No. 23 Indiana volleyball has struggled to start matches quickly.
The Hoosiers started their season with two set losses to the University of Miami before winning the following three. They lost the first set in both of their wins over then-No. 17 USC and then-No. 24 UCLA. They allowed Michigan State to take a large lead in the first set and never recovered.
However, the slow starts changed for Indiana on Sunday.
While Northwestern took the first point of the match, its lead didn’t last long. Indiana took the next three points of the set and never looked back. It carried that momentum from the first set into the next two, which ultimately led to a sweep against Northwestern at Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington.
Indiana extended its advantage to 11-3 before Northwestern started to get hot. The Wildcats pulled within one point, but the Hoosiers’ advantage increased as quickly as it disappeared. They went on a 7-0 run with senior outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles at the service line to close the first set. Indiana recorded 12 kills, five service aces and no attack errors in the first game.
Although the following two sets weren’t as dominant as the first — the Hoosiers won the second game by 4 points and the third by 2 points — it was enough to push Indiana to a sweep.
Part of the Hoosiers’ ability to stay aggressive through three sets was because of their previous contest against Northwestern on Sept. 24. While the Hoosiers defeated the Wildcats 3-1, they looked sluggish in their first conference test of the season. Small errors and miscommunications piled up, especially in the second set, but Indiana was able to play through the mistakes.
“I think set two against Northwestern when we were there last time was just not us at all,” senior opposite hitter Avry Tatum said after the match. “We looked very scrambled. And I think when we came into the third set when we had a little bit of a break we were just like ‘We’re not having a repeat of what happened last time, and we really need to step on the gas.’”
Eighth-year head coach Steve Aird attributed part of the Hoosiers’ ability to get off to a strong start to the “sting” of Friday’s loss to No. 20 Minnesota. He said his squad’s practice Saturday was difficult, but he saw the fruits of it during Sunday’s match.
“For me, it’s going to go back to grit and how hard we work and how much we want to be real,” Aird said. “And so, it (Saturday’s practice) was a little bit more intense than usual, but I thought it translated. But I felt their energy today was great and they worked really hard and we had big time players make big time plays when we needed them.”
Indiana’s trio of pin hitters — Alonso-Corcelles, Tatum and freshman Jaidyn Jager — all recorded double-digit points as the Hoosiers’ “big time players.” Alonso-Corcelles notched 16 kills, one service ace and three total blocks which contributed to her 19 points scored for Indiana. Tatum and Jager contributed 11.5 and 10 points, respectively.
Tatum also mentioned Saturday’s practice after the match as part of the difference-maker for Indiana. She said in the team’s meeting they understood there were things that needed to change from Friday to Sunday for Indiana to defeat Northwestern for a second time this season.
“And Saturday, yesterday’s practice, was really dialed into what Northwestern looks like, and everyone completely bought in, and it was kind of just a flip in our brains that we kind of need to get back on track,” Tatum said.
The get-right game gave Indiana its 16th win of the season — which already surpassed its 15 total wins a season ago — gave the Hoosiers a win before returning to the road to face two more Big Ten opponents.
Indiana’s two-game home stint is succeeded by two games on the road. The Hoosiers play Maryland on Oct. 31 and No. 18 Penn State on Nov. 2. While Aird and his squad have repeatedly pointed out the difficulty of playing on the road in the Big Ten, Indiana has been able to pull out road wins through the first part of its season.
“What I’ll say is playing on the road in the Big Ten is impossibly difficult, and winning on the road in the Big Ten is really, really hard,” Aird said. “A lot of the things I’m most proud of so far this year kind of halfway through is our ability to win on the road, against really good programs.”
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball season.
