Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tymber Riley, who starred at Bentonville, takes on 2 sports at Arkansas Tech.
Tymber Riley has grown accustomed to her time being split between volleyball and softball as she played both sports at Bentonville High and again during her first two years at Arkansas Tech.
This year, however, provides a little different challenge for the Golden Suns’ two-sport athlete. If everything goes without a hitch, Riley will spend a good portion of her junior season being involved with both sports — at the same time.
“At first, it sounds a little intimidating, but it’s not,” Riley said. “I’m used to playing both sports at the same time. That’s what I was doing between high school sports and club sports, but this will be playing two school sports at once.
“One season I’m not super-nervous about it is because my coaches are so understanding. They’re totally here for it, and they’re always asking me how I am doing and making sure everything is going good. I think it will go pretty smoothly.”
Riley’s quest becomes another episode of how college sports and its athletes must learn to adjust and make the most of any situation because of the coronavirus pandemic. In volleyball or softball, the number of players that are hit with a positive covid-19 test can cause a coach to make last-minute changes or call off games at almost any moment.
But Riley said she is determined to make it work, and she said there is no way she is about to choose between the two sports. Tech volleyball coach Kera Dudic and softball coach Kristina McSweeney, meanwhile, are determined to make things easy for Riley so she can flourish in their respective sports, and they are in constant contact with Riley.
“We have probably had more conversations with Tymber this year than any year,” McSweeney said. “She has just a completely different mindset this year. We have let her go a little bit.
“I have always said from the beginning that Tymber is a kid that you have to keep busy. Let her play both sports and if you keep her focused, you’ll get the best product. So we have prepared for this situation with some creative scheduling.”
Just before Tech was supposed to be start its volleyball season in August, the Great American Conference chose to suspend all fall and winter sports through the end of the year. The GAC then announced in November its volleyball teams will participate in a 10-week schedule that begins Jan. 26 and runs through March 30, with matches slated for each Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the GAC softball teams — which had a majority of their schedules canceled last spring in covid-19 hit the state — are scheduled to begin their league games the week of Feb. 2627. Tech, however, will begin its season two weeks earlier when the Golden Suns travel to Commerce, Texas, for games against Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas A&M-International.
“Once our season was postponed, we started wondering what we were going to do with Tymber,” Dudic said. “We were thinking maybe it would be basketball and volleyball, then it would be softball and we would be all right. But the entire time, coach McSweeney and I said we would have to take it as it comes and figure it out.
“I know she is super passionate about both sports. I didn’t necessarily wonder if she would choose one over the other, but we were a little concerned. I would hate that, not selfishly for the team but for her as an individual as well, that she would have to pick one over the other. It would be difficult for her.”
Riley’s devotion to both sports comes with a price tag. During the fall semester, she would wake up at 5 a.m. in order to make it to Tech’s morning softball practices an hour later, then go to her classes before she went to volleyball practices that afternoon.
There were many times she would be in the campus library until 9 or 10 p.m. for her teams’ study hall sessions. There was also the additional time Riley has to put in extra practice by herself because she must split the time the NCAA limits teams to practice players each week.
“Whenever I go to any practice, I want to treat it like it’s my first practice of the day, just like my other teammates,” Riley said. “I want to give it my all each time. Because I play two sports at different times, I never had to do outof-season workouts. I was in two different offseason programs, so I had to lift weights for the first time last semester.
“My roommates would make fun of me all the time because all I would do during my free time is sleep during the day. I was able to get through the schoolwork because I dedicated Sunday — my only day off — to schoolwork. I was definitely tired, and it feels so good to get a break.”
There could be some changes for Riley this season in both sports, and she will know more after she returns to the Russellville campus next month.
The 5- foot-10 Riley has been used as a defensive specialist for the past two years and started 19 of Tech’s matches over the past two years. However, she has expressed a desire to be a more all-around player and get some time on the front row, the position she mostly played at Bentonville.
“Tymber has expressed the desire to play more of a six-rotation role and more of an offensive hitting option,” Dudic said. “Honestly, in the fall I still had thoughts of her being a DS, play defense and hit back row. Once things got postponed, she came to me and talked about working back into a six-rotation.
“We had to do a lot of individual work, and I just paired her with the littles, the defensive players. She then expressed wanting reps as an outside hitter, and I think she has found herself again, attacking-wise. It’s been fun to see that fire ignite and finding a role where she can be attacking.”
Riley, meanwhile, was the GAC’s Freshman of the Year in 2019 and started 21 of the Golden Suns’ 24 games last spring before the season prematurely ended because of the coronavirus pandemic. Her .338 batting average was second among those players who saw a majority of the starts, but her power numbers dropped after getting hit by a pitch in the first game.
She has spent the majority of her first two years in the outfield — first in right field, then in center field. Again, she wants to go back to her Bentonville roots and be at second base, the position where she became an all-state player and helped the Lady Tigers win three state titles.
“The big, funny story about Tymber is she started her freshman year as a pinch-runner,” McSweeney said. “We went through some growing pains, and I said to give her a chance to see what she can do. She then had that crazy weekend at Southeastern (Oklahoma), where she hit three home runs.
“But she put a lot of pressure on herself last year, and I kept telling her that she just needed to play. This year, I think she is more determined to be great on the field and in the box. I’m excited to see what she does if she does move back to second base. She’ll be a lot more focused and feel a whole lot less pressure this year, and I think she’ll be great.”
With the way the GAC structured its sports schedules, March 9 will be the only day where Tech will have both a softball game and a volleyball match scheduled. McSweeney has requested that Riley play softball that day because the Golden Suns will have a key game against rival Harding, while the Suns volleyball team travels to Arkansas-Monticello.
“For the most part, everything works out,” Dudic said. “I know we will make it work. I know Tymber will adjust, and the three of us will do what we have to do.
“I’m thankful all three of us have a really good line of communication. Coach McSweeney and I have a good relationship and we know what we need to do, and Tymber knows what to do to be successful in both sports.”