Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Set To Host Michigan State and Michigan
11/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 8, 2006
Michigan State and Michigan Game Notes
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The Indiana volleyball team will return home to take on Big Ten foes Michigan State and Michigan this weekend. The Hoosiers will face off against Michigan State on Friday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. ET and have a 7 p.m. ET match against Saturday, Nov. 11, with the Wolverines. Friday's match will be televised on tape delay on Comcast SportsNet Chicago at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT
The Indiana volleyball team was defeated by No. 3 Penn State, 3-0 (30-18, 30-15, 30-17), on Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Recreation Building in University Park, Pa. The Hoosiers were led by Juli Pierce's 11 digs on defense. Erica Short led IU with six kills, while Gabrielle Allison recorded four kills, two digs and five blocks, one solo and four assisted, on the night for the Hoosiers.
SCOUTING INDIANA
The Hoosiers have an overall record of 10-16 on the season with a mark of 1-13 in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers are 5-7 in University Gym.
Leading the way offensively for Indiana is Erica Short, who has tallied 386 kills entering the weekend and averages 4.44 kills per game. Allison Regas has 545 assists for IU and is followed by Caitlin Watts in that category with 347. On the defensive side, Juli Pierce leads the team with 309 digs and is followed by Sara Diehl with 227. On the block, Annie Moddrell leads three Hoosiers with more than 10 solo blocks with 12. Both Gabrielle Allison and Short have 10. Moddrell also has 86 block assists for a total of 98 on the season thus far.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State has an overall record of 15-9 and is 6-8 against teams in the Big Ten. Katie Johnson leads the Spartans with 371 kills on the season, and Ashley Schatzle is the second member of the squad to have tallied more than 300 kills (354) so far on the season. Nicole Colaluca has picked up 378 digs on the season to lead Michigan State defensively, while Jessica Hohl has a team-high 79 blocks (seven solo, 72 assisted).
MSU leads the all-time series between the two teams, 36-24. IU fell to the Spartans, 3-1, in East Lansing on Sept. 23 in the first meeting between the two schools this season.
The match will be broadcast on Comcast SportsNet Chicago on tape delay at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 11. Dave Loane (play-by-play) and Audrey Flaugh (color) will be calling the match.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN
The Wolverines enter the weekend with an overall record of 18-9 and a 5-9 mark in Big Ten play. Offensively, Katie Bruzdzinski leads the attack with 416 kills and is followed by Lyndsay Miller with 241. The Michigan defense is also a balanced one, with five Wolverines bringing over 200 digs into the match. Stesha Selsky leads that category with 345 and Kerry Hance is second with 332. On the block, Beth Karpiak leads the team with 107 blocks (20 solo, 87 assisted).
The Hoosiers lead the all-time series, 35-23-1. The two teams also faced off to open the Big Ten season on Sept. 22, resulting in a 3-2 IU win over then-No. 19 Michigan in Ann Arbor.
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 812 digs entering the weekend. She trails Michelle McElroy for 11th place on the list by 70 digs. McElroy, who lettered for the Hoosiers between 1991-95, finished her career with 882.
SETTING NEW MARKS
In IU's victory over then-No. 19 Michigan on Sept. 22, 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 marked only the fourth time in the Katie Weismiller era that the Hoosiers had 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 had 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.
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. 3), Purdue (No. 16), Wisconsin (No. 10), Ohio State (No. 23) and Minnesota (No. 13) are all in the top 25, as is early-season foe LSU (No. 11).
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 match with Michigan (Nov. 11).
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 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.
