Column: Volleyball deserves Hoosier Nation's support

The whole point of the Minority Report is to begin a dialogue about the other Hoosier sports teams on campus that seem to have for some reason gotten lost in the minds of Hoosier fans.

There is no need for me to talk about how good this team is. All you need to do is take a look at their record to find that out.

For volleyball, things look good with a 5-1 record overall on the young season, 3-0 at home and a record of 2-1 on neutral locations.

I was having a conversation with a student in the Indiana Memorial Union about how I felt that women’s sports need to start drawing the types of crowds that men’s sports draw.

I told him not to sleep on the IU volleyball team. He said he wasn’t impressed.
“Have you even gone to a game?” I asked.

“Never,” he said.

Did I already mention that this team is 5-1 this season?

During a similar conversation with another individual about the IU volleyball team, I threw out that record.

“Yeah, but who have they played?” he said.

Every game, there has to be a decision on the outcome made in terms of wins, losses or ties, and the Hoosier volleyball team has lost only once.

That one, single, lonely loss came at the hands of the College of Charleston, a team that happens to be undefeated so far this season.

The Hoosiers blanked both South Carolina State, 3-0, on Friday and Coastal Carolina on Saturday.

The team went to South Carolina and skunked two different South Carolina teams before falling to College of Charleston, 3-1.

Not to mention that loss was in the championship round of the Hampton Inn College of Charleston Invitational.

Show them some love, people.

Imagine Hoosier Nation packing University Gym. You think it gets loud at a Hoosier basketball game, but the acoustics in University Gym would not be able to contain the amount of noise fans would make.

These girls are winning. We would do well to remember that.

With stats like that, there is no guessing that win, lose, or tie, this next game against Wyoming will be a good one.

The Wyoming volleyball team also happens to be 6-1, so it won’t be a cakewalk.

Speaking of the Hoosiers’ next volleyball game, I will issue a simple call out using a line from one of my favorite movies of all time, Half Baked.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna do what you all think I’m gonna do which is freak out, man. All I wanna know is who’s coming with me, man?”

Who will be there when the IU volleyball team goes head-to-head with Wyoming at 7 p.m. Friday in Bloomington?

Oh, you have plans to go out to a bar or party that night? No bar in Bloomington jumps off that early, so knock that off.

Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Fred Glass has been strongly pushing this ‘24 sports, one team’ creed lately. Make him proud.

Like all the other non-revenue generated sports on campus, I want to remove volleyball from the Minority Report, and put it where it deserves to be.

While 24 sports, one team is IU’s creed, it is so much more than that. It means Hoosier Nation supports its teams when they win and when they lose. It means they hold it down and represent for their teams, and the best way to do that is to show up to a game, right?

Talk to your friends, hit up the next volleyball game. Let’s move volleyball from the Minority Report to the front page of the IDS sports section.

­— pdolly@indiana.edu
Follow Hoosier sports columnist Patrick Dolly on Twitter @MinReport_IDS.