Cox serves 100th ace but IU still drops games

After another Big Ten loss, the IU women’s volleyball team’s losing streak now sits at 12 matches.

Unlike most of the matches during the streak, though, IU started Saturday’s match against Wisconsin by taking a back-and-forth first set.

Led by junior outside hitter Ivie Obeime’s nine kills in the first set, the Hoosiers overcame 12 ties to win 25-20.

Along with Obeime’s stellar first set performance, libero Caitlin Cox added three of her five service aces in the first, including her 100th career ace on her first serve of the match. With that ace, Cox became the 15th player in IU history to record more than 100 service aces.

Obeime said the first set was typical IU volleyball.

“We were very aggressive. We had fun, and when we smile and have fun, we play great,” Obeime said. “When we see a little bit of frustration, that is when we can’t let ourselves make mistakes.”

After the energetic first set, the problem that had plagued this year’s team all season — lack of energy resulting in sloppy play — reared itself once again halfway through the second set.

After being tied at 10-10, the Badgers rode a 15-8 run to even the match at a set a piece. During the run, the Hoosiers were noticeably less energetic on the court and at times seemed hesitant, problems IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said would last the rest of the match.

“Our light bulb switched off after it was on,” Dunbar said. “That’s a decision that you have to make to stay aggressive.”

The third set closely resembled the second. After tying the score at 7-7, the Badgers rattled off a 18-11 run from which the Hoosiers could not recover.

At no point in the fourth set did the Hoosiers lead or tie the score, eventually dropping the final set 25-19.

On the IU attack, graduate student Kristen Seaton made her first Big Ten start of the season. After her best performance of the season off the bench Wednesday night against No. 12 Purdue (11 kills), Seaton recorded seven kills on 19 attempts (.158 average) against the Badgers.

“I was a little nervous,” Seaton said. “Starting is a little bit different than coming in once the flow has been established.”

While the Badgers’ offense was efficient throughout the night, IU juniors Kelci Marschall and Samantha Thrower struggled, hitting -.121 percent (seven kills and 11 errors) and .000 percent (six kills and six errors), respectively.

Dunbar said Marschall was dealing with migraine headaches the night before, but said whether or not Marschall was affected, the team as a whole needs to step up.

“Marschall has been one of our most consistent players for us this year,” Dunbar said. “Collectively, we need to do something different than what we are doing right now. It’s not just one person.”