Struggling team faces top 25-ranked team in blocking

With the IU women’s volleyball team entering the second half of the Big Ten schedule winless, IU Coach Sherry Dunbar and the rest of the coaching staff are preaching one focus heading into Wednesday’s match at Michigan State.

“Accountability,” Dunbar said. “It’s about doing your job, whatever your job is, making sure that you are doing that job at a high enough level and you are getting enough reps in practice to do it Wednesday night.”

The Wednesday match will be the second in two weeks, as the Hoosiers lost a five-set match last Wednesday to the then-No. 12 Purdue Boilermakers.

Junior outside hitter Ivie Obeime said despite the physical strain, she enjoys the short week.

”You don’t have to wait so long to get another chance to beat someone,” Obeime said. “A lot of people might think it is physically demanding, which it is, but you get over that because you want to play, and that’s why we are here.”

With the quick turnaround, Obeime said she hopes to replicate her last performance, in which she had 16 kills against Wisconsin on Saturday while also drawing on her previous success against Michigan State.

In the first match against Michigan State this season, Obeime posted 15 kills against the Spartans, while fellow outside hitter Kelci Marschall added 13 kills of her own before Michigan State won the match in four sets.

In the first match, Michigan State had 46 kills in 91 attempts (.374 hitting percentage), while the Hoosiers had 45 in 112 attempts (.161 hitting percentage).

Part of the reason the Hoosiers’ attack sputtered in the first match-up was the Spartans’ defense, which recorded 11.5 blocks in the first meeting.

Heading into Wednesday, the Spartans rank 24th in the nation, averaging 2.64 blocks per set.

While Michigan State is ranked in the top 25 in blocks, Marschall said the Hoosiers are used to seeing good blocking teams every match in the Big Ten.

“Everyone in the Big Ten is huge and really good blocking teams,” Marschall said. “That’s something we need to use to our advantage by working swings off and finding seams.”

In the last meeting, the Spartans’ offense was led by senior stars Kyndra Abron and Jenilee Rathje, who had 15 and 10 kills, respectively.

Rathje currently ranks 16th in the nation with a 4.49 kills per set average, including more than 20 kills in both of Michigan State’s matches last weekend against then-No. 21 Michigan and Ohio State.

Obeime said the Hoosiers will need to get their hands on as many attacks as possible.

“It’s easier on our defense when we either stop the ball or make it slower for them,” Obeime said. “This week, we need to get a lot of block touches to shut down their big swingers.”
Dunbar said Rathje and Abron are the types of players who, when together, are players a team just hopes to beat.

“Rathje is one of the best players in the conference,” Dunbar said. “Abron is a big, physical kid and hits a heavy ball.

“When they are in the front row together, they are very hard to contain. When one is in, we will really need to focus on her.”