The first weekend of the season for the IU volleyball team brought exactly what the team wanted, three consecutive victories and the title of Indiana Invitational champions.
Execution was a big part of the team's focus heading into the first weekend of the season, and IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said she was pleased with her team's performance in the opening weekend of the season.
“We’ve been playing against each other for so long we just wanted to see how our system works against other teams,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “It was great, but now we have some things we really want to work on moving forward.”
Despite winning in three sets against Ball State, four against DePaul and three against Indiana State, the Hoosiers still faced some adversity.
Friday night against Ball State in the second set, the Hoosiers were down 21-19. They tied it at 21, and, after the Cardinals got one more point, IU finished out the set without making another error, allowing no more points and winning the set 25-22.
Then, Saturday afternoon against DePaul, the Hoosiers and Blue Demons went back and forth in the second set until senior outside hitter Jessica Leish scored a service ace to take the set 31-29. IU dropped the third set 25-19 and bounced back in the fourth 25-15 to win the match.
“I’m extremely impressed with how composed they are for being such a young team,” Dunbar-Kruzan. “If the chemistry can stay together, then you can come back from any deficit.”
Sophomore middle blocker Deyhsia Lofton, who won tournament MVP, said she thought the team retreat the players took a few weeks ago really helped them overcome those tough stretches.
“We had to go through a lot of tests and challenges on the retreat,” Lofton said. “I think that prepared us for this weekend because we know we aren’t going to be perfect all the time, so I think it helped us overcome the adversity.”
Lofton contributed 25 kills throughout the weekend, 13 of them against DePaul. Sophomore setter Victoria Brisack had a big weekend setting her teammates up at the net with 35 assists against BSU, 50 against DePaul and 39 against ISU, tallying up 124 over the course of the weekend. The highest number of assists any opponent setter had in one game was 33.
“She’s been working really hard to get all the connections right with all of our hitters,” Lofton said. “She never complains and is doing a great job.”
Although the team is young, IU displayed its depth this weekend with most of the team involved in rotations for playing time during each match.
“Great teams have deep benches,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “You have to be comfortable playing nine or ten kids. You need to be able to trust that if someone is off, you can put someone else in and they’ll do their job.”
The Hoosiers will practice two days before leaving Wednesday for the Colonial Challenge in Washington, D.C. The challenge will include George Washington on Sept. 1 and Hofstra and Long Island University-Brooklyn on Sept. 2.
