The arrival of the 2023 collegiate volleyball season and Indiana Hoosiers volleyball is here. The Hoosiers begin their season hosting three universities for the annual Indiana Invitational. Indiana will welcome the University of New Hampshire, the University of Southern Indiana and Radford University.
The Hoosiers are looking to build on their 2022 season, their best under head coach Steve Aird. Aird and company return 12 members from last year’s team, which finished eighth in the conference and picked up their first top five road win in program history against perennial powerhouse Ohio State.
Team captain and junior setter Camryn Haworth played a key role in the team’s 2022 success. She was named a First Team All-Big Ten and an AVCA Northeast All-Region Honorable Mention. Along with the accolades, Haworth led the conference in service aces with 49 on the season and was third with over 1,100 assists on the season. Haworth hopes to lead Indiana to its first NCAA tournament appearance in over 10 years.
The Hoosiers open play 7 p.m. Friday against the New Hampshire Wildcats. The Wildcats play in the American East conference and are coming off a successful 2022 campaign, returning their core players that led them to a 19-10 record.
The Hoosiers look to fill their starting libero spot, as two-year starter Paula Cerame graduated and turned pro. Freshman Ramsey Gary, out of Pendleton Heights, Indiana, is one of the contenders for the starting libero role. Ramsey, a high school All-American and two-time club national champion for Munciana, might be new to collegiate volleyball, but her high school team played in one of the toughest Indiana High School Athletic Association conferences and faced many collegiate and Big Ten volleyball recruits
Indiana will play two matches Saturday. The first match will be at 1 p.m. against the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles. The Screaming Eagles are in their second year of Division I volleyball and finished their debut season with one win. USI features eight Indiana natives including junior Abby Weber, a high school teammate of Hoosier defensive specialist junior Carly Mills at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana.
The final match of the invitational begins at 7 p.m. against the Radford Highlanders, featuring the Big South preseason defensive player of the year, senior libero Shelby Hernandez. Indiana volleyball has never faced Radford, and on paper, this matchup looks to be the toughest match for the Hoosiers in the Indiana Invitational. Radford was picked to finish fourth in their conference, coming off a .500 season in conference play and a victory over Rutgers in a 2022 preseason tournament.
The Hoosiers aim to start the season undefeated and build on their recent successes. With five new faces joining the program, the Hoosier lineups might look a little different than last season, but they return over 90% of their offensive firepower from last season as well as a strong core of upperclassmen leading the way for the program.
