Indiana University Athletics
Indiana Volleyball Optimistic Going into Season of Unknowns
1/20/2021 12:41:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
By Jared Rigdon
IUHoosiers.Com
Indiana volleyball spent the entire 2020 calendar year waiting for the volleyball season to come. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it never came. As the spring semester gets underway in Bloomington, IU will finally have the chance to take the court in an abridged spring volleyball season.
IU will open its 2021 spring campaign this Friday for the first conference weekend series of the year as No. 5 Nebraska comes to town.
"In a lot of ways, I'm very grateful that we're getting ready to go," IU head coach Steve Aird said. "IU has been very impressive. The people behind the scenes, the hard work has been unbelievable."
Friday night will look different in a lot of ways. There will be no fans outside of families allowed inside Wilkinson Hall. The teams won't change benches after each set due to health protocols. And IU's roster will have a heavy dose of new faces.
IU will feature eight freshmen on their roster this spring from a recruiting class that ranked No. 15 in the nation, good enough for the best ranking in program history.
Among those is freshman outside hitter Tommi Stockham who comes to Bloomington from Las Vegas and the well known athletic-powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School.
Her relationship with Aird was one of the driving factors in getting her, one of the nation's best recruits, to join the IU program.
"Obviously coming into college, one of my goals was to start right away," Stockham said. "That's what drew me to Indiana was that Steve was super straightforward and we connected right away about what my goals and where we wanted to be. He has my back and it's just great to know I have someone behind me 24/7."
Aird is now in year three of his rebuild of the IU program and finally has a crop of players that he recruited and has coached. Now it's about putting all the pieces together and seeing results.
"This will definitely be the first mini sampling of my footprint on the program," Aird said. "My goal is to get the young players as much experience as possible and be competitive in matches. We return some players that have experience. It's funny looking at Emily Fitzner and Haley Armstrong who have played four months of college volleyball and they're upperclassmen and leaders in my eyes now."
The extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted student-athletes this year gives Aird some flexibility in the way he attacks the season. Everyone will be allowed back next year meaning that this season will provide valuable experience for a team that's extremely young.
Stockham and freshmen middle blockers Leyla Blackwell and Savannah Kjolhede are among the names that he expects to see early playing time in the season.
"When it's the highest ranked class in program history, they know what they're getting into," Aird said. "We're going to work hard and we're going to have fun but at some point they'll have to take responsibility. We're heading into a Nebraska team that's returning most everyone."
The spring season will feature a conference only schedule and a reduced NCAA Tournament, making the challenge all the more difficult. But that hasn't tempered Aird's expectations by any stretch of the imagination. He knows what it takes to win Big Ten Titles and NCAA Championships.
It starts with meeting the best of the best.
"There's nowhere to hide in the Big Ten," Aird said. "It'd be foolish to think we're not going to try and come out and throw some haymakers."
IUHoosiers.Com
Indiana volleyball spent the entire 2020 calendar year waiting for the volleyball season to come. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it never came. As the spring semester gets underway in Bloomington, IU will finally have the chance to take the court in an abridged spring volleyball season.
IU will open its 2021 spring campaign this Friday for the first conference weekend series of the year as No. 5 Nebraska comes to town.
"In a lot of ways, I'm very grateful that we're getting ready to go," IU head coach Steve Aird said. "IU has been very impressive. The people behind the scenes, the hard work has been unbelievable."
Friday night will look different in a lot of ways. There will be no fans outside of families allowed inside Wilkinson Hall. The teams won't change benches after each set due to health protocols. And IU's roster will have a heavy dose of new faces.
IU will feature eight freshmen on their roster this spring from a recruiting class that ranked No. 15 in the nation, good enough for the best ranking in program history.
Among those is freshman outside hitter Tommi Stockham who comes to Bloomington from Las Vegas and the well known athletic-powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School.
Her relationship with Aird was one of the driving factors in getting her, one of the nation's best recruits, to join the IU program.
"Obviously coming into college, one of my goals was to start right away," Stockham said. "That's what drew me to Indiana was that Steve was super straightforward and we connected right away about what my goals and where we wanted to be. He has my back and it's just great to know I have someone behind me 24/7."
Aird is now in year three of his rebuild of the IU program and finally has a crop of players that he recruited and has coached. Now it's about putting all the pieces together and seeing results.
"This will definitely be the first mini sampling of my footprint on the program," Aird said. "My goal is to get the young players as much experience as possible and be competitive in matches. We return some players that have experience. It's funny looking at Emily Fitzner and Haley Armstrong who have played four months of college volleyball and they're upperclassmen and leaders in my eyes now."
The extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted student-athletes this year gives Aird some flexibility in the way he attacks the season. Everyone will be allowed back next year meaning that this season will provide valuable experience for a team that's extremely young.
Stockham and freshmen middle blockers Leyla Blackwell and Savannah Kjolhede are among the names that he expects to see early playing time in the season.
"When it's the highest ranked class in program history, they know what they're getting into," Aird said. "We're going to work hard and we're going to have fun but at some point they'll have to take responsibility. We're heading into a Nebraska team that's returning most everyone."
The spring season will feature a conference only schedule and a reduced NCAA Tournament, making the challenge all the more difficult. But that hasn't tempered Aird's expectations by any stretch of the imagination. He knows what it takes to win Big Ten Titles and NCAA Championships.
It starts with meeting the best of the best.
"There's nowhere to hide in the Big Ten," Aird said. "It'd be foolish to think we're not going to try and come out and throw some haymakers."
Players Mentioned
Defensive Specialist
/ Women's Volleyball
Middle Blocker
/ Women's Volleyball
Setter
/ Women's Volleyball
Middle Blocker
/ Women's Volleyball
Outside Hitter
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