Volleyballs are flying everywhere as a large group of girls practice setting and spiking drills. One bystander is hit by an old scratched-up volleyball.

“Sorry,” the hitter calls out, running after her ball.

The ISU women’s volleyball club has been holding open gym Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Forker 175. Tryouts will be held Sept. 21 and 23.

Sam Sorrentino, club president, is in charge of setting up practice, games, recruiting and organizing tournaments.

“I couldn’t do any of these without help from my cabinet and even the involvement of all club members,” Sorrentino said.

The club has two teams, collegiate and USA volleyball. Collegiate involves playing other college club teams in the Midwest, said club vice-president Katie Sachwitz. The team plays schools in Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Chicago and Iowa.

“The involvement for collegiate teams is a bit higher,” Sorrentino said. “USAV teams get to play competitive ball as well, but tend to play within the state of Iowa against women’s teams of all ages.”

USA teams are usually older women teams, and there is not an age limit, Sachwitz said.

Members of the club cannot play for both collegiate and USAV teams.

“Anyone can tryout for a collegiate team spot, but if someone does not get placed on a collegiate team, they can then be placed on a USAV team according to skill level. There are no cuts for USAV,” Sachwitz said.

The only requirement for the club is some volleyball experience. For tryouts, players are placed onto teams based on skill level, Sachwitz said. Tryouts are judged by high school coaches, players from the men’s USA volleyball team, and Tom Jurik, the club’s faculty adviser. Players are scored based on position and skill, Sachwitz said, which determines their placement.

The number of teams depends on the number of members they recruit. Last year, the club made five teams — two collegiate and three USA teams.

Once broken into teams, a captain is selected, and teams decide on the roster and on who will act as coach.

The club will hold scrimmages with schools like DMACC or Drake, but mostly they prepare for the one or two tournaments they play every month.

The club will be hosting its first tournament of the season in the Forker Building on Oct. 23.

Sorrentino has been in the club for three years.

“I’ve always played volleyball, and I really missed the game,” she said. “After seeing what it was like, I couldn’t stand to miss even one practice.”

This is Sachwitz’s fourth year in the club, after joining when she was a freshman. She said she still wanted to play competitively after high school.

“This is a Division I school, so it’s kind of hard. You have to come here on scholarship and be very good to get to play,” Sachwitz said. “Intramurals was fun, but it’s just not as competitive as club, so it’s kind of in between the varsity team and intramurals.”

Both Sorrentino and Sachwitz believe the club teams will do well this year.

“It’s hard to predict each team’s individual success, but I’m planning on another great year for the teams,” Sorrentino said.

Freshman Claire Hauser is trying out for the club this year. She plans to try out for the USA volleyball team.

“I played a lot of volleyball in high school and I loved it,” she said.

“I wanted to keep playing. I’m looking forward to playing with a new group of girls.”