IU volleyball’s 2016 season is likely finished after a loss at Ohio State on Saturday, as the Hoosiers lost two weekend road matchups against Maryland and Ohio State.
IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan predicted her Hoosiers would need to be at their best to get the win at Maryland, which entered the match ranked a lackluster 141st in RPI, and the 10th-year coach was correct. Dunbar-Kruzan’s team, ranked 55th in RPI, was swept 16-25, 20-25, 21-25.
The Hoosier defense was outmatched by a Terrapin offense that recorded a .312 hitting percentage, including a .444 mark in the first set and a .351 mark in the second, for the match.
Senior co-captain and libero Taylor Lebo, who tallied 16 digs to surpass 400 for the season, and senior outside hitter Allison Hammond, who notched nine kills, led IU in the loss.
Hammond had an even bigger night against Ohio State, 20-12, 10-10 in conference. The senior capped off her college career with a monstrous performance in which she collected 17 kills.
Fellow IU senior Megan Tallman, a setter and co-captain for the Hoosiers, ended her NCAA volleyball career with a gem of a match in which she collected 41 assists in the five-set loss, 14-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-16, 11-15.
“Our seniors have had a great impact and left a mark on this program, and it is up to everyone coming back to continue to move it forward,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “It wasn’t the outcome we wanted this weekend, but I like the way we responded after a tough match at Maryland on Friday night. We wanted to get back to playing good volleyball, and we did that against Ohio State.”
The Hoosiers showed heart in their final match. IU played with a resilience Dunbar-Kruzan has spoken about often throughout the season.
After falling behind two sets to one, IU played with fire in the fourth set and hit .355 while holding Ohio State to a .138 clip.
“As a whole I was proud of how we finished in our last match of the season,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “We were very relaxed and were having a lot of fun. We were enjoying playing volleyball, and we played at a high level. We took steps this season to continue to raise the standard of this program.”
