IU to begin second half of Big Ten schedule

After its first back-to-back conference wins in two years, the IU volleyball team (10-12, 2-8)  looks to extend its streak against Michigan State (16-6, 4-6) and Michigan (16-8, 4-6) this weekend.

“Our defense has improved tremendously,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said. “Over the two matches we won, I think we’ve dug 16 or 17 balls a set, which is probably three or four more digs then we’ve had before.”

Anchoring the defense has been junior defensive specialist Caitlin Hansen. After picking up back-to-back career-highs in digs against Purdue and Wisconsin, the junior was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.

“We’ve all picked up where everyone left off,” Hansen said. “If someone is struggling, then we’ll pick each other up. Our biggest thing is not looking at other people to make the big play. We are each stepping up.”

For the first time this year, the Hoosiers face teams they have already played. They lost to the Spartans in straight sets and the Wolverines in four sets a month ago.

“We really feel like we could have beat them at their place,” senior setter Whitney Granado said. “We made it very clear in the locker room that when they come here, we’re going to have our home court advantage, and we’re going to beat them.”

Earlier in the year, Dunbar felt the Hoosiers could have beaten the maize and blue.

“Michigan’s playing good ball,” Dunbar said. “They took Penn State to five sets this weekend. I think they’ve improved a little bit, but I still think that was a winnable match for us.”

Conversely, when the Hoosiers played the Spartans, the Hoosiers failed to score more than 21 points in any set.

“They’re probably one of the most athletic teams in our conference right now,” Dunbar said. “So if they are in their system, we’re probably in trouble ... So we’ll have to take good shot selection with our hitters. We can’t just bang away.”

The team is done with half of the conference schedule, and teams get fatigued at this point, Granado said.

“I think we’re definitely on the up-climb where a lot of teams are going to start to tail off,” Granado said.