Brittany Westerberg

At noon on April 19, the Backyard north of Hansen Hall was occupied by many people with many bright shirts of an assortment of colors. By the end of the afternoon at the 20th Annual Oozeball Tournament, “Where Mud Meets Muscle,” everything seemed to blend into a single color: the color of mud.

“We’re classy mud volleyball players,” members of the team Mooseknuckle Snappers – Blake Bappe, Jessica Scheid, Landon Franzky, Laurean Weber, Amy Bertrand and Dana Sluneka – said. “There’s a lot of camaraderie – a.k.a. pushing each other in the mud.”

There were 34 teams participating this year in the event sponsored by Staters For State, Coca Cola, Papa Johns and Subway.

“It’s the only time of the year we can get muddy and it’s okay,” members of the team Sht Kickers – Jodi Wethor, Katie Moran, Natalie Woolridge, Brittany Steinback, Katie Klock, Maggie Quinn and Megan Mulder said.

Many of the people participating agreed on their favorite part of mud volleyball: diving in the mud.

“Getting down and dirty – that’s how you play Oozeball,” Sluneka said.

“You’ve just got to dive in to win,” said Jared DeNoble, a member of the team the Dairy ‘Eres.

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