IU Volleyball

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,534]

Women sweep Michigan and are 5-0 in the B1G, program's best start ever in conference play.  Sunday afternoon at 1:00 they'll be in East Lansing to face the Spartans (13-2) (3-2).  Televised on B1G+

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,534]

Bubble burst in East Lansing.  Straight set loss to Michigan State.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,534]

Thursday evening at 7:00 women face #12 PUke at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indy.  Televised on basic BTN and this matchup is worth a half point in the Governor's Cup competition.   Then on Sunday at noon, the women host O$U in Bloomington.

Preview

Live Stats 

[TheWatShot 15,833]

Why did we give up a home game to play at a neutral site? 

[Aaron 4,658]

Charlie Creme has IU ending its 15 yr NCAA Tourney drought with a bang, hosting as a three seed (1-4 seeds host first two rounds just like women's basketball):

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/46605009/ncaa-womens-college-volleyball-bracketology-top-teams-predictions-2025

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,534]

Women will have to wait until Nov. 29, to try for revenge against PUke losing 3-1 last night in Indy.

[mamasa 16,184]

IU started slow in the first, but absolutely dominated the 2nd set. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,534]

Bummer!

Indiana Univ. MB Ella Boersema of Churubusco suffered a broken right leg in second set of the IU's 4-set loss to Purdue Thursday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,534]

Women host Ohio State today at noon.  Televised on basic BTN.  Buckeyes (3-11) (0-6) so in theory, our IU women should have a relatively easy afternoon.

Preview

[Aaron 4,658]

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

Women host Ohio State today at noon.  Televised on basic BTN.  Buckeyes (3-11) (0-6) so in theory, our IU women should have a relatively easy afternoon.

Preview

IU won 3-1, but this match put up some big red flags. OSU is awful, and every time IU built a huge lead, they let the Buckeyes back into the match before prevailing. Need a killer instinct. 

In the end, a win is a win, but this was more concerning than the losses to Purdue, which is elite, or MSU, which is solid. Hopefully, this is a one-off, as this performance going forward will lead to many losses down the stretch and put a seemingly sure NCAA bid in jeopardy.

[mamasa 16,184]

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Big Ten season will reach the halfway point this weekend as teams across the conference prepare for the fifth week of conference play. IU will spend its first full week at Wilkinson Hall since the early portion of September as it welcomes Minnesota and Northwestern for important home matchups.
 
IU returned to winning ways on Sunday (Oct. 19) afternoon with a four-set victory over Ohio State. It was the sixth Big Ten win of the season and 15th overall. The win helped the program match its season win total (15) from a year ago with 12 matches to spare. Senior opposite hitter Avry Tatum passed 1,000 career kills in the victory.
 
Freshman outside hitter Jaidyn Jager continues to play at an elite, all-around level during her first year of college volleyball. She's leading the team with 217 kills and is tops among all Big Ten freshmen in the category. On top of her elite offensive performance, Jager is providing 2.14 digs per set and 0.57 blocks per set.
 
The Hoosiers will meet Minnesota on Friday (Oct. 24) evening in the first top-25 showdown in Wilkinson Hall history. It is alumni weekend in Bloomington with former players set to return home to cheer on the home team for contests on Friday and Sunday (vs. Northwestern).
 
If IU can win at least one contest this weekend, it will give the team its best 10-game start to conference play in program history. The Hoosiers began 6-4 in Big Ten play in 1985 and 2023 and have already reached six wins with two games to go before the halfway point. Over the last three seasons, IU is 26-7 inside Wilkinson Hall.
 
Friday's match with Minnesota will start at 6 p.m. with a national broadcast on the Big Ten Network. Jack Kizer and Mac Podraza will have the call. Sunday's contest with Northwestern is scheduled for 1 p.m. on B1G+ from Wilkinson Hall. Sunday's game is IU's "Dig Pink" contest.
 
Gameday Info
vs. #20 Minnesota (Friday, October 24th – 6 p.m.)
Live Video: bit.ly/44wik9K
Live Stats: bit.ly/4hlNB5U
 
vs. Northwestern (Sunday, October 26th – 1 p.m.)
Live Video: bit.ly/3JdZaiT
Live Stats: bit.ly/4nY55aK

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,534]

 Women fall to #20 Minnesota.  Sunday they host Northwestern (13-8) (3-6) at 1:00.  Televised on B1G+.

[Aaron 4,658]

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

 Women fall to #20 Minnesota.  Sunday they host Northwestern (13-8) (3-6) at 1:00.  Televised on B1G+.

This team has shown that there is still a gap between them and the top of college volleyball the last couple of weeks. However, if they just beat the teams they are better than (starting with Northwestern Sunday), they will cruise into their first NCAA Tourney in 16 years.

However, hosting is starting to look like a bit of a long shot despite being on the bubble of doing so in the NCAA's recent reveal. While this would be a nice bonus, just defeat the squads that they can and no one will complain. 

[Aaron 4,658]

IU stayed in the rankings at 24 in the human poll which I was not sure if they would, although they did easily beat Northwestern after losing to Golden Gophers. 

IU is still at no. 15 in the RPI and at Maryland this week is absolute must win (no. 141) if you are serious about being close to hosting and clear NCAA squad. Always dangerous since they get up for this one, given IU stole Coach Aird from them. However, Hoosiers are vastly better similar to football next day and loss in either sport would be an utter embarrassment.  

Penn State (no. 21) on Sunday afterwards is a clear bonus match where a win would be a massive surprise elevating ceiling to a new stratosphere much like football's win over Oregon.

In future weeks beating Iowa at home (no. 107), Maryland again (this time at home), and Rutgers (no. 147) are absolute musts also to not put NCAA bid in question and get to at least 11-9 in league.   

To seriously be in contention for hosting beating Oregon (no. 51) in Bloomington and winning at Illinois (no. 26) are probably the easiest gets amongst the rest. Any other wins whether it be at Penn State, at Wisconsin (no. 14), Nebraska (no. 2), or at Purdue (no. 9) are long shots.

Projecting the four likely wins and four likely losses, team would be at 11-7 and 20-8 making them a safe NCAA squad given the wins so far at no. 20 Miami, no. 65 Northwestern x2, no. 38 Washington, at no. 23 USC, at no. 32 UCLA, and at no. 30 Michigan. Also, no bad losses with worst one being at no. 34 Michigan State and at No. 35 Western Kentucky. Minnesota and Purdue have higher RPI's than IU meaning no shame losing those, while rest of wins were against sub-100 teams in preconference (and no. 186 Ohio State) with best being no. 107 Stephen F Austin on a neutral site.  

How they do against Oregon and Illinois will determine ceiling. If they get both and are 22-8 and 13-7 they are a probable host as top four seed. If they go 1-1 in these two matches and are 21-9 and 12-8 then they are probably right on fringe that could go either way. If lose both and are 20-10 and 11-9 almost certainly travelling.

Bottom line is, as long as they take care of the four gimmies to get to 20 wins and winning conference record, they are dancing into postseason for the first time in 15 years. Whether they host, will almost certainly come down to the toss-up matches with Illinois and Oregon assuming the other eight matches are won by the clear favorite as described above.

There is no Big Ten Tourney in volleyball. Its straight to NCAA's after conference play ends which is why at-large resume is necessary. Expect league to potentially get 10-12 bids with 4-5 hosts as 12 squads in top 50 of PRI with five including IU in top 15.