By Harry Minium
Carolyn Crutchfield was a middle blocker on the Notre Dame volleyball team more than a decade ago, and a pretty good one at that.
Now assistant athletic director for athletic marketing at Old Dominion University, Crutchfield was ecstatic not only when ODU decided to start playing women's volleyball, but also that officials decided the team will play in a smaller, more intimate setting.
Notre Dame played in the Joyce Center basketball arena. At times, she said, fan noise got lost in the rafters.
Instead of calling the 8,500-seat Chartway Arena home, ODU is renovating the old basketball practice facility at the Jim Jarrett Athletic Administration Building into a volleyball venue.