Hoosiers fall short of upset

The IU volleyball team (8-10, 0-6) suffered a down-to-the-wire loss against No. 4 Nebraska (13-2, 5-1) Saturday night, falling to the Cornhuskers in five sets (25-23, 18-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-10).

“That team should have been had tonight,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said. “We had our opportunity to do that, and we have to take the opportunity when the opportunity is given.”

The Hoosiers also fell to Iowa this weekend, pushing their Big Ten record to 0-6 in the process.

After battling in the first set against Nebraska and losing it in the last few points, IU went on to win the second and third sets and had a 12-8 lead in the fourth set.

Nebraska eliminated the possibility of an upset by taking the rest of the fourth and fifth sets by outscoring IU 32-15.

The only other team to push Nebraska to five sets this season was UCLA, when the Bruins were No. 1.

“I’m really disappointed,” Dunbar said. “We should have won that match. I thought when we were confident and we were in control of our emotions and fear and doubt, I thought we were in total control.”

Senior right-side hitter Kelci Marschall said after a lackluster performance against Iowa the night before, her team was ready to compete against the conference juggernaut.

“I think we made a decision to be better,” Marschall said. “I think we went home last night and knew we had to change, and I think we made a change.”

The Hoosiers had more kills, digs and assists in the match than Nebraska, but the Cornhuskers led in the total points stat 103-100.

Despite being competitive against such elite competition, the loss still hurts, sophomore middle blocker Morgan Leach said.

“We were right there,” Leach said. “We know that if we would have picked up some of the little things that we could have won.”

The five-set match was tougher to swallow than if the team would not have been competitive in the match, Dunbar said.

“It’s harder because you’re right there, and you have that opportunity,” Dunbar said. “That’s why I came to Indiana, to play teams like that and to beat teams like that. It’s just tough.”

IU’s failure against Iowa came in four sets (25- 21, 25-17, 23-25, 25-22).

Last year, when Iowa and Indiana met in University Gym, Iowa jumped out to a 2-0 set lead only to see Indiana take the last three sets to give the Hoosiers their only conference win of the season.

No such magic was in store for this year’s contest as Indiana’s fourth set rally fell short. IU gave the Hawkeyes their first Big Ten conference road win in 1,108 days.

Going forward, Marschall said the loss against Nebraska was a little easier to manage because the team played drastically better than it had the previous night against Iowa, but coming so close to the upset still stings.

“Any loss is still a loss, and that hurts,” Marschall said. “It is a little bit easier to feel like you played better and you played as hard as you could and gave your best
effort.”