Sorority serves ace to help Middle Way

"It is volleyball," said junior Jason Gaca, "of course it is fun."\nMany others with the same idea congregated in the open range behind the Sigma Nu fraternity Saturday afternoon to participate in Alpha Chi Omega's annual Volleyball Classic. The members of Alpha Chi Omega sponsored the event, which raised money for its national philanthropy, The Middle Way House, a shelter for women and children who suffer from domestic violence.\nOther participants included Delta Gamma, Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Epsilon Pi. "We give this money to help keep the organization going," said senior Abbie Johnson. "It is a no-profit organization."\nJohnson, along with co-philanthropist chair, junior Abby Taylor, headed the event, including finding corporate sponsors and organizing all of the teams and rules.\nThe grassy field was covered with six volleyball courts and all matches consisted of one game up to 15 with single elimination. For $40 a team, 28 teams showed up with six players each, making this the best turnout Alpha Chi Omega has seen in recent years.\n"The house is thrilled by the support that everyone has shown," said senior Sarah Iba, president of Alpha Chi Omega. "We project the profit for the Middle Way House to be about $5,000.\n"It is just encouraging to see the other greek houses support each other seeing as how we are all one big community."\nBut despite the abundance of greek teams that arrived and showed their support for Alpha Chi Omega, a variety of other students came out to lend a hand to charity and just have fun.\n"I am here to be with my friends and play some volleyball," said junior Chris Reilly, a non-greek participant. "Most of the houses are very welcoming and do not single us out for not being greek. I think it is a great tournament to run here today."\nBut volleyball was not the only thing going on throughout the afternoon. To raise additional funds, Alpha Chi Omega cooked a barbecue and accepted donations for the charity. The ladies also created an environment for dancing with the help of large speakers that surrounded the courts blasting out new tunes during the matches.\n"I really enjoyed sitting down and just watching everything," said freshman Cheryl Bosse. "Everyone was really enjoying the day and there was something for everyone."\nThe members of Alpha Chi Omega were just excited to give the students something positive and encouraging to do so soon after the tragedy in New York.\n"With everything that has happened it is nice to see people coming together and supporting things that are affecting the country," Iba said. "Violence especially"