IU travels north for double dose of Big Ten play

Freshman outside hitter Amelia Anderson hardly let the question conclude before giving her answer if she was excited or nervous heading into her first Big Ten action of the season.

“Excited. I’m so excited,” Anderson said. “I’m a freshman, and I’ve been coming here for so long watching all the Big Ten games, I’m just so excited to finally be a part of that.”

The freshman is coming off a weekend where she earned all-tournament honors in the Hoosier Classic.

“I think my performance really reflected how I did in practice,” Anderson said. “I had a lot of things I needed to work on, and I think I really worked on those in practice, and I think it really showed.”

The 8-4 Hoosiers will start the weekend at Michigan  at 7 p.m. Friday. The Wolverines are 12-2 on the season with their two losses coming against unranked Marquette and Western Kentucky.

Cliff Keen Arena is the smallest volleyball facility in the conference, with a capacity of just 1,800.

Last year, the maize and blue were 7-6 at home.

The Wolverines are led by junior Lexi Erwin with 4.13 kills per set. In comparison, the kills leader for the Hoosiers has been junior outside hitter Jordan Haverly, who averages 3.96 kills per set.

Senior right-side hitter Kelci Marschall said she thinks her team is ready to open Big Ten play.

“I think this past weekend we made a lot of strides in the right direction,” Marschall said. “And I think this is going to be a good test and a good chance for us to keep working on what we’ve accomplished so far.”

After trying to cage the Wolverines, the Hoosiers will take a bus ride to East Lansing to battle the Michigan State Spartans.

When the Hoosiers take on the Spartans at 8 p.m. Saturday, they will look to hand Michigan State its first loss of the season.

The Spartans’ perfect 12-0 record includes going six-for-six in home matches this year. In all, Michigan State has defeated opponents in total sets 36-4.

Lauren Wicinski is the player to watch this match as she leads her Spartans in kills, with 4.55 per set, and service aces, with a total of 30 this season.

Wicinski also chips in on defense with her average of 2.22 digs per set ranking second on the team.

To defeat such competition, IU will have to improve its passing, IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said.

“I think we get stuck in some of the two-hitter rotations,” Dunbar said. “And our passing has to be on so we can run whatever offense we want to run.”

In volleyball, the home-court advantage can be huge, especially in a premiere conference such as the Big Ten, Dunbar said.

“The Big Ten has the best fan base in the country for volleyball,” Dunbar said. “In the end, that’s why we have a sports psychologist. If you let that distract you, that’s going to be a huge problem.”