IU breaks win streak, drops 2 Big Ten matches

The IU volleyball team had its two-match win streak snapped this weekend after winning just one set combined against Michigan State and Michigan in two matches in Bloomington.

“For me, it’s just disappointing,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said. “I truly think that we have the talent to do a lot of great things, but now we’re looking at four weeks left, and there’s no postseason.”

Indiana (10-14, 2-10) fell to Michigan State (17-7, 5-7) and Michigan (17-9, 5-7) this weekend, making it 10 straight losses to Big Ten teams from the Great Lakes state.

Against the Spartans, IU was down 23-18 in the first set before rattling off six straight points to take the set 26-24.

After losing a close second set 25-23, IU was down 20-19 in the third set when sophomore middle blocker Morgan Leach went down with a right leg injury.

She needed assistance getting off the court, and even though she came back during the next set, her team could not regain the momentum.

“It’s always difficult when one of your starters goes down,” junior outside hitter Jordan Haverly said. “Everything just gets a little jumbled, and it did affect us a little bit.”

The Spartans finished off the Hoosiers in the third set and took the fourth as well. Before the Leach injury, IU had been outscored by one point, 69-68. After the sophomore went down, the Hoosiers were outscored 30-18.

Leach was back in the lineup Saturday  against Michigan.

IU got in a 3-0 hole in set one and never recovered, losing 25-15. The Hoosiers then lost the second set 32-30.

The second set featured 14 ties and seven lead changes, marking the first time either team had scored 30 points in a set this season.

“That’s the team we are, battle back-and-forth,” said Kelci Marschall, senior right-side hitter. “It’s always hard to lose. You never want to lose, but that changed our mentality and made us want to go after it more.”

The Hoosiers couldn’t maintain that momentum, falling 25-17 in the third and decdiing game.

“I think we just didn’t fight as much as we have,” Haverly said. “We didn’t come out with as much passion. We worked pretty hard, but not as hard as we could have.”

In the previous matches IU won, against Purdue and Wisconsin, the team had 14 more service aces than its opponents. This weekend the Spartans and Wolverines combined for three more aces than the Hoosiers.

“The two things that we’re very good at in the first two matches were our defensive mentality and our serving,” Dunbar said. “And I don’t think either one of those matched up to the standard we had set.”

The mentality of the team is the onus of the players, though, Dunbar said.

“I’ll put the blame on me a lot of times, but when it comes to competing, they have to look within,” Dunbar said. “When the whistle blows, that competition mode has to come. That’s the one thing they’ve got to own up to. They have to be prepared to play.”