After a 3-0 performance in the Indiana Invitational on Sept. 4-5, Indiana volleyball looked to carry its momentum into its opening match of the Rambler Invitational on Thursday at Joseph J. Gentile Arena in Chicago.
The Hoosiers did just that.
Indiana came out strong in its first matchup of the invitational to defeat Bowling Green State University 3-0.
The first set of the matchup was back-and-forth, with five ties and three lead changes. Midway through the match, Bowling Green got out to a 13-10 lead. However, this lead didn’t last long, with Indiana scoring four consecutive points to take a 14-13 advantage.
After taking the lead, the Hoosiers had the momentum in their favor and ultimately pulled away to extend their lead to 20-16, forcing Bowling Green to take a timeout. The Falcons responded with a point directly out of the timeout but were unable to get the momentum back in their favor, and Indiana won the set 25-21.
In the set, Indiana tallied 12 kills, two service aces, 11 digs, five blocks and an overall hitting percentage of .188. On the other side of the net, Bowling Green picked up 11 kills, one service ace, 12 digs, three blocks and an overall hitting percentage of .172.
Senior outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles led the team in both kills and digs in the first set, tallying four kills and three digs.
Indiana got on the board first in the second set after a service error from junior setter/right side hitter Amanda Otten. The game remained close, with 10 ties and two lead changes throughout. However, Indiana began to pull away late in the set to ultimately win 25-19.
Throughout two sets played, Indiana recorded 26 total kills, 25 digs, 12 blocks and a hitting percentage of .303. Bowling Green tallied 25 kills, 28 digs, three blocks and a hitting percentage of .145.
Alonso-Corcelles led the team in digs with eight, while freshman outside hitter Jaidyn Jager wasn’t far behind with seven through two sets.
The Hoosiers carried their momentum into the third by jumping out to a 3-0 lead off a Bowling Green error, a service ace by Alonso-Corcelles and a solo block by sophomore middle blocker Ella Boersema.
After the 3-0 start, the Hoosiers never looked back and held their lead for the remainder of the set to defeat Bowling Green 25-19.
Throughout the contest, the Hoosiers played efficiently on all areas of the floor, but blocking proved to be the biggest factor.
The Hoosiers tallied 17 total team blocks in just three sets — the most in a three-set contest since 2010 when Indiana defeated Wisconsin. Boersema led Indiana in blocking, recording a career-high 10 blocks. With her performance, Boersema became the third Hoosier since 2018 with at least 10 blocks in a match. Four different players had at least four rejections in the match, including Boersema, freshman middle blocker Victoria Gray, freshman setter Teodora Kričković and senior opposite hitter Avry Tatum.
After dropping the first two sets of the year, Indiana stormed back to win 18-consecutive sets to start its season 6-0. The Hoosiers will look to continue their success in the rest of the Rambler Invitational.
Indiana will have a quick turnaround, facing Loyola University Chicago at 6 p.m. Friday. The match will be available to stream on ESPN+.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball season.
