Iowa State students will be participating in three volleyball tournaments during Veishea.

Tournament organizers said they are hoping for turnouts to meet, if not exceed, last year’s volleyball tournaments.

The first was a co-recreational, six-on-six tournament which began on Monday and will finish tonight. The games will be played at the Lied Recreation Center from 7 to 10 p.m. for those who wish to watch.

Laura Johnson, member of the Veishea tournaments committee, said all the tournaments use the bracket system, and some changes have been made in the events since last year.

The six-on-six volleyball tournament was co-rec only this year, she said.

“Nobody signed up for the women’s last year,” said Johnson, junior in microbiology.

T-Galaxy, 206 Welch Ave., will be hosting a two-on-two sand volleyball tournament Saturday. The tournament runs from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and from 2:30 to 6 p.m. It will be divided into men’s, women’s and co-rec brackets, and the team entry fee is $10.

The times for the sand volleyball tournament were changed from last year to include the three-hour break, Johnson said.

“We have a break to allow for the parade,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll have a big crowd.”

A mud volleyball tournament will be held Sunday at noon at Brookside Park.

Matt Parisi, co-chairman of the special events committee, said he expects the turnout for the volleyball games to be similar to or a little bit larger than last year.

“The tournaments are going to keep growing through the years,” said Parisi, senior in management information systems. “Last year was greater than the year before.”

Johnson said several factors affect the size of the crowds. She said the sand volleyball tournament gets a lot of publicity because it is held on Welch Avenue. The weather also makes a big difference with sand and mud volleyball.

Johnson said she expects the sand and mud volleyball games to generate the crowds similar in size to last year, with the evening sand volleyball games drawing a larger crowd.

“Later in the day you have better teams facing off,” she said. “There is a higher level of competition.”

Winners will receive T-shirts and other prizes that have not yet been determined.