Indiana University Athletics
Volleyball Hosts adidas Classic Inside Assembly Hall This Weekend
9/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 4, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana University volleyball team hosts the first of two home tournaments of `08 this weekend, beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Friday with a non-IU match between Louisville and Wake Forest. The Hoosiers then get things started at 12:30 p.m. with a match against in-state rival Valparaiso. The event will be a round-robin format, culminating on Saturday at 3 p.m. when Indiana and Louisville take the court for the final match. All matches will be held inside Assembly Hall and admission is free for the weekend.
Jeremy Gray is providing the play-by-play duties for IU's Friday matches while Matt Taylor takes over for Saturday's showdown. The live, internet-only audio broadcast are free and available by visiting IUHoosiers.com.
UNDEFEATED OPPONENTS
If one were to look in the loss column for each of the three opponents in the adidas Classic, he or she wouldn't see any tallies as each team went undefeated in their opening weekend.
Louisville (1-0) is receiving votes in the national polls after leading the nation in blocks last season. The Cardinals were at it again in the season-opener, posting 13 blocks in a sweep over Indiana State.
Valparaiso and Wake Forest each won their tournaments last week with 3-0 performances. Indiana swept the Crusaders a year ago during their title run at the Valpo Popcorn Classic.
BLOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF
Indiana's sweep of San Francisco 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, the 14 rejections agaisnt USF were tallied in the new 25-point set era rather than the old 30-points per set format played in previous seasons.
The Hoosiers lead the Big Ten in blocking with three individuals ranked in the top ten; Ashley Benson (1st), Lexie Woodson (T-6th), and Taylor Wittmer (10th).
SERIAL KILLERS
Indiana racked up the kills out in Long Beach, averaging 15.40 put-aways per set. Erica Short and Kelsey Hall were a dynamic duo in the front court. Each matched personal career-highs for kills in the Missouri State match. Short's 28 terminations tied for the second highest four-set total in school history while Hall notched 19 kills. Overall, Short and Hall rank third and fifth, respectively, in the Big Ten kills rankings.
Short has not only been effective in the offensive attack, but also efficient. With 46 kils, just 13 errors, on 104 swings she is hitting a team-best .317 through the first three contests. Hall is not far behind with a .276 (44-15-105) hitting efficiency.
IU VOLLEYBALL HITS THE AIRWAYS
Indiana Volleyball fans will be able to listen to the Hoosiers online in 2008, as IU will offer free Internet-only audio broadcasts for all 38 matches.Fans can listen to the Cream and Crimson live through IUHoosiers.com. Long-time women's basketball play-by-play voice Jeremy Gray and Matt Taylor will handle the broadcast duties for the season. Broadcasts will start approximately 10 minutes prior to match time. Gray is handling the duties for Friday's matches while Taylor will take over for the Saturday showdown.
RECORD BOOK ONSLAUGHT
Seniors Juli Pierce and Erica Short are both closing in on career statistical totals that would rank as the greatest in IU Volleyball history. Short has climbed into a tie for fifth place in the all-time kills list with 1,381 put-aways. The Orrville, Ohio native enters the weekend 427 kills away from matching Christina Archibald's (2001-04) top mark of 1,808 career kills.
Pierce, who already holds the single-season record for digs with 481 in `07, is nearly certain to etch her name to the top of the career digs list as well. The former walk-on, is just 94 digs shy of Jen Magelssen (1995-98) and her 1,331 career digs. Pierce is currently third place all-time with her 1,237 digs.
THAT'S NOT ALL...
Sophomore Ashley Benson is also making her case to be placed in the IU record books with her .265 career hitting efficiency. Just 35 matches into her Hoosier career, Benson has connected on 289 kills on 701 attempts with 103 errors. If the Bloomington North High School product can simply maintain her .265 pace for her next 299 attempts (matching the 1,000 attempts min.), she will find herself inside the top-five all-time for career hitting efficiency. 2007 senior and former teammate of Benson, Annie Moddrell, currently sits at fourth all-time with an identical .265 percentage.
Players Mentioned
