Miami blocker Nwaeze transfers to IU

The IU volleyball team added its fifth player to the recruiting class of 2013 last week.

Sophomore Awele Nwaeze transferred from the University of Miami and will play either middle blocker or right-side hitter for the Hoosiers this fall, IU Coach Sherry Dunbar said.

“We are excited to have Awele join the Hoosier family,” Dunbar said in a press release.
“She is an exceptional athlete that will compete for playing time as a middle blocker and a right-side hitter, so it is nice to add more depth to those positions.

“We are also thrilled that she is starting school this semester, allowing herself to get acclimated to Indiana, our program and be ready to contribute in the fall.”

Last fall, right-side hitter Kelci Marschall and middle blocker Samantha Thrower graduated and left statistical holes that Nwaeze and her new teammates will try to fill.

Marschall and Thrower were second and fourth on the team, respectively, in total kills, with 548 between the two, 34 percent of the team’s total kills.

The 6-foot-1-inch Raleigh, N.C., native also will have a significant portion of blocks to fill that will be left behind by Thrower.

Thrower accounted for more than one-third of IU’s blocks with 153 and ranked second in the Big Ten with 1.27 blocks per set average.

Nwaeze and her fellow members of the 2013 class, outside hitter Allison Hammond, libero Taylor Lebo, middle blocker Jazzmine McDonald and setter Megan Tallman will try to fill the role of the three seniors who left the program this fall.

During her time as a Hurricane, Nwaeze notched 25 kills and 14 blocks in 30 sets during her freshman campaign.

When Nwaeze was being recruited by the Hurricanes, Miami Coach Nicole Lantagne
Welch said of Nwaeze, “Great middle blockers are hard to find, and (Nwaeze) has the potential to be exceptional.”

Nwaeze was also named one of the top 80 players in the country after her junior season in high school by PrepVolleyball.com and was named first-team all-conference and academic all-conference all four years at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, N.C.

— Evan Hoopfer