In the three seasons since, the Hoosiers have gone just 6-54 in the ?Big Ten.
The goal this year is to get back to the NCAA ?Tournament.
But they’ll have to drastically improve on last season, where they went just 1-19 in the conference and finished last in the Big Ten.
“Well yeah, of course,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said when asked if last season was a disappointment. “When you coach at this level, your goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament. And that’s not going to be good enough.”
IU opens the season in Storrs, Conn., in the UConn Classic and will play Central Connecticut State at 5 p.m. today, New Hampshire at 10 a.m. Saturday and UConn at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The main difference is the maturity of the team, senior outside hitter Morgan Leach said.
Leach is the lone senior on the team this year. The 6-foot-3-inch Champaign, Ill., native led the team last year in kills and was third in blocks.
Last season, IU had 11 freshmen and sophomores on the team.
All those players are now a year older, and that maturity has shown in the time leading up to this season, Dunbar said.
IU was 1-5 in matches which went into the fifth set, after both teams were tied at two games apiece.
Some of that lack of maturity contributed to the inability to close out a game when it mattered most, Dunbar-Kruzan and Leach said.
“It wasn’t like we were getting crushed all the time,” Leach said. “It’s just learning that finishing mentality.”
Apart from the increase in maturity, Dunbar and Leach said the defense will be greatly improved this season.
However, the question of who will start at libero, which is also known as the defensive leader of the team, is unknown.
Last season, Caitlin Hansen led the team in digs. With Hansen graduated, the libero this weekend will be one of two juniors, either Courtney Harnish or Kyndall Merritt.
Dunbar-Kruzan said the position is likely to rotate back and forth throughout the season between Harnish and Merritt.
Dunbar-Kruzan said she is pleased with the competition the two teammates are having.
It isn’t a case where both of them are playing subpar and one is failing to stand out, she said. Both have been competing hard and have done enough to earn the spot.
While the primary objective of the libero is to anchor the defense and get digs, Dunbar said another factor will go into who she decides to start.
The libero also has to be a good passer. The first pass of an offensive rally is set up by the libero, and it’s important for her to be able to dig balls but also put the setter in a good position to set up the kill attempt.
But with collegiate athletics, it is always an awkward situation with two players fighting for one spot.
Harnish and Merritt are friends, after all.
“There’s a great competition in the gym,” Dunbar said. “But in the end I think they’re going to be very supportive of whoever’s in that role. And that’s what you want.”
