After dropping the first set, the sixteenth consecutive set that IU had lost, of the weekend, the Hoosiers shifted into a new gear and never looked back in their opening match against the Scarlet Knights on Saturday as IU ended its five-match losing streak.
“It was very exciting,” freshman middle blocker Deyshia Lofton said. “We had a lot of fun, and it was very invigorating for us to have the relief of breaking the losing streak.”
However, IU, with a record of 13-8, 2-6, did not fare as well in Saturday’s match against No. 10 Penn State. The Nittany Lions swept the Hoosiers and did not allow them to score greater than 18 points in any of the three sets, which Penn State took 25-16, 25-18, 25-18.
Against Rutgers, IU’s upperclassmen and underclassmen alike appeared to have an unrivaled determination to rebound from the opening set loss, 23-25, and to pound the Scarlet Knights in the next three sets, 25-11, 25-18, 25-22, to get back into the win column.
Senior outside hitter Allison Hammond and senior libero Taylor Lebo contributed in multiple aspects of the game. Hammond tallied 19 kills to go along with eight digs, and Lebo added 18 digs and three service aces.
Freshman setter Victoria Brisack, starting in place of injured senior setter Megan Tallman, racked up 43 assists, seven digs and five kills.
“Our confidence was better because our serving was good and our passing was good,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said. “Those are the two things we needed to have. Our defensive quality was better than it has been in a few weeks.”
In contrast IU started strong against Penn State, but the Nittany Lions were able to wrangle the Hoosiers’ first-set lead away and take the match.
IU jumped out to a 7-3 lead and forced Penn State to call timeout to the delight of the home crowd. After tacking on one more point to extend the lead to 8-3, the Hoosiers relinquished the lead and lost their biggest upper hand of the night.
“We started with the right mentality with that start, which is a big step forward,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “A team like Penn State doesn’t want to be pressured and wants to have first ball kills all the time.”
Lofton provided possibly the biggest spark of the match for the Hoosiers in their losing effort. She blocked three consecutive balls, one solo block and two block assists.
Lofton stood out on both sides of the ball and finished with four blocks and seven kills, second to only Hammond’s 10 kills.
“From the first point, we gave it our all and made sure that we were all doing our jobs specifically,” Lofton said.
“Coming into this game, you have to have a lot of confidence and you have to play great. If we hadn’t gotten that win over Rutgers, we might have come out flat against Penn State.”
