Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Head To Purdue For Monon Spike Match
10/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 24, 2006
Purdue Notes
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The Indiana volleyball team will start the second half of the Big Ten season when it travels to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on Purdue on Wednesday, Oct. 25. The match will begin at 7 p.m. in Purdue's Intercollegiate Athletic Facility.
LAST TIME OUT
The Indiana University volleyball team fell to Illinois, 3-1 (30-26, 24-30, 16-30, 20-30), on Oct. 21 in University Gym. Leading the way for the Hoosiers was Erica Short, who picked up a double-double with 16 kills and 10 digs. Juli Pierce paced the Hoosiers defensively with 20 digs, while Allison Regas had one solo block and five block assists. Indiana out-blocked Illinois, 10-5, on the match.
SCOUTING PURDUE
Purdue enters the match with a record of 17-4 overall and 7-3 in the Big Ten. The team also has a record of 8-1 at home so far this season and is ranked No. 13 in the country. Leading the way offensively for the Boilermakers is Danita Merlau with 313 kills, while Samantha Mader has 242 kills on the year. On the defensive side, Kelli Miller has 330 digs and Brittany Dildine has tallied 301. Stephanie Lynch has 92 blocks (14 solo, 78 assisted) while Elizabeth Jacques has tallied 67 stops (12 solo, 55 assisted).
Purdue leads the all-time series between the two schools, 46-31. The Boilermakers swept the first match, 3-0, between the two teams this year on Oct. 4 in University Gym.
THE MONON SPIKE
The matchup against Purdue will be the annual Monon Spike match. The rivalry trophy originated in 1981 and is awarded at one match between the two schools once a season. The spike was chosen from a portion of track from the old Monon Railroad near Indianapolis, which marks the halfway point between Bloomington and West Lafayette. Purdue has captured the last three Monon Spike matches, and IU won the two prior to that (2000 and 2001).
JAMMING THE GYM
Against No. 13 Ohio State on Sept. 30, Indiana set a new attendance record at University Gym. During the "Jam The Gym" promotion, the Hoosiers welcomed 1,362 fans to the match. That number broke the previous all-time mark, 1,267, which had been set on Oct. 21, 2005, against Purdue.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Senior Sara Diehl stands in 12th place on the all-time career digs list at IU. The Bloomington, Ind., native has 804 digs entering this matchup, having moved up two spots from 14th entering last weekend's matchups with Illinois and Northwestern. She trails Michelle McElroy for 11th place on the list by 78 digs. McElroy, who lettered for the Hoosiers between 1991-95, finished her career with 882.
SETTING NEW MARKS
In IU's victory over No. 19 Michigan on Sept. 15, Indiana recorded 23 total blocks, the third-best performance in the program's history. It was also the most blocks in a five-game match in Indiana history. The 10 solo blocks recorded by the team also stand in a tie for fourth in program history and tie the most ever in a five-game match.
Emily Zulauf set a new career-high with 14 kills, shattering her previous career best (eight), which was set the previous weekend against Mercer. Erica Short and Annie Moddrell each had three solo blocks in the win, which tied them with former Hoosier Rachel Gerling for first on the all-time list in five-game matches.
DEFENDING THE NET
The Big Ten Conference named junior middle blocker Annie Moddrell its Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 25. The honor was the first of Moddrell's career.
The Freeburg, Ill., native helped the Hoosiers to a split in the first weekend of Big Ten play, including opening with an upset of No. 19 Michigan. The win over the Wolverines marked the first time since 2003 that Indiana had opened the conference slate with a victory.
In the win over Michigan, Moddrell was part of an Indiana team that tallied 23 blocks, which marked the third-best total in program history. Her three solo blocks against the Wolverines were part of IU's 10 solo blocks that equaled the Hoosiers' five-game match school record. Along with sophomore
Erica Short, who also had a trio, Moddrell's three solo blocks tied her with former Hoosier Rachel Gerling for first all-time in five-game matches. In the closing match of the weekend, Moddrell had 10 kills, one solo block and five block assists against Michigan State. For the weekend, she totaled 18 blocks and posted 17 kills on .261 hitting.
SUCCESSFUL OPENERS
14 up, 14 down. The Hoosiers improved to a perfect 14-0 in season openers under head coach Katie Weismiller after defeating Akron in three games (30-24, 30-28, 30-21) on Aug. 25. In its 31st season, Indiana has compiled a 24-7 record in season-opening matches. IU's last loss in a season-opening match was a three-game sweep at Kentucky on Sept. 4, 1992.
RAKING IN THE HONORS
Senior Lauren Ditteon was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2006 West Virginia Tournament. The junior, who was also named the IU Student-Athlete of the Week following her performance at the tournament, wrapped up her three matches with 33 kills and just five errors in 68 attempts for a .412 hitting percentage on the weekend.
In addition to Ditteon's honor, sophomore Erica Short and senior Sara Diehl were named to the West Virginia Tournament All-Tournament Team. Short was also named to the All-Tournament team following the TIS Bookstore Invitational and the Marriott Flyer Invitational.
DID YOU KNOW?
Indiana's five-match winning streak to open the season, marking only the fourth time in the Katie Weismiller era that the Hoosiers have captured their first five or more matches. The feat had previously been accomplished in 2000 (seven), 1999 (nine) and 1997 (15). All five of those victories this year were 3-0 sweeps, the first time that feat hasd occurred in Indiana volleyball history.
500 WINS
With its win over Oakland on Aug. 26, Indiana notched its 500th win as a program. Indiana entered the season with 498 wins in the school's history.
SAME PLACE, NEW FEEL
When the Hoosiers take to the court in University Gym, the building may be the same, but the playing surface is brand new. This fall season will mark the debut of the new state-of-the art hardwood playing surface, a change from the SportsCourt floor that had been part of the facility since IU Volleyball began calling the facility home in 1996.
ON THE GRAND STAGE
The Indiana volleyball match on Nov. 10 against Michigan State will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Chicago (CSN Chicago) as part of the Big Ten Conference's 14-match television lineup, the conference office has announced. The 2006 television schedule will feature each conference school in action at least once during the volleyball season on three different networks.
BATTLING THE BIGS
According to the CSTV/AVCA poll, Indiana has six ranked opponents on its schedule this season. Big Ten foes Penn State (No. 2), Purdue (No. 13), Wisconsin (No. 14), Ohio State (No. 24) and Minnesota (No. 12) are all in the top 25, as is early-season foe LSU (No. 10).
SIXTH TIME'S A CHARM
The Indiana volleyball team earned the prestigious Game Plan/American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for the 2005-06 season. It is the sixth time that IU has been awarded the honor and the second season in a row. The Hoosiers, who also won the award in 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2004-05, are the only Big Ten volleyball program to earn the honor in 2005-06.
The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors college and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average during the school year.
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS
Several promotions will highlight the remaining home matches on Indiana's schedule. Autograph sessions with will be available following the matches with Iowa (Oct. 28) and Michigan (Nov. 11).
Also on Oct. 28, fans dressed in their Halloween costumes will receive free admission to the match.
The Friday Four Pack will be available to all IU Volleyball fans on Nov. 10, when the Hoosiers take on Michigan State. For $20, fans will receive four tickets to the match and four drinks and four boxes of popcorn from the Chartwells concessions stand. Friday Four Packs can either be purchased at the door or by calling 866-IUSPORTS.
