Indiana University Athletics
Come Early and Wear Red Wednesday Night, IU vs. Purdue
9/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana University volleyball team (12-0) plays host to the first Big Ten Volleyball match of the 2010 season this Wednesday (Sept. 22) when arch-rival Purdue comes to town for 7 p.m. contest.
Indiana University Athletics is encouraging Hoosier fans to "Paint the U-Gym Red," and wear red clothing to show their support for IU. It will also be "New Student Night" at University Gym with the Office of First Year Experience Programs (FYE) partnering with IU Athletics for a special night. All freshmen and transfer students are invited to participate. FYE will be providing free transportation to the battle with the Boilers as special shuttle buses will be running from the residence halls to U-Gym continuously from 5-10 pm.
Come out early and enjoy a pre-match tailgate, full with free food! In addition, the first 200 new IU students will receive free t-shirts. B97, the official radio station of IU Athletics Olympic Sports, is doing a live remote broadcast outside the gym from 5-7 pm.
The conference opener will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network. Michael Wolfe is set to provide the play-by-play while former Michigan Wolverine Megan Bower servers as color commentator.
Indiana is also slated for a Friday night (Sept. 24) match, heading to Evanston, Ill,., for a match at Northwestern.
AND THEN THERE WERE 10
Indiana's 12-0 record is the school's best start since 1997 and the second-best start to a season ever. The unblemished mark puts IU in elite company as one of just 10 teams nationally to remain undefeated heading into the first week of conference play.
BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE
Head Coach Sherry Dunbar has led her Hoosiers to at least one non-conference tournament title in each of her four seasons in Bloomington, and a total of eight tourney crowns:
2007: Valparaiso Popcorn Classic
2008: IU adidas Classic
2009: Flo Hyman Invitational (U. of Houston), Hamption Inn Invitational (Ohio University)
2010: Courtyard Marriott Georgia Tech Classic, IU adidas Classic, Niagara/Canisius Tournament, Miami Best Western Invitational
BIG TEN DOING BIG THINGS
Any doubt that the Big Ten is the nation's toughest volleyball conference is quickly erased when looking at the AVCA Coaches Poll Top-25. Eight conference schools are representing this week with two in the top-10, four in the top-25 and four additional teams receiving votes.
The Big Ten had an overall non-conference record of 106-17 (.862) heading into the weekend.
RECORD BOOK ONSLAUGHT
With two single-season school records (hitting percentage, total blocks) already on her resume, senior middle blocker Ashley Benson now has the career record books in her sights.
Benson's performance thus far at IU has nearly guaranteed her the No. 1 slot for hitting efficiency as her .334 career clip is 44 percentage points higher than the next closest Hoosier. Benson is all but assured to set the all-time blocks record as well, needing just 12 rejections to reach the top slot. Offensively, she has racked up 1,204 kills, 183 shy of the top-five.
Caitlin Cox is also climbing up the career rankings. With over a season and a half left in Bloomington, Cox already owns the single-season digs mark and needs only 15 more to crack the career top-five.
In addition, Mary Chaudoin and Taylor Wittmer's career totals of 1,944 assists and 322 blocks slot them 7th and 8th all-time, respectively, in the those career categories.
NON-CONFERENCE SWEEP
Two victories at the Miami Best Western Invitational on Sept. 18 completed an unbeaten pre-conference season, resulting in four team titles and a 12-0 record.
Kelci Marschall was named tournament MVP in Oxford while Ashley Benson was tabbed MVP for the first three tourneys of the season. Benson was named to the all-touranment team in each of the four weekends. Jordan Haverly gathered three all-tournament recognitions and Caitlin Cox earned a pair.
