Already up two sets to one, IU just needed to hold on to its huge lead to knock off the Wolverines for the win.
Then, everything fell apart.
Michigan came storming back. Still, IU had a chance to win the game with a match point.
But sophomore outside hitter Taylor Lebo’s serve landed just inches from being an ace, giving the Wolverines new life.
Michigan ended up winning the fourth set in front of a shocked 894 people at University Gym on Saturday night. Now it all came down to a winner-take-all fifth set.
“They were a little rattled,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said of her team’s demeanor after losing the fourth set. “But I said, ‘Wow, just do what we did in the first three and a half sets.’”
That’s exactly what they did.
IU (10-4, 1-1) was able to win the fifth set and won its first Big Ten game of the season against Michigan. The Hoosiers lost Friday night against Michigan State, coming away with a split from the two weekend games.
“We just kept on saying, ‘We’re gonna win this game, we’re gonna win this game,’” junior outside hitter Amelia Anderson said. “And we actually thought it.”
IU was able to take the huge lead in the fourth set thanks in part to an 8-0 run. Lebo was serving for the entirety of the run, using her jump serve to keep defenders guessing.
Lebo’s serve is close to 50 miles per hour, she said. And in the fourth set, it was working for her.
Michigan had trouble digging Lebo’s serves, as she recorded three aces in the match. Lebo is tied for seventh nationally in aces per set.
The volleyball court for players is split up into zones, areas in which players try to serve the ball.
Usually, Lebo said, she tries to serve it into particular zones. But when she was on her service run and the crowd was screaming, she let her adrenaline take over.
She wasn’t aiming her serves anymore.
“I was just kinda like, ‘I’m gonna bomb these,’” she said.
She was getting tired toward the end of her run, though. Since Lebo has a full jump serve, she has to jump every time she goes through with her hitting motion.
As a result, her legs and lungs were tired.
“I was, like, dying,” Lebo said.
When her service game is on, Dunbar-Kruzan said it’s a great weapon for the team.
“Once she gets on a roll, we just let her go,” Dunbar-Kruzan said.
Last season, IU went 1-19 in the conference. Through just two conference games, IU has already matched its total number of Big Ten wins from last year.
Several Hoosiers have stressed the importance of going .500 in the conference. Since the Big Ten has so many good teams, going .500 in the conference during the regular season results in an NCAA tournament berth.
By going 1-1 in the weekend, IU is closer to reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010.
“I’m not satisfied,” Lebo said. “I’m pleased with it, but we should have gone 2-0. If we would have played like we did tonight, we would have given Michigan State a run for their money.”
