IU to host three teams in Indiana Invitational

IU’s women’s volleyball team looks to improve on their 3-0 record this season during the Indiana Invitational this weekend.

The Hoosiers are fresh off winning the Black Knight Invitational last weekend, where they defeated Stony Brook, Army and Quinnipiac.

IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said she expects the competition to be greater than it was last week.

“I think every week it gets tougher,” Dunbar said. “We’re going to face two teams that are 3-0 right now and another team that’s really scrappy, so it should make for a lot of healthy competition in our gym.”

Cleveland State will be the cream and crimson’s first opponent when the two teams square off at 7 p.m. Friday in the University Gym.

The Vikings are a perfect 4-0 for the year, including winning the IPFW Invitational this past weekend in Fort Wayne.

IU will be the first team from a BCS conference that Cleveland State will play this year.
The Vikings will be looking to beat the Hoosiers for the second straight year as Cleveland State won a five set battle 3-2 last year in Blacksburg, Va.

The Hoosiers will have to stop Kara Koch, the Horizon League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

For the third time in four matches, IU will play against a team picked to finish second in their respective league, as the Vikings are predicted to be the runner-up in the Horizon League this season.

Seventeen hours later IU will play Bowling Green at noon on Saturday.

Bowling Green is winless this season, losing by a combined total of 6-1 in total sets played against Marquette and Northwestern this past weekend.

IU plays their first game against a BCS school when they play Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Yellow Jackets come in at a perfect 3-0 for the season, capturing the Georgia Tech Courtyard Invitational title this past weekend by defeating California State Fullerton, Charleston Southern and SMU.

When Georgia Tech plays IU, it will be the Yellow Jackets’ first test against a BCS school opponent.

Yellow Jackets Monique Mead and Bailey Hunter received All-Atlantic Coast Conference preseason team honors. Mead was also named a preseason player-of-the-year candidate by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Dunbar said IU went to Atlanta two years ago to play in their tournament.

“They are a great program in the ACC,” Dunbar said. “So it’s good to play teams in that kind of bracket because that’ll help your RPI later in the season.”

Junior outside hitter Jordan Haverly said the Hoosiers are focusing on two things in practice this week leading up to the game: serving and defense.

“Aggressive serving is a way to get teams out of their system which will really help us,” Haverly said. “And defense, we just want to be known as a really scrappy team that makes a lot of plays and makes it difficult for teams to score on us.”