The team accomplished that goal when it finished its last two matches against Michigan and No. 4 Minnesota.
“It’s awesome,” senior defensive specialist Courtney Harnish said. “We talked about going all in to the end the season. I don’t know what else I could ask for.”
IU played its last winning match against Michigan, ending in four sets, 3-1.
The match originally began tied 1-1. IU went on to take the third set, 25-22, and take the match lead, 2-1.
“I think we fought the entire time,” Harnish said. “The third set was the turning point but it was the first time the whole team played together.”
IU returned for the fourth set that night with a .235 hitting percentage, 12 kills, 54 team attacks and only four errors to win the match and send Michigan back to Ann Arbor with a loss.
“We played so well against Michigan and I was so happy with their mindset going into this match,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said.
The Hoosiers began their senior night leading the No. 4 Gophers with an 8-4 lead. During the first set the Gophers managed to break away from the Hoosiers and take the win, 25-17.
In the second set the Hoosiers fell behind when the Gophers went on a seven-point run. The run ended when the Hoosiers scored a point to bring the score to 21-15. The Gophers took a 2-0 lead after winning the second set, 25-18.
“Offensively it was tough to get balls away on them,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “It was a great volleyball match, and we fought for two hours and pressed them to have to play to win the Big Ten.”
IU returned to take a win in set three, 25-23, but Minnesota came back to win the match, after freshman middle blocker Elizabeth Asdell and junior outside hitter Taylor Lebo left the court with injuries.
“You look at a team who could have given up but we turned around and beat ranked teams,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “We left it all on the court and never gave up. I can’t say enough about their perseverance, and I’m sad it’s over.”
