Hoosier Hysteria fans propel IU to Big Ten win

Serving as the warm-up course for Hoosier Hysteria, the IU volleyball team proved to be sizzling hot.

Playing against a struggling Ohio State squad, the Hoosiers took advantage of the momentum provided by beating the Buckeyes 3-1.

After dropping the first set 22-25, IU rebounded to dominate the rest of the match, running up three straight victories by scores of 25-15, 25-18 and 29-27 in front of a crowd of 8,182.

IU coach Sherry Dunbar said she was grateful to be able to play in front of a large crowd.

“This match was a wonderful opportunity to get exposure for our program,” Dunbar said. “Three quarters of that audience had never seen IU volleyball, so to give them that exposure and to play such a great match and get the crowd involved was amazing.”

IU sophomore Taylor Wittmer also attributed the success in the match to the strong fan showing.

“The atmosphere was definitely a plus for us,” Wittmer said. “We were playing in Assembly Hall and know what Hoosier pride is all about, so we showed the fans that Indiana volleyball is something.”

In terms of the numbers themselves, IU dominated the statistical categories. The Hoosiers racked up 60 kills to Ohio State’s 54 and managed to get more overall points by a final tally of 72-65. The overall points were a team effort, as four Hoosier players managed to rack up at least 11 individual points.

Saturday proved less successful for the Hoosiers, as IU lost 3-0 to No. 22 Michigan.
All three matches were there for the taking, however, as the final scores stood 23-25, 22-25 and 36-38.

In the first set, IU led 23-21 before losing the final four points. In the second set, IU led 22-18 before losing the final seven points. In the third and deciding match, neither of the teams could gain an advantage. The match went well past 25 points.

Eventually, on the 38th point of the set, Michigan’s Juliana Paz ended the match with a kill.

Freshman Caitlin Cox thought the results could have been reversed, but the team became timid late in each set.

“We were very capable of winning all three sets of the match and sweeping them 3-0, but when we got up to the 20-22 point range, we kind of stopped playing,” Cox said.

IU returns to action next weekend when the team hits the road against Northwestern and Wisconsin next Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Dunbar said she thinks IU is capable of winning any match. If they improve mentally the results will start to show.

“Overall, every match is a winnable match,” she said. “I think we need our mentality to be better, because we have the talent and are competing at a high level.”