IU Volleyball

[mamasa 16,118]

Hoosiers to Hit Home Court for Team Scrimmage

8/21/2025 11:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana's 2025 roster will get its first taste of a competitive match on Saturday (Aug. 23) afternoon at Wilkinson Hall. The Hoosiers will break into two teams for their annual Cream and Crimson Scrimmage. The sides are set to play three sets against each other.

Eighth-year head coach Steve Aird has assembled one of the deepest and most talented teams that he's ever had while leading a Big Ten program. Between a returning core of veterans and the program's best recruiting class ever, Aird has a number of options to pick from at each position.

IU's fantastic freshman class will get the chance to play in front of the Wilkinson Hall crowd for the first time on Saturday afternoon. Outside hitters Charlotte Vinson and Jaidyn Jager, middle blocker Victoria Gray and defensive specialist Avery Freeman were all top-100 recruits and have been committed to the program since 2023.

On top of the intrasquad scrimmage, the Hoosiers will have a DJ on hand to keep the environment lively for all fans in attendance. IU will provide giveaways for students and fans and will have all 17 student-athletes available to sign autographs at the end of the match.

The Hoosiers begin the regular campaign on Friday (Aug. 29) in Coral Gables. IU will play a perennial NCAA Tournament team, Miami (Fla.), for the third-consecutive season. The home slate begins on Thursday, September 4th against SEMO. Single game tickets for all three matches of the Indiana Invitational are still available.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 93,830]

What a way to open the season.  Women are in Coral Gables, FL where last night they played Miami.  After giving up the first 2 sets, they roared back and won the match 5-2.  This was the team's first reverse sweep since 2015.  During the match, Alonso-Corcelles passed 1,000 career kills, the 21st player in program history to reach that mark.  Team plays VCU on Saturday at 2:00 ET.

https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2025/8/29/womens-volleyball-miami-recap-1

 

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 93,830]

Straight set sweep

[Hardwood83 5,146]

B1G volleyball is ridiculously good. 

[Aaron 4,609]

These are the wins you need if you want to win between 8 and 12 games in conference and make the NCAA Tournament. IU has had this win amount in conference, but still has not made the postseason recently due to an awful non-conference season with no signature wins.

You got the hardest pre-Big Ten games out of the way and now need to run the table before league play. This is how they last made the NCAA Tourney 15 years ago, and can expect a similar resume if they are 10-0 heading into the gauntlet that is the conference, where 2-3 signature victories at Wilkinson Hall and 10ish Big Ten wins overall should do the trick.    

Volleyball is the only sport without a postseason tourney in the conference and an auto bid, so a good at-large resume is a must for the 15-year NCAA drought to end. This weekend was definitely a start towards that.

[mamasa 16,118]

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Head coach Steve Aird and the Indiana volleyball team begin the home slate this weekend (Sept. 3-4) as it hosts the annual Indiana Invitational at Wilkinson Hall. The Hoosiers will play once on Thursday (7 p.m.) and twice on Friday (10 a.m. and 7 p.m.) ahead of a home football game on Saturday (Sept. 5).
 
Led by three talented pin attackers, the Hoosiers found great success on opening weekend. They completed an improbable reverse sweep of (RV) Miami (Fla.) before a fairly comfortable sweep of projected Atlantic 10 runner-up VCU. It is IU's fifth-consecutive 2-0 start to a season.
 
Senior outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles led IU with 29 kills in two match. She became the 21st member of the 1,000-kill club at IU with her 16th kill on Friday (Aug. 29) evening against Miami (Fla.). Alonso-Corcelles got help on the left pin from freshman outside hitter Jaidyn Jager (24 kills, 3.00 per set).
 
Service pressure from the end line (1.88 aces per set) also led to an increased block (2.75 per set) from the front line of IU's defense. Middle blockers Victoria Gray (11.0) and Madi Sell (9.0) had a hand in 20 of the 22 blocks on the weekend. Jager, along with her strong offensive start, had a hand in 10 stuffs.
 
IU will look to continue its home dominance inside Wilkinson Hall. The Hoosiers have a .750 winning percentage (21-7) on their home floor over the last two seasons. First serve on Thursday evening against SEMO is at 7 p.m. on B1G+.
 
Gameday Info
vs. SEMO (Thursday, September 4th – 7 p.m.)
Live Video: bit.ly/47huk2u
Live Stats: bit.ly/45YsG3j
 
vs. Northern Kentucky (Friday, September 5th – 10 a.m.)
Live Video: bit.ly/4n9DmmI
Live Stats: bit.ly/47WdWEN
 
vs. Western Michigan (Friday, September 5th – 7 p.m.)
Live Video: bit.ly/3I1mgZj
Live Stats: bit.ly/464XgbT
 
Stat and Trends
• The Hoosiers put together consecutive matches of at least 10 blocks to open the season. Tough serving has forced opposing teams off the net and into IU's massive block. IU hasn't had three-straight matches with at least 10 blocks since last season (Sept. 14-22, 2024). It's been even longer (Aug. 27-Sept. 3, 2021) since IU has had at least 10 blocks in four-straight matches.
 
• IU was extremely efficient at the service line in the first two games of the season. A successful day from the end line usually results in an equal or greater number of aces to service errors. Against Miami (Fla.) (7-7) and VCU (8-5), the Hoosiers accomplished that. IU hasn't done it in more than two-straight games since doing it in six-straight contests in 2023 (Sept. 9-20).

[mamasa 16,118]

[mamasa 16,118]

Set 1 goes to IU, Set 2 currently 15-11 IU. 

[mamasa 16,118]

IU wins S2 25-20

[mamasa 16,118]

and IU sweeps w/ S3 25-16. 4-0 for the season

[Aaron 4,609]

All the goodwill the team had built up to this point early in the season was set on fire tonight, getting swept by Western Kentucky. Every time a coach goes on the Hysterics Podcast, their team immediately suffers. 

The Hilltoppers are likely to win Conference USA and are not bad. However, the Big Ten is much better, and if you can't beat them, it raises questions about whether the team can compete with the better squads in the conference.

This program has come a long way and will likely win 8-12 games again in the league and dominate the bottom. However, this defeat almost certainly puts the NCAA Tournament as a bit of a long shot and cancels out the good win against Miami (FL). 

This program appears to have ceilinged out at the moment as a mid to lower pack squad in an elite league, which is not good enough to make the postseason (and with no conference tourney in volleyball, getting in is that much harder).

We might as Hoosier fans have to be OK with where the program is now at this plateau. It will not take the next step until it wins matches like tonight and doesn't suffer a competitive sweep to elite mid-majors. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 93,830]

Opened conference play with a 3-1 road win against Northwestern.  First win at NW in a decade.

[Aaron 4,609]

2 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Opened conference play with a 3-1 road win against Northwestern.  First win at NW in a decade.

NW will almost certainly finish near the bottom of the league. Winning games against this level of opponent in the league is a must if they are even going to match the last few seasons of decent but not great.

More interested if they can take down some of the better teams, especially at home and compete for NCAA Tournament.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 93,830]

54 minutes ago, Aaron said:

NW will almost certainly finish near the bottom of the league. Winning games against this level of opponent in the league is a must if they are even going to match the last few seasons of decent but not great.

More interested if they can take down some of the better teams, especially at home and compete for NCAA Tournament.

Who are the better teams?  I truly have no idea.

[jermhoosierfan 438]

4 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Who are the better teams?  I truly have no idea.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1/avca-rankings

The B1G has 6 in the top 25.

[Aaron 4,609]

Big win over Washington tonight in a close sweep. While this is a game the team really needed, it was also against a relatively equal squad that was far from certain.