If you look at the volleyball team’s starting lineup for the past three years, you will notice remarkable stability at the setter position. But now, a key constant is missing.
Senior co-captain Megan Tallman split time in that role during her freshman year and has started ever since, missing only three matches entering this season. Prior to being rested against Evansville in August, the setter had appeared in 82 consecutive matches.
Just one assist shy of 3,500 for her career, the incredibly durable Tallman is now sidelined with a broken finger and will miss an undetermined period of time. She will be reevaluated Thursday.
“I think she’s devastated because she wants to help us win and she’s a captain,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said. “From her standpoint, you feel helpless. As a captain, she’s doing a great job of coaching up the team but it’s always hard when you’ve started almost your whole career.”
Since the rally scoring era began in the 1999-2000 season, only Laurie Gardner recorded more assists for IU than Tallman has to this point. Prior to the beginning of this era, only the serving team could record points.
The Hoosiers will surely miss the consistency that Tallman provides when in the lineup, as she averages 10.55 assists per set, which is good enough for seventh in the Big Ten. The senior has tallied 591 assists thus far in 2016.
Dunbar-Kruzan does not believe losing a captain is any more costly than losing a regular player.
The Hoosier coach has even noticed Tallman has been more vocal in her absence than when she was healthy and on the court.
“At points in time at Iowa she was almost out on the floor,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “She has always been vocal but she has put it on her shoulders to help as much as she can. She is not sulking about it and I think that’s really important that she understands her role as a captain and what she has to do to help us right now.”
In a year where IU’s freshmen have continuously stepped up and contributed to the team’s success, freshman Victoria Brisack will have tough shoes to fill as she takes over as the team’s starting setter until Tallman returns.
Despite replacing a senior with a freshman in the starting lineup, Dunbar-Kruzan does not anticipate a lapse in production at the position.
“It’s more important that other people step up than Tori [Brisack] does,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “We haven’t been doing our jobs lately. Whether it’s Megan or Tori, the setting has been fine. It’s more important that the other players get back on track.”
During her two starts in Tallman’s absence this past weekend at now-No. 2 Nebraska and Iowa, Briscack notched 25 and 28 assists, respectively.
The freshman is aided in the experience front by her extra semester with the team. After graduating high school early, Brisack came to Bloomington to practice with the Hoosiers during spring semester last year.
“We recruited Tori so there would be no drop-off,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “She’s a great setter and I have total confidence in her. Like the Colts, it’s ‘Next Man Up.’”
