Volleyball losing streak extended to 10 games

Following two weekend losses, which players on the IU volleyball team called “tough,” some players expressed disappointment as the Hoosiers dropped their 10th consecutive match.

IU lost to Nebraska in three sets, (25-15, 25-16, 25-16) and at Iowa in five sets (25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 19-25, 16-14).

IU last won a match Sept. 14 against the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

On Friday, the Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-4, 3-1) dominated the Hoosiers (8-11, 0-8), sweeping them in front of a sold out arena in the new Devaney Sports Center.

“They are a very good hitting team, and their outsides were really good,” IU junior middle blocker Morgan Leach said. “When we gave the ball to them they always put it away. They just had a great hitting night against us.”

It was another big crowd, as Nebraska continues to have high attendance numbers.

“They sell out for every game at the beginning of the year,” Leach said. “It was just completely full, and it was just a cool atmosphere to play in because everyone that was there loves volleyball and just loves to see good volleyball.

“So they will even cheer for us. It’s a fun atmosphere.”

IU was led by Leach, who had 10 kills. Senior libero Caitlin Hansen led the team in digs with 15, and sophomore setter Katie Gallagher had a team high 15 assists.

Nebraska was led by senior Kelsey Robinson and freshman Kadie Rolfzen, who each had 11 kills. Freshman Justine Wong-Orantes paced the Cornhuskers with 15 digs, and junior Mary Pollmitter led the team with 34 assists.

“They could run almost any offensive plays they wanted to,” senior outside hitter Jordan Haverly said. “It was hard for us to play defense.”

On Saturday, IU fell in another close match, this time to Iowa (10-11, 1-7) in five sets.

The Hawkeyes stormed out to a two-set-to-none lead before the Hoosiers came back and forced the fifth set. IU had a 13-11 lead before Iowa came back to win 16-14.

“I think we started to control our side of the net better,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said.
“We concentrated more on us than them.”

IU was led by Leach, who had a career-high 20 kills. Hansen led the Hoosiers in digs with 20, and freshman setter Megan Tallman had a team high 51 assists.

Haverly also added eight kills, 18 digs and four aces.

“I thought Morgan had a great night,” Dunbar said. “She had 20 kills and hit for a really good percentage to get back on track. We are going to need her to do that.”

The Hoosiers have now gone to three five-set matches in Big Ten play — against Ohio State, Northwestern and now Iowa — and have come up short in each one.

“I know that we could have beaten them, but we take from it and learn from it,” Leach said. “I think it is pretty disappointing to know that we could have beaten them, and we were playing really well, and that we came back so far.”

Follow reporter Andrew Vailliencourt on Twitter at @AndrewVcourt.