In a critical must-win third set for the Hoosiers, Indiana found itself leading Michigan State 9-6 midway through the set. While the Hoosiers may have had momentum early in the set, it would not stay that way.
Four consecutive unforced errors from freshman defensive specialist Avery Freeman, freshman middle blocker Victoria Gray, senior outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles and freshman outside hitter Jaidyn Jager resulted in a Michigan State 9-3 scoring run.
This put the Spartans back in front 15-12 — a lead the Hoosiers would not be able to overcome in their three-set loss to Michigan State on Sunday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan.
Errors were the storyline for the Hoosiers on Sunday afternoon. As soon as Indiana regained any kind of momentum, it would soon be stripped away by an error. Indiana finished the day with 28 attacking errors to go along with 10 errors from the service line.
As the 38 total offensive errors would suggest, the Indiana offense struggled throughout the match. The Hoosiers heavily relied on the offense of senior opposite hitter Avry Tatum and sophomore middle blocker Ella Boersema, who led the team with eight kills each and average hitting percentages of .286 and .462, respectively.
Only four Hoosiers hit over .000, leaving four other players averaging .000 or less on the night. Jager and Alonso-Corcelles have been key contributors for the Hoosiers all season long and both returned off 15 kill performances in Indiana’s win over Michigan Friday night. However, against the Spartans, the two outside hitters were held to average hitting percentages of -.100 and .000, respectively.
As a team, the Hoosiers only accumulated an average hitting percentage of .067 through three sets played. This percentage would not be enough in comparison to the Spartans' average attacking percentage of .256.
While both sides of the net had their fair share of errors, with Michigan State tallying 11 attacking errors and 10 service errors of their own, Indiana’s plethora of errors would prove to be too much to overcome the Spartans.
Considering Indiana has a young team with seven freshmen, mistakes are bound to happen. However, in this match, the mistakes were coming from all players on the court, including the senior leaders of the team.
Jager led the team in errors, tallying 12 throughout three sets of action. However, senior leaders Alonso-Corcelles and Tatum were not far behind with nine and six of their own, respectively.
While Indiana has had a strong showing in its season so far, the Hoosiers will need to clean up some of these unforced errors to continue their success into the remainder of the season.
The Hoosiers will have a few days to prepare for a match with their in-state rival, No. 12-ranked Purdue, on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Streaming will be available on the Big Ten Network.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball season.
