The Western Kentucky volleyball team will be playing on a new floor this fall.

The Hilltoppers unveiled a new Taraflex FIVB portable volleyball court that’ll go over the traditional basketball playing surface in E.A. Diddle Arena for the program’s games.

“On a lot of levels, it makes a huge impact,” WKU volleyball coach Travis Hudson said. “It’s huge for our players’ bodies physically – that surface kind of has a shock absorption to it and that will be great for the repetitive jumping that comes from our sport. It’s kind of a frictionless surface that will help with those floor burns and all the things associated with that in terms of the medical side of it.

“Then it’s just a huge statement for our program in general. The top programs in our country are playing on Taraflex surfaces – the top programs in the world, every major volleyball event is being played on Taraflex. It’s going to be huge. It’s going to make a huge impact on recruiting for us and visually I think it’s going to be something the fans really enjoy as well.”

The court is gray in the center with a black border. Under the net it says “Tops” in red lettering, while on one end it says “WESTERN” and the other end “KENTUCKY.” There are WKU red towel logos located on two corners of the court.

“When we were in the bubble in Omaha back in the spring (of 2021), every court that was there was a Taraflex surface, and we played on Nebraska’s court there that they brought in in Omaha,” Hudson said. “It just feels different when you walk out on it and you see the impact of it. It really makes an impact that volleyball’s important, that volleyball matters where you are. It’s a critical part of continuing to grow our program.”

The court is the next step for a program that has become one of the best in the nation under Hudson.

The coach, who is entering his 28th season in the position, holds a career record of 693-218 and has been named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year five times, Conference USA Coach of the Year four times and American Volleyball Coaches Association South Region Coach of the Year eight times. His teams have won 10 Sun Belt Conference regular-season titles, five Sun Belt Tournament championships, seven C-USA regular-season titles and seven C-USA Tournament titles.

The Hilltoppers have finished in the AVCA top-25 final rankings the last three years, have gone 83-5 during that stretch and are one of two programs in the nation currently to have 20 or more consecutive 20-win seasons.

“It gives them the impression that they matter, it gives them the impression that our program matters and that this is a big-time place. We’re winning at a high level right now. We’ve been in the top 25, I think, nine of the last 10 years and our kids deserve to be playing on this surface and be in situations like this. And it holds them to a standard a little bit, too, right? Because they see that people around them are investing in them and it’ll just increase their investment back in this program.”

Hudson said the courts cost around $100,000 and “we had some private people step forward and help us with it.” He said plans started last summer and the design phase began last fall.

Hudson says it’s about a three- or four-hour process to get the court set up for a match, and he doesn’t anticipate setup being an issue with basketball. He said the team can still practice in auxiliary gyms, but “it just means on game day we’re going to have a pretty big-time environment.”

WKU is scheduled to open the 2022 season at the Bradley Tournament in Peoria, Ill., with matches against Miami-Ohio, Bradley and Kansas City on Aug. 26 and 27.

The first home match of the season for the Hilltoppers is scheduled for Aug. 31 against Louisville.

“That’s going to be an electric atmosphere,” Hudson said. “I think that one’s going to rival hosting an NCAA Tournament. We’re going to have a Louisville team that was in the Final Four last year that preseason will probably be a top-five team again. Unveiling our new court, playing a team of that caliber – I think it’s going to be electric in Diddle Arena that night.”{&end}