IU will travel to Greeley, Colorado, to compete against Eastern Kentucky, Utah State and Northern Colorado in the Northern Colorado Classic.
With the regular season coming up, IU is utilizing every last preseason match this weekend to prepare itself for its Big Ten competitors.
“I think every single tournament we’ve had has helped us prepare,” junior setter Megan Tallman said. “Not a single team we’ve played has been easy. Win or lose, every weekend, there’s a learning experience from it. Being in this conference is a challenge, but it’s also great so it can really prepare us for the Big Ten.”
Coming back from last weekend, in which IU acquired three wins at home, the team said they want to continue this momentum throughout the tournament in Colorado.
The Hoosiers have set goals they want to complete in order to better themselves physically and mentally for the Big Ten, but they also said they want to prepare for the challenges they are about to face going into three back-to-back matches.
“We need to learn from each weekend,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said. “Last weekend was great, but we were home and comfortable. Our challenge is to be mentally and physically prepared for three matches in a row to come back with another 3-0 win.”
The Hoosiers credit their wins to the strategies they have been working diligently on during practices.
Dunbar-Kruzan said the team’s focus right now has been cleaning up some of the details. The Hoosiers said they believe if it’s comfortable for them then it’s comfortable for the other team, and that’s something they want to move past.
The team said they expect the three teams they play this weekend to be a challenge that will push them as a team to become better and more prepared.
Even with the upcoming challenges, Tallman has no doubt that it will be a successful weekend for the Hoosiers.
“No doubt we are coming back 3-0 this weekend,” Tallman said. “Just the way we’ve been practicing and playing. It doesn’t really matter what the other team does. The game that we play is very fast, and it challenges the other team.”
IU has considered itself to be fortunate that it has gone through all of its preseason with healthy and able players.
The Hoosiers said this has given them the ability to help each other push themselves to improve each and every week.
“Right now on the team we have players who have the ability to come in an do an amazing job,” Tallman said. “Striving to help my team with assists, and assists only help my team, so personally that motivates me a lot. When I came to Indiana we were at the bottom of the Big Ten, but I think we’ve definitely changed the culture of the team and become better players.”
Even with the confidence and drive of the Hoosiers, they still anticipate this weekend ahead to be an equally challenging one in comparison to the tournaments they have played in the past.
Dunbar-Kruzan credits their preparedness for the upcoming conference to the more challenging schedule they have competed with throughout their preseason.
“We need to be prepared for big crowds and big teams,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “We’re playing against ranked teams. Any amount of confidence we can build as a program is great. It’s not just about the wins but playing at a certain standard. If we stick to that we’ll be prepared for opening conference.”
