Volleyball falls in five sets to Ohio State

After losing in straight sets to Penn State on Thursday, the IU volleyball team (8-7) played to a fifth set before losing to No. 12 Ohio State (25-23, 20-25, 25-19, 17-25, 17-15).

The entire match was extremely close, especially the fifth set where neither team got a lead larger than two points.

“It was so intense out there,” senior libero Caitlin Hansen said. “We were all so focused but all so relaxed. I think our biggest thing was that we made eye contact and said we’re going to get this kill, we’re going to get this pass. We felt like a train going full speed ahead.”

IU was led by sophomore middle blocker Awele Nwaeze who had 15 kills, while junior middle blocker Morgan Leach had 14 kills, and sophomore outside hitters Chante George and Amelia Anderson had 12 and 11 kills respectively. Hansen led the Hoosiers in digs with 24, and freshman setter Megan Tallman led IU with 48 assists.

“I thought the fight improved,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said. “We got down in two different sets 5-0 but we came back and kept fighting and took the lead, we didn’t have that fight before.”

Ohio State was led by senior Kaitlyn Leary who had 22 kills, 10 of which were in the first set. Senior Julianne Mandolfo led the Buckeyes in digs with 15, and junior Taylor Sherwin had a team-high 45 assists.

“Our number one focus was to pick up our talk both on and off the court, and focus on what exactly we are seeing,” George said. “We wanted to be ahead of the play.”

The Hoosiers had 1,152 people in attendance for the match, topping the number of people that went to the Penn State match.

“It’s amazing just to know we have that great support system from the community,” George said. “It means a lot to us that no matter what happens they’re always there for us. That pushed us even more to go out and get a win for them and for us.”

Coach Dunbar had similar thoughts.

“Number one it’s awesome, but number two I feel like they’re on our side,” Dunbar said. “They see a team that has potential, they see a team that’s fighting, they see a team that’s trying to make some changes and they’re getting behind us and that means the world to us to have a loyal fan base.”

After falling behind in the fourth set, the Hoosiers stormed back and won the set with the crowd behind them. IU carried that momentum into the fifth set where they took a 12-10 lead before Ohio State won 17-15 with the help of some questionable calls.

“Volleyball is a momentum sport, so if you don’t get the call to go your way that’s a huge momentum kill,” Hansen said. “We should have had a bigger lead so the officials couldn’t determine the outcome, it was a close match and both teams played really well, but when it is that close, officials have got to be careful with their calls.”

Follow reporter Andrew Vailliencourt on Twitter @AndrewVcourt