The front row of Indiana volleyball’s student section, which stood on the first row of bleachers rather than the floor, was mostly filled with fans wearing candy striped pants and red shirts Thursday night. Most of them held clipboards in their hands along with red and white pompoms for the No. 15-ranked Hoosiers’ contest against No. 1 Nebraska.
Ryan Grieser was in the middle of the front row most of the night. When he wasn’t, the Indiana University senior was running around the arena, throwing out T-shirts to fans, trying to pump up the crowd or, at the end of the front row, chirping at Nebraska servers.
That is what Grieser — an Indiana volleyball manager and member of the IU Student Athletic Board — does almost every Indiana volleyball gameday with the same level of intensity. He’s there for mid-week nonconference matchups and contests against the No. 1 team in the country, which the Hoosiers were swept by Thursday.
Last season, after Indiana fell 3-0 to Nebraska on Nov. 22 in Bloomington, Grieser faced backlash on social media for his endline antics, which are just normal routine for him and the Hoosiers. A post once again scolding the students for the 2025 match even circulated social media two days before this year’s match.
People posted images of the Big Ten+ stream on social media, saying Grieser and other students were too close to the opponent's servers. They said it was embarrassing for the program; they called Grieser names; they wanted the program to “reprimand” the students.
The cheering and chirping are things Grieser does at every match. He said he brings the same energy to a preseason exhibition that he would to a postseason contest.
Grieser has friends who play volleyball at other Big Ten schools, and he traveled to other arenas to watch them play even before coming to IU. He noticed the advantage that rowdy environments gave home teams and wanted to bring that to Wilkinson Hall.
When Grieser was a freshman at IU, he reached out to former Indiana volleyball Director of Operations Hallie Enderle about becoming a manager. She told him to circle back in January, and that’s exactly what Grieser did.
In January, he went to the volleyball facility for an interview and explained why he wanted the job and what it would mean to him. The team offered him the position, and he’s been working with them ever since.
As one of the managers, Grieser attends every practice, helps with drills, assists coaches with whatever they need and creates a fun environment for the team.
“The Big Ten’s very good,” Grieser said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student on Sept. 30. “We go through hard seasons and its long practices, long days and the girls sometimes can get in their heads or get a little down. I feel like in practice my job is just to bring the energy up, focus on the positive stuff and try to just get over that hump.”
Indiana associate head coach Rachel Morris said Grieser’s energy has stayed the same since he started. Early on in his time with the program, Grieser would scream and yell during warmups, pacing beside the players as they did their dynamic stretches.
"Whether it was in match or in practice, and I had to be like, ‘Hey, Ryan, like, you can do all these things, but like, can you sit on the sideline?’” Morris said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student on Oct. 6. “He's always been that person with big energy that anytime we have flat energy in the gym, he would come in and absolutely raise the level, which was really, really nice.”
Grieser is in his third year as an Indiana volleyball manager and SAB member. He’s involved with the student section as part of his SAB role, and being a member of the program strengthens his relationship with the team.
During his first two years on the SAB, Grieser was the chair of the volleyball committee, organizing and setting up tailgates before matches and throwing merchandise to the crowd. Now, he’s a director for volleyball, and oversees the chairs and ensures the best student turnout at matches.
Morris, who is in her fifth year with the program, has seen how Grieser transformed the environment inside Wilkinson Hall. She said when Grieser became involved with the program, not only did the student section grow, but so did their awareness of the game and intention behind their cheering.
“He's brought people over here and really shown them what volleyball is about and what we're building, and he's been an integral part of what our fan space looks like now,” Morris said. “He's like kind of crazy sometimes, but we love it because he's so invested in what he's doing on a daily basis.”
Grieser sees bringing energy to practices and matches as his duty to the program. He thinks it's a “disservice” to the team if they play in loud, chaotic arenas as visitors, but don’t get the same advantage in their home gym.
Before game days, Grieser and SAB President Jada Brooks do their own scouting report on the opposing team. But rather than look at the players’ performances, the two look up “random things.”
“We're just looking for things that we could say to them that would just kind of get them out of the space of, like, ‘I'm serving. It’s just me and the ball,’” Grieser said. “It's not even like necessarily negative things or bad things.”
Grieser said he and Brooks look up random Instagram accounts of players from years ago, finding the names of their pets or high school homecoming dates and favorite foods. Then, they yell those things at the opposing players. The intention isn’t to be aggressive; it’s just to distract players when serving.
It’s been Grieser’s strategy since he became involved with the program, so he was confused when he got backlash after last year’s Nebraska match.
“I was just like shocked because I had done it for two years so far and never had gotten any backlash like that,” Grieser said. “But it was like, I was getting DMs on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, literally everywhere. It was so crazy. I was getting death threats. I was getting like names I had never even heard, I was getting called.”
The team was just as confused. They were used to Ryan’s chirps. It made them laugh. It made opponents laugh.
“I don't know why it was such a big deal for Nebraska,” sophomore middle blocker Victoria Gray said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student on Oct. 6. “But I was just like, ‘Y'all never had a Ryan before.’”
Grieser took the negative comments as a sign he was doing what he was supposed to do. His goal was to make an impact on the game, and if opposing fans were upset on social media, then he was achieving it.
“I never doubted that the people here had my back,” Grieser said. “So, it never really affected me personally that much. It definitely was a crazy time. I would prefer not to go through that again. But it really showed me how much support IU has, and it really just proves the decision I made to just throw my whole heart into this team, like really does pay off.”
Grieser hasn’t backed off since the pushback. He’s been at every match this season — dressed in a gaudy outfit, like the USA jersey and other patriotic attire he wore when Indiana defeated Eastern Illinois on Sept. 11, or with a clipboard in hand — standing on the endline or in the bleachers and going about his normal antics.
He knows the people who matter have his back. His cheering may have caused controversy and received backlash, but the support and high energy are what other people love.
“We look for his energy every single day,” Gray said. “I don't think I'd get through a game without laughing at him. He doesn't care what anyone thinks, he's just trying to make us smile and give us the best atmosphere.”
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki87731 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball season.
