IU volleyball digs ‘Pink Night’ for OSU game

It’s all about pink for the IU volleyball match on Friday.

The team’s first game of this weekend, a contest against  Ohio State (14-3) at 7 p.m., is being dubbed “Dig Pink Night,” raising awareness for breast cancer.

“It’s really cool that we get to represent a whole nationwide thing for ‘Dig for a Cure’ and breast cancer,” junior libero Caitlin Cox said.

On Saturday, the Hoosiers will face three-time defending national champion and No. 4 Penn State (13-2).

For Friday, though, the focus is on breast cancer awareness, and the team will be donning pink attire.

“It’s such a great game for awareness,” IU coach Sherry Dunbar said. “I think the fact that Indiana backs that and people will wear the pink T-shirts is really important.”

Fans wearing pink will get a discount to the game, and the first 500 fans will receive pink IU volleyball shirts.

Several cancer organizations will be coming out to support the cause, including the Bloomington Hospital Olcott Center for Cancer Education, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Bloomington Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, Young Survival Coalition and the American Cancer Society.

The match will be streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com and will re-air on the Big Ten Network at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

IU may be playing this weekend without senior middle blocker and All-American Ashley Benson, who is suffering from concussion-like symptoms.

“I love that motto that the Colts have of ‘next man up,’” Dunbar said. “We don’t have too much depth, but the ones we do have really need to step up and do more.”

On Saturday, IU will be taking on college volleyball’s perennial powerhouse, Penn State.

The Nittany Lions had a three-year, 109-match winning streak end earlier this season with a three-set loss to No. 1 Stanford on Sept. 11. That streak was the second longest in NCAA Division I team sports history.

Twelve of Penn State’s 13 wins have come in three sets. 

Penn State’s middle blocker Blair Brown has recorded 174 kills this season.

The Hoosiers said they are hoping to get all the support they can get this weekend. 
“I really hope that the Bloomington community and IU community comes out and supports us and the cause,” Cox said.