After five straight losses, the Hoosiers finally acquired a win this weekend, as they played against Illinois and Northwestern this weekend. This victory refocused the team on its goal to split weekends.
IU (13-9) fell to No. 18 Illinois (13-7), 3-0, Friday but took the win Saturday against Northwestern (12-9), 3-0.
“I’m proud of how we bounced back,” senior middle blocker Awele Nwaeze said. “We’ve been working a lot in practice to clean up the details and focus on the skills so that we can make more adjustments. I think we were able to be a steady force.”
What seemed to be a strong start for the Hoosiers on Friday night against the Fighting Illini began when they led the opening match by a nine-point margin, 19-10.
Shortly after, though, Illinois took the next four points of the match while trying to close the gap. Nearing the end of the opening set, Illinois was able to catch up to IU, closing what was once a wide margin to just only a two-point gap, 22-20.
After a 24-24 tie, the next point scored by the Illini gave them their first lead of the set, resulting in a set win over the Hoosiers, 27-25.
“I think they lost their focus and lost their confidence,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said. “We had a good match going up until then, and I don’t think they quit, but I think they backed down.”
The Hoosiers and the Illini began the second set with five straight point ties, until it came down to a one-point difference, 21-20.
A service error committed by the Hoosiers allowed the Illini to take another set win, 25-23, bringing their match score to 2-0.
In the third and final set of the match, IU committed eight errors to allow Illinois to pull away in the set’s final minutes, leading to a ten-point set victory and ending the match, 3-0.
“Illinois is a top-20 team,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “I thought for a while we were in control of that match. We just didn’t have enough confidence to finish. I wanted us to fight more in that third set.”
After their fifth straight loss, IU made the turnaround during set one against Northwestern on Saturday night.
In the first set both IU and Northwestern fought for points, but IU never allowed Northwestern to take the lead, pulling away to win the first set, 25-21.
“Last night our blocking started off with only two block touches,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “Tonight our blocking started off really aggressive. We talked about that as well as getting our middles involved. We had a very clear plan, and I think we followed that game plan.”
The wins continued during the second set, where the Hoosiers took a nine-point lead over the Wildcats, and a service error committed by the Wildcats finally sealed the set win for the Hoosiers, 25-16.
This was the first time the IU had won two sets during a match since they played at home in early October against Rutgers and Maryland.
I think we’re finally getting our confidence back,” Nwaeze said. “It’s not one particular person, but as a unit we’re able to trust each other and have confidence each other. It’s improving our play a lot.”
IU eventually ended the match by taking the win against Northwestern in the third set, 25-21.
“I’m happy with the win,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “I think we’ve been improving over the last couple of weeks. Even with the losses, I think we’ve done some things we’re really proud of. It’s good for the confidence to go 3-0, it’s hard to sweep anyone in the Big Ten.”
