Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
San Francisco
Hoosiers Close Weekend With 3-0 Sweep of San Francisco
8/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
"Coming out and winning the first set like they did really gave our girls a lot of confidence," said Head Coach Sherry Dunbar. "We set, and then met, many of our early goals in the first set and I think that was really important. To come out and dominate like that in the first set was nice to see."
Fifty-three digs to go along with a whopping 14 team blocks thwarted the San Francisco attack from start to finish.
"When we play physical, we can be a really dominant team," said Dunbar. "We need to keep up the blocking. Our blocking really altered their offense tonight."
Saturday night's match is arguably the best three-set blocking effort in school history. The school record for most blocks in a three-set match is 15 set back in 1996. However, Saturday's 14 rejections were tallied in the new 25-point set era rather than the old 30-point per set format played in previous seasons.
Indiana was able to grab a big lead in the first set despite the early struggles of their go-to attacker, Erica Short. Once the Orrville, Ohio got on track in the second half of the set, it was all over for the San Francisco Dons as Short pounded four of the team's 16 first-set kills. Ashley Benson and Kelsey Hall also contributed four put-aways in the 25-13 triumph.
The Hoosier front-court began to take over defensively in the second stanza, recording five blocks. The back row did their part as well, posting 33 digs in the first two sets. Indiana's defense was stellar throughout the match, holding the Dons to an abysmal .036 hitting efficiency. The Cream and Crimson rode the suffocating defense to a 25-12 second-set victory. Benson was nearly unstoppable in the first two frames, hitting .778 (7-0-9).
"I talked with Ashley (Benson) before the match about how I liked the personality she was showing on the court in the first two matches," said Dunbar. "I told her I liked what she was doing defensively, but she needed to pick it up on offense. Well, I guess all I had to do was ask"
The final set was much of the same for the Hoosiers, a plethora of kills and blocks. Indiana racked up 17 kills and five more blocks in the 25-18 third-set triumph.
Indiana returns to Bloomington early Sunday evening in preparation for their first of two home tournaments next weekend. The adidas Classic is scheduled to being Friday when the Valparaiso Crusaders come to town for a showdown with the Hoosiers inside Assembly Hall. All matches in the adidas Classic will be played on Branch McCracken Court.
Players Mentioned
