INDIANAPOLIS — In the early moments of the Monon Spike Match’s second set, Indiana volleyball held a 2-point lead over Purdue. On the ensuing rally, graduate student outside hitter Jessica Smith received a serve from Purdue and passed it to freshman setter Teodora Kričković.
Kričković then set the ball to the right side of the net toward Ella Boersema. The sophomore middle blocker swung at the ball, which ultimately ended up out of bounds and resulted in a point for the Boilermakers.
As Boersema landed from her attack, her right foot landed on the padded stanchion, and her ankle rolled. After landing, she immediately turned to look at her teammates as a look of shock passed over her face. She held her leg while leaning against the stanchion, as Smith and Kričković rushed to her side.
Members of Indiana’s staff came to help Boersema off the court as she was unable to put any weight on her right foot. She had recorded three kills and one block before the injury.
Boersema didn’t return to the court in the Hoosiers’ loss to the Boilermakers on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis — not to play or sit on the bench with her teammates.
“Obviously, your heart goes out to the kid because she’s an Indiana kid who has really turned into a pretty darn good player and was cruising and doing some good stuff,” Indiana head coach Steve Aird said after the match. “But it’s sport, you know what I mean? I think it happens. I’ve been doing this long enough to know when stuff like that happens, you’ve got to have depth, you got to have people to come off the bench and be able to compete.”
In Boersema’s absence, Aird elected to put Madi Sell into the Hoosiers’ lineup, a place she hasn’t been since their loss to Western Kentucky University on Sept. 19. The senior middle blocker was sidelined dealing with an injury of her own. Sell notched five kills and a block assist in the Hoosiers’ loss.
Depth and health at the middle blocker position have been areas of concern for the Hoosiers throughout the season. Boersema’s time was limited through the first stretch of the season as she recovered from another injury she suffered last season. Then, Sell sustained her injury. Junior middle blocker Ava Vickers played in the Hoosiers’ wins in Los Angeles against then-No.19 USC on Oct. 3 and then-No. 24 UCLA on Oct. 4 but has not seen the floor since. Vickers played through injury last season but has been recovering from an offseason surgery.
Aird’s squad is left with one middle blocker who has had consistent time at the position for the Hoosiers: freshman Victoria Gray.
Gray has played in 15 of the Hoosiers’ 17 matches this season. In the absence of Boersema, Gray was Indiana’s third-highest point getter of the night Thursday, behind senior opposite hitter Avry Tatum and freshman outside hitter Jaidyn Jager. She recorded a season-high 10 kills along with three block assists.
“We did not have an answer for their freshman middle,” Purdue head coach Dave Shondell said. “...Ten for 14 with one error — that’s just an incredible performance. And we started to pay a lot of attention to her and still couldn’t do much.”
Gray’s performance was enough to stall the Boilermakers, as they dropped the second set to the Hoosiers, but it wasn’t enough for Indiana to overcome Purdue.
While Shondell said his squad struggled to contain Gray, the Boilermakers had an impressive performance from a middle blocker of their own — Dior Charles.
The junior recorded eight kills and four block assists in response to Gray’s performance.
“Their middle was going off, so I had to go off, you know,” Charles said.
The loss was just the third of the season for Indiana, but it’s second in a row. While the Hoosiers were the designated home team, it marked their fifth straight game away from Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington as the Hoosiers played pairs of games in Los Angeles and Michigan before.
Indiana will look to the struggling Ohio State (3-11, 0-6 Big Ten) in the comfort of its home gym to snap its losing streak.
“There won’t be a lot of crying tonight,” Aird said about the loss. “I’ll see my family and say, ‘Hey, we didn’t get it done,’ and then we worry about Ohio State on Sunday. And that’s the nature of the Big Ten. Sometimes you get boat raced by good teams and sometimes you find a way to win.”
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball season.
