As No. 18 Indiana volleyball mounted a comeback in its first game against No. 11 Oregon on Friday night, just one point stood between the Hoosiers and a first-set victory.
Oregon fifth-year setter Marina Crownover served the ball to the awaiting sophomore libero Hannah Leftridge, who passed it to Teodora Kričković. The sophomore setter passed the ball high in the air to junior outside hitter Izzy Clark, who hit the ball into a wall of Duck defenders.
It came right back to the Hoosiers. Sophomore outside hitter Jaidyn Jager set the ball to Kričković, who once again sent it Clark’s direction.
This time, however, Clark’s swing wasn’t denied at the net. It landed for Indiana’s 25th point of the first set.
The Hoosiers ultimately fell to the Ducks in five sets (25-23, 24-26, 22-25, 25-21, 9-15) Friday in Eugene, Oregon, but Clark’s set-winning point showed her promise. Making her first start of the season and playing in just her second match back from injury, the University of San Diego transfer had seven kills on a .111 hitting percentage with four digs.
Clark transferred to Indiana in January after her second season at San Diego, where she was a two-time All-West Coast Conference First-Team member and the league’s freshman of the year in 2024. In her first year of collegiate volleyball, Clark recorded a team-high 311 kills, before increasing that number to 397 in her sophomore season.
The Orange County, California, native missed Indiana’s first 14 matches of the season due to a lower body injury. In a preseason interview with the Indiana Daily Student on Aug. 20, ninth-year Indiana head coach Steve Aird was hopeful Clark would be back “sooner than later.” But her return kept getting pushed back, until last weekend, when Clark made her season debut.
Clark took the floor for the first time this season Oct. 11, when the Hoosiers were swept by USC. She entered the contest early in the third set and soon recorded a kill for the Hoosiers. Clark didn’t record another stat and primarily played in the back row against the Trojans.
While Clark’s introduction to the lineup provides the Hoosiers another option for their rotation, Aird admitted that it’s a double-edge sword.
“The blessing of having new players coming in is you have more depth, and you got more players,” Aird said Oct. 11. “But the curse a little bit is you’re going to try to find it again. Almost like we're in a little blip, a preseason blip, where we’re trying to find it.”
That “blip” is Indiana losing four of its last five matches. The first came to then-No. 6 Wisconsin in a five-set shootout and continued with three-set losses at the hands of No. 1 Nebraska and USC — which received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll — last weekend in Bloomington. Now, another five-set loss to a top 15 team.
The beginning of October has been a gauntlet for Indiana, and the Hoosiers’ slate doesn’t let up in the latter half of the month.
No. 20 Washington is up next on Indiana’s schedule, followed by Ohio State and No. 15 Penn State next weekend. Indiana needs to find a way to get out of its rut, but it’ll continue to be a challenge.
When Indiana finds its rhythm and figures out its rotation with new pieces, those wins should come a little easier, making a quick integration essential for the Hoosiers.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki87731 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball season.
