Indiana University Athletics
Hoosier Spotlight - Ryann Connors
10/12/1998 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
"Ouch" was the only word Indiana volleyball announcer Mike Scott could come up with to describe Ryann Connors' thunderous spike off of an Alabama opponent during the final match of the Ameritech Cellular and Paging Classic. Connors, a junior outside hitter, has pounded away on Hoosier opponents all season as the featured player of the Indiana offense.
Last season, Connors was a second or third option in Hoosier offense. With the graduation of Julie Flatley, Connors has moved into the spotlight at the University Gymnasium.
"Last year we had Julie Flatley. She was always the go to player. Sometimes I was the go to player last year, but most of the time it was Julie." Connors continued, "I feel that it's my time to step up. I'm a junior now and I've been around for two years. This is my third season and I want to go out and be the go to player."
After two years of playing at the collegiate level and U.S. National Team tryouts during the summer, Connors now brings experience and confidence to the court for the Hoosiers. Already this season, she has been named to the all-tournament teams at the University Park Holiday Inn Classic and the Inntower Invitational. At the Ameritech Classic in Bloomington, she picked up most valuable player honors after leading the Hoosiers to three wins in two days. One of the wins came against undefeated Eastern Washington, a team that was ranked just ahead of the Hoosiers.
In that game, Connors recorded 25 kills and 17 digs. The 25 kills set a career high and was the fourth time she had at least 20 kills in a match this season.
"We scouted Eastern Washington and knew that they were ranked. In the first game we were feeling them out and then we went out and played our game. We knew we could beat them."
For the tournament, Connors tallied 51 kills while the Hoosiers lost only one game in three matches. She leads the team with almost five kills per game.
In May, the Oak Lawn, Ill. native traveled to Colorado Springs, Colo. for tryouts with the national team. The tryouts were for the second team that would travel during the summer. While at the tryouts, Connors played with and against some of the top players in the nation.
Indiana head coach, Katie Weismiller, recommended Connors for the tryouts. "It was a great experience for me to play with people from all over the country. There were some great players there and it gave me the feeling that I wanted to do more. It gave me more confidence that I could play and want to do more on the court," commented Connors.
While Connors was trying out for the national team over the summer, Weismiller was bringing national team experience to Bloomington with the addition of assistant coach Elaina Oden. Oden was a member of the 1992 and 1996 Olympic volleyball teams and a two-time All-American at the University of Pacific. Connors along with her teammates are very excited with what Oden will bring to the Hoosiers.
Connors said, "Everything she says our team listens, because she's been through it and knows what she is talking about. She's just a great coach and she helps us out a lot. We love having her and she's a great addition to our program."
The Hoosiers will look to improve on last season's performance in the Big Ten after posting a 5-15 conference record. The pre-conference schedule featured three teams ranked in the top 25. The Big Ten is arguably the top volleyball conference in the country with six teams in the top 25.
Connors didn't make any predictions, but she spoked confidently as she looked ahead. "As of right now we are playing exceptionally well. I think we are proving to a lot of teams that we are good and hopefully during the Big Ten season we can improve our record and we should by the way we are playing."
When asked what the future held for her in volleyball, she commented with a smile, "I don't know. I always said that once I was done with volleyball in college I was done. After the tryouts in Colorado, it really opened my eyes. Everyone is going overseas to play. I think that maybe I would like to do that."
Who knows, maybe a couple of years from now a
German announcer will be
saying, "Austch" after another
Ryann Connors kill.
