IU takes on 2 ranked opponents

Eight matches and counting.

That’s how long the losing streak has stretched for the IU women’s volleyball team entering its first home series since Sept. 23 and 24.

IU will take on No. 24 Ohio State and No. 9 Penn State this weekend.

To make the long losing streak worse, the Hoosiers are the only Big Ten team without a conference win. IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said she has never experienced a losing streak like this.

“Losing you can get out of,” Dunbar said. “We are focusing on keeping that foundation strong and coming in with a hungry attitude each day.”

The weekend begins Friday when the Buckeyes (13-6) visit University Gym. The Buckeyes have had a good season so far, cracking the top-25 ranking two weeks ago, but the team is 3-3 in the Big Ten.

Offensively, Ohio State ranks fourth nationally in kills per set, with 14.75, and sixth in assists per set.

The Buckeyes’ attack starts with serving — especially from  6-foot-1 junior Emily Danks, who is among the nation’s best servers,. She ranks sixth nationally, as she is averaging 0.57 aces per set.

While Danks and OSU’s serving has been a strength all season, junior Kelci Marschall said the Hoosiers have been working on different types of serving this week to help set up the offense.

“We all have been working on serving to different spots, serving it a little shorter and dropping it into the mid-zone or deep to work the passers around,” Marschall said. “We want to keep them guessing to keep the momentum on our side.”

On Saturday, the Nittany Lions bring their 11-5 record to IU in hopes of avenging last year’s loss to the Hoosiers (3 sets to 1) in Bloomington when Penn State was ranked No. 4 in the nation.

Like Ohio State, this year’s Lions are led by a star server, true freshman Micha Hancock. Hancock leads the nation with an average of 0.82 aces per set.

Along with Hancock, Penn State’s middle hitter Katie Slay is in the top of the national rankings in blocks per set and hitting percentage, ranking 18th and 15th in those respective categories.

Senior setter Mary Chaudoin said for the team to get out of the funk that they have been in, the players need to refocus on playing IU volleyball.

“We are a gritty team that plays with passion,” Chaudoin said. “It’s very easy to get into yourself sometimes and to lose focus of the bigger goal and the bigger team identity. We have really refocused on that and we are ready to compete this
weekend.”