IU volleyball team suffers costly loss to Michigan State

What appeared to be a winnable match in the IU volleyball team’s quest to make the NCAA Tournament turned out to be anything but Saturday.

On paper, Michigan State appeared to be one of the easier matches the Hoosiers had left, as the Spartans came in with a 4-9 Big Ten record and losers of seven of their last eight games.

The Hoosiers, meanwhile, came in as winners of four out of their five previous matches, putting themselves back into postseason contention.

However, Michigan State decided on Saturday night it would be to their advantage to throw out previous results and play out the match on the court instead.

Doing just that, the Spartans dominated the Hoosiers, winning in all major statistical category  along the way and taking the match 3-1.

To be exact, no category was statistically close, as Michigan State out-killed IU 62-44, out-dug them 42-33 and had more total points by a final count of 76-51.

IU assistant coach Keith Schunzel said Michigan State took control of the match early and never looked back.

“We felt like we wanted to get aggressive from the get go,” Schunzel said. “But instead, Michigan State did that, and they were the aggressors the whole match.”

Sophomore middle blocker Ashley Benson said the team wasn’t as focused as in previous matches.

“It wasn’t a good night for the entire team, and the fight wasn’t there,” Benson said. “The last games, we have been a team, but tonight we didn’t have the energy.”

With the loss, the Hoosiers dropped to 6-8 in the Big Ten and 14-12 overall. To make postseason play, IU must finish with at least a 10-10 record in conference play.

IU’s remaining schedule includes road games against Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan, and home contests against Wisconsin and Northwestern.

IU’s easiest path to get four wins would be to beat both the Buckeyes and the Wildcats, who currently sit at the bottom of the Big Ten standings.

Another winnable match for the Hoosiers – at least on paper – would be against the Badgers, who IU already beat in Madison earlier in the year.

The remaining three opponents are ranked teams, of which the Hoosiers would need to beat at least one, as well as win the aforementioned three matches to get to 10-10.

The first of the remaining matches is against arch-rival No. 18 Purdue on Friday night in West Lafayette.

Sophomore outside hitter Taylor Wittmer said the fact that the Hoosiers played Purdue hard but lost a five-set thriller earlier in the year makes the team hungry to win this time around.

“There is a motivation to beat them, since we lost a close match at home and played well,” Wittmer said.