Volleyball Hosts Two Crucial Matches This Weekend

Volleyball Hosts Two Crucial Matches This Weekend

11/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Nov. 7, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana Hoosiers enter week eight of the conference season at 14-12 overall and 5-9 in the Big Ten. This marks a crucial weekend in IU's quest for an NCAA Tournament berth as they sit just two games back of third place in the Big Ten standings with six matches remaining. Indiana welcomes Minnesota and Iowa to University Gym on Friday and Saturday night. In her Big Ten debut, Head Sherry Dunbar guided her team to a come-from-behind five-game victory at Iowa earlier this season.

Complete Match Notes in PDF Format

DIGGING DEEP 
Senior Juli Pierce is having a special season, and needs only 38 more digs this year to amass the most in a single season in IU history. Pierce has already tallied 399 digs and has a chance to surpass Lynn Crawley's (1994) all-time mark of 436 digs in a season.

MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE
Freshman middle blockers Ashley Benson and Taylor Wittmer are putting together two of the most impressive performances ever by an IU frreshman. Benson's 105 total blocks thus far already rank as the third most by a frosh, and she needs only 22 more rejections to claim the top spot. With 91 blocks, Wittmer, has a chance to rank right behind Benson at #2 on the all-time freshman block list. If Benson were to record those 22 stuffs, her season total would also crack the top ten for most total blocks in a season, regardless of class.

TIME AND A HALF
The Hoosiers have been working overtime this season, playing in a league-high 97 games thus far. Indiana has played in 15 more games than Penn State, who has played the least. Four individuals have seen the court in all 97 games, including Lauren Ditteon, Mara Hilgenberg, Juli Pierce and Erica Short.

BIG TEN RANKINGS
Entering this week, Indiana's 144 service aces are second to none in the Big Ten Conference and their 1.48 aces per game average ranks as the second best in the conference. Senior Juli Pierce leads the way at the service line, responsible for 35 aces thus far, the third most in the Big Ten. Other Hoosiers present in the Big Ten statistical rankings are Lauren Ditteon's 33 aces (5th), Mara Hilgenberg's 12.01 assists/game (7th), Erica Short's 4.24 kills/game (8th), Pierce's 4.11 digs/game (9th) and Ashley Benson's 1.22 blocks/game (10th).

DIG FOR THE CURE
Indiana participated in "Dig for the Cure" on Oct. 26, and raised just over $1,100 for the fight against breast cancer. All proceeds from t-shirt sales and pledged amounts that night went directly to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Wabash Valley Affiliate.