rare for a high school campus. The competition court is modeled after some of the top collegiate volleyball venues.
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The energetic and boisterous home crowds have sparked the women's team to a 166-29 (.851) all-time record for all matches played in the friendly confines of the Nighthawk Court since 2002, including a 23-match home win streak from 2006 to 2008. In 2008, the Nighthawks went 11-0 setting a new record for home matches. That record was later matched in 2010 as the Nighthawks advanced to their fourth consecutive State semi-final appearance after dropping only a total of three sets at home and again in 2013.
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The Volleyball Gym has also hosted opening round State Tournament matches, where the home crowd has been favorable to the Nighthawks come playoff time as the women's volleyball program is a 20-3 in State Tournament matches played at home. The Nighthawks broke the attendance record on November 7, 2013 when a record crowd of 573 witnessed one of the best high school volleyball matches in Ironwood Ridge history as the #2 seeded Nighthawks outlasted #10 Notre Dame Prep 26-28, 25-13, 26-24, 18-25, 17-15 in the second round of the Division II State Tournament.
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The best part of the Volleyball Gym is the student section. The IRVB "Block Party" is home to "the 7th Man" Student Section - a nickname given to the students for the impact they have against the competition. In most cases, opponents feel like they are playing against 7 players with the noise and energy.
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In 2010, prepvolleyball.com, a leading online publication for high school and junior volleyball, declared Ironwood Ridge as the “Best Home-Court in the Nation” with it’s House of Horrors search. Later in 2011, ESPN also named the gym as one of the toughest places to play in it’s High School online site, ESPNHS.com.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Top Five Matches in the Volleyball Gym
1
vs #10 Notre Dame Prep
November 7, 2013
In front of a packed house of 573 in the second round of the Division II State Tournament, #10 Notre Dame Prep forced a fifth-set and with the Nighthawks leading 14-10, scored 5 straight points to take control. Down 14-15 and facing elimination, the crowd helped Ironwood Ridge rally for the final three points and advanced to the program’s sixth Final Four in seven years.
2
vs #10 Cactus
November 4, 2003
In Ironwood Ridge’s first-ever State Tournament appearance, the unranked Nighthawks hold back #10-ranked Cactus in a trilling five-set victory. The shocked home crowd rushes the court afterwards. Ironwood Ridge advances with a 14-25, 26-24, 15-25, 25-21, 15-11 upset.
3
vs #8 Sandra Day O'Connor
November 12, 2009
Down 22-24 in the fourth set and facing a quarter-final elimination from the 2009 State Tournament, the top-seeded Nighthawks would rally to win the set 29-27 and go on to defeat #8 Sandra Day O’Connor in a five-set thriller. Ironwood Ridge advances with a 18-25, 25-20, 23-25, 29-27, 15-11 win.
5
vs #1 Notre Dame Prep
October 9, 2012
Facing #1-ranked Notre Dame Prep without two injured starters during Fall Break, the young Nighthawks outlast the Saints in a five-set victory, 20-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-13, 15-10. The win clinches the 300th victory for the Nighthawk Volleyball program.
Best Home Court in the Nation | prepvolleyball.com
Written by Mike Miazga
Reprinted from prepvolleyball.com | October 12, 2010
HOUSE OF HORRORS WINNER | The “Volleyball Venue” as coach Bill Lang calls it, takes the cake here, folks, based on sheer ingenuity. An auxiliary gym at the 10-year-old high school was transformed into a volleyball-specific facility. Now how many volleyball-only high school facilities are there in the country? Odds are when you’re done doing the math you’ll have more than five fingers left over.
Lang used the University of Nebraska’s NU Coliseum and Washington State’s home arena as guidelines for the Ironwood Ridge facility.
“The volleyball lines are over the basketball lines,” Lang explains. “The gym features a six-foot border around the volleyball court (similar to places like Nebraska), has seating for 450 fans, a new $8,500 sound system and has pictures and banners displaying Ironwood Ridge volleyball all-state alumni.”
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Very cool stuff. The limited seating (by design) in the gym creates an amplified environment.
“If you put in 400 or 500 fans it sounds like three or four thousand,” Lang says. “If would put those same 400 or 500 in the bigger gym, it doesn’t sound as loud. It’s such a close encounter here. It makes it much more intimate.”
Ironwood Ridge also benefits from strong student support. Patterned after Nebraska’s 12th man in football, Ironwood Ridge has the “7th Man” for volleyball.
“They come out in the ‘7th Man’ shirts,” Lang says. “They get pretty loud out there. We have opponents that walk in here and don’t like playing here because it’s loud and it’s a small gym and we bring out a good crowd.”
Lang, who notes opposing coaches have complained about not being able to hear during timeouts at state tournament matches the school has hosted over the years, recalls a previous playoff match where an out of area team came to face Ironwood Ridge.
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“Everybody from the other team is wondering why are we playing in an auxiliary gym,” he says. “And then we told them this is the volleyball gym. The opposing coach relayed a message after the match that he thought it was the best place they’ve ever played in.”
Ironwood Ridge senior middle hitter Morgan Eaton says the team takes great pride in having its own building to call home. “A lot of schools have basketball courts or a basketball gym, but nobody has just a volleyball gym,” she says. “It’s great. It’s a smaller place that gets really loud. A lot of other teams don’t like it. They’re not used to it. Our crowd gets us pumped up and ready to play."
Lang recently reported Ironwood Ridge had a 34-1 home mark since 2007 and was 10-0 in state tournament matches it has hosted since the school’s first varsity season.
The only loss came to Hamilton High School.
“Ironwood Ridge has a great set-up for girls’ volleyball Hamilton coach Sharon Vanis says. “We were fortunate to come away with a victory. Although it is intimidating because of the closeness of their great fans, most athletes feed on that kind of atmosphere. Our girls did just that. I think Bill has the best setup. It is his ‘house,’ and I’m sure his girls take great pride and ownership. The lines on the court are volleyball lines. The closeness makes 100 fans seem like a lot more. I’m sure Bill has stolen a few games from teams with his home court advantage, but we loved playing there. Actually, every coach would want an atmosphere like he has created.
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