IU Classic kicks off Hoosiers home slate

The IU women’s volleyball team begins its home schedule with the IU Classic Friday and Saturday at the University Gymnasium.

“I think we need to take it to the next level of actually playing on the court together and learning how to play next to a person that they don’t know so well,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said. “I think communicating more really helps the team chemistry. Otherwise, they are just standing there as six people on the court with no uniformity.”

Last weekend, the Hoosiers dropped two out of their first three games of the season at the Hokie Classic in Blacksburg, Va.

While the cream and crimson did not get the results they desired, the team experienced playing against some of the nation’s top teams — most notably host Virginia Tech.

This weekend, the team will play one game Friday against Southeast Missouri State and two games Saturday against Youngstown State and Buffalo.

One of the main goals Dunbar has tried to preach throughout practice is aggressive serving.

“You need to take teams out of their systems, which means they can’t run the offense that they want to run,” Dunbar said.

Dunbar said the team’s two defensive specialists, sophomores Melanie Hicks and Caitlin Hansen, have done the best job serving as the team struggles to find its new scoring identity.

“When you talk about kills per set and earning points, it doesn’t matter how you earn them,” Dunbar said. “You can do it off a kill, you can do it off a stuffed block or you can do it off an ace. As long as it happens. I don’t care how we get to 25 points, but because we lost so much offense last year, we need to rely on other ways to get our kills.”

The excitement to start the home schedule can be felt within the entire volleyball program.

Freshman Morgan Leach said she is very excited to play in front of the Hoosier home crowd for a couple reasons.

“I came to a couple games here (last year) and it made me really want to play here with all of it,” Leach said. “I think it will be easier here because I am used to playing here, and everyone will be cheering for us instead of booing when you are serving.”