Hoosiers look to improve in rematches

Last Time
The IU women’s volleyball team won a five-set match against Iowa on Senior Night to end the team’s 17-game losing streak. The team overcame a two-sets-to-none deficit to beat the Hawkeyes.

The Set-up
The Hoosiers travel to Penn State and Ohio State for their last two-game weekend road trip of the season.

Heading into this matchup, the Nittany Lions are ranked No. 12 in the nation but dropped to fourth place in Big Ten standings after losing to Illinois last Friday. In their first meeting with Penn State, the Hoosiers were swept in straight sets.

As for the Buckeyes, Ohio State is riding a three-game losing streak into the weekend, including losses to both Northwestern and Illinois last weekend. Currently, Ohio State is in seventh place in the Big Ten standings with a 7-9 conference record and 17-12 record overall. Last time, the Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers in four sets.

The Context
On Friday, the Hoosiers will look for their second all-time win against the Nittany Lions. They are 1-41 all-time. In the last game against the Hoosiers, Penn State was led by Deja McClendon’s 13 kills and Ariel Scott’s 12 kills.

If the Hoosiers are to beat Penn State, IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said the team needs to commit fewer attacking errors. In the first meeting, the Hoosiers committed 25 errors while recording 27 kills for a .023 hitting percentage.

The Hoosiers finish their weekend road trip with a Sunday afternoon battle against the Buckeyes.

In the first meeting, the Buckeyes hit for a .408 percentage, including 21 kills from Emily Danks (.475 percentage) and 16 kills from Mari Hole (.483 percentage).
Junior middle blocker

Samantha Thrower, who set a career high with 8 blocks in last weekend’s win against Iowa, will need to lead the Hoosiers’ block in doing a better job against the Buckeyes as IU had just six blocks in the first meeting with Ohio State.

Notable Number
64. The number of kills for junior right-side hitter Kelci Marschall in IU’s last four matches. In all four of those matches, Marschall’s kill total was the game high for either team.

Quote of Note
“We were watching film before practice and just watching our faces and how they changed from games one and two when we weren’t playing well to the last sets when we were playing well. You can tell by our faces how the whole dynamic and energy changed in those last sets.”