At its core, Indiana volleyball’s roster consists of young returners who made history together with the Hoosiers last year.
Indiana’s 2025 season and NCAA Tournament run was backed by seven freshmen — four starters and three who contributed in situational roles.
However, the Hoosiers brought in five newcomers this season to complement the talent they had returning, and two of those new players — freshman outside hitter Sara Snowbarger and fifth-year middle blocker Kiki Granberry — are already showing their importance to Indiana’s current rotation.
Snowbarger and Granberry were crucial to the Hoosiers’ performance at the Big Ten/Southeastern Conference Volleyball Challenge Week on Tuesday and Wednesday at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana.
No. 21 Indiana defeated the University of Georgia 3-1 (26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17) on Tuesday, before taking down No. 12 Texas A&M University — the defending national champions — in five sets (26-24, 26-28, 25-23, 17-25, 15-9) on Wednesday.
After getting blown out by then-No. 7 University of Louisville last week, Indiana came out aggressive against Georgia. In the first three sets, there was never more than a five-point difference between the Hoosiers and the Bulldogs before Indiana pulled away in the final game to win the match.
Like Tuesday, the Cream and Crimson’s contest against the Aggies proved to be another close match until Indiana started to pull ahead in the final set. Aird’s squad started the fifth game with a 6-1 run to create a comfortable lead before earning a 15-9 set win.
Both Snowbarger and Granberry have filled key positions for the Hoosiers after last season’s departures.
Snowbarger — the No. 104 overall recruit by PrepDig in 2026 as a senior from Wooster High School in Ohio — recorded 10 kills against Georgia and six kills against Texas A&M. Both were improved performances from her collegiate debut against Louisville, where Snowbarger had just two kills in the Hoosiers’ 3-0 loss.
As a freshman, Snowbarger is helping to fill the role of former Indiana outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles, who is the program’s all-time winningest player, and whose 1,386 career kills are the eighth most in Indiana history.
While it’ll take time for Snowbarger to develop in the Hoosiers program, she’s already shown that she’s able to be an offensive force for Indiana in high-level contests, which Indiana needs if it wants to build on its historic 2025 season.
“Sara Snowbarger was with us in January, and all the way through, and she really has grown a lot,” Indiana head coach Steve Aird said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student on Aug. 20.
While Snowbarger is in her first season of college volleyball, Granberry just started her fifth and final year, but her first with the Hoosiers.
Granberry, who transferred to Indiana from the University of Tennessee during the offseason, recorded eight kills and four block assists against the Bulldogs and six kills and seven total blocks against the Aggies.
One of Granberry’s biggest moments of the Big Ten/SEC Challenge was in the first set against Texas A&M on Wednesday evening. After a continuous back-and-forth set that established the tone for the rest of the night, Granberry recorded a kill during Indiana's third set point to secure the first game win of the night.
Granberry's four seasons at Tennessee were highlighted by her sophomore and junior years. In her second season, the Winter Garden, Florida, native was second in the SEC in hitting percentage with a .356 clip, while her 1.15 blocks per set were the eighth most in the conference. Then, in 2024, Granberry’s hitting percentage rose to .455, which ranked second nationally and first in the SEC among qualified players.
However, Granberry wasn’t able to build upon her impressive junior season. Just three matches into her senior year, she sustained an injury that sidelined her for the rest of the season.
Granberry has added depth to the Hoosiers middle blocker position alongside sophomore Victoria Gray, which allowed junior Ella Boersema, who recorded 33 kills across Tuesday and Wednesday, to switch from middle blocker to opposite hitter with the absence of Avry Tatum.
Granberry is now finding her place with Indiana, a program she thinks can help her reach her goals of being an all-American and getting drafted to play professional volleyball, she told the Indiana Daily Student on Aug. 20.
Snowbarger and Granberry’s Indiana careers are still young, and they’ll continue to develop with the Hoosiers under Aird, who just began his ninth season in Bloomington. And as those newcomers continue to evolve, they’ll be key in getting Indiana back to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki87731 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball season.
