Hoosiers Come Back with Defensive Spark, Fall to No. 5 Nebraska

Saturday, January 23

Bloomington, Ind.

6:00 PM

Indiana University

0-2,0-2Big Ten

#5 Nebraska

2-0,2-0Big Ten

Nebraska

Indiana

Hoosiers Come Back with Defensive Spark, Fall to No. 5 Nebraska

1/23/2021 9:28:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score STEVE AIRD BROOKE WESTBELD BOX SCORE (PDF)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana volleyball team wrapped up the opening weekend of the season with a tough 3-0 (21-25, 16-25, 19-25) loss to No. 5 Nebraska Saturday at Wilkinson Hall.

Key Moments

Morgan Geddes helped IU get out to a 3-2 lead with a kill early in the first set.
Breana Edwards helped spark some energy in the building with an emphatic kill down the middle to cut the Nebraska lead to 6-4 in the first set.
Brooke Westbeld recorded a service ace during the middle of a 3-0 IU run in the first set.
IU went on a much-needed 4-0 run in the middle of the first set to tie the score at 12.
A kill and a block back-to-back for Breana Edwards helped bring IU within one at 18-17 late in the first set.
IU was able to tie the score at 19-all in the first game before dropping the first set 25-21 to the Huskers.
To start the second set, Tommi Stockham recorded back-to-back kills for IU.
A block assist from Breana Edwards and Leyla Blackwell halted the Nebraska momentum early in the second game.
Breana Edwards recorded a dig and a kill on the same play, part of a night that featured 12 kills and three digs for the talented junior.
After a Hoosier timeout, IU came out firing on back-to-back points including a Grae Gosnell service ace.
An incredible rally featuring a Haley Armstrong dig and a Tommi Stockham kill made it 16-11 before the Huskers finished off the game 25-16.
Breana Edwards recorded a tip kill to stop the 6-0 Nebraska start to the third set.
Tommi Stockham came up with back-to-back kills early in the third set as part of her nine total kills on the night.
IU went on a 4-0 run late in the third set to bring the Hoosiers within 21-17 and force a Nebraska timeout.
With their backs against the walls, Haley Armstrong saved a ball from going out-of-bounds and Breana Edwards recorded the kill.
Nebraska finished off the match and competitive weekend with a 25-19 win in the third game.

Notables

The Hoosiers fell to 0-2 overall while No. 5 Nebraska improved to 2-0 on the young season.
Breana Edwards bounced back with a huge night, recording 12 kills and three digs.
Four out of five players to record kills for Indiana were freshmen. Stockham led the freshman with nine kills. She tallied 18 kills for the weekend against Nebraska.
Brooke Westbeld came up with a double-double, recording 10 digs and 10 assists for the Hoosiers.
Haley Armstrong finished with 12 digs, her first double-digit dig performance on the season.
Emily Fitzner ended a solid weekend with 11 assists and six digs in Saturday's match.

Up Next
IU will travel to Rutgers next weekend for a pair of road matches against the Scarlet Knights. Both matches will start at 2:00 p.m. EST.

Indiana Head Coach Steve Aird

"I thought especially in games two and three, I thought it could've gotten out of hand a little bit. Nebraska certainly tightened up a little bit and started playing better volleyball. They returned seven players and multiple All-Americans. We ran out four freshmen, two sophomores, a junior and a senior and said 'go to work.'

Last night we had some players play well and some others not and tonight, I think that flipped. The goal is to find some consistency where everyone is doing things at a high level. I was thrilled with where we played defensively. I still don't think we're anywhere close to where we need to be. But a huge difference with our performance between last night and tonight. Just our commitment to run down balls, dig balls. Offensively, we've got a ways to go and everyone is battling things and we will keep looking at ways to be better offensively. You hold Nebraska to .228. They did whatever they wanted last night and tonight I thought we were a little better.

What we're trying to do is establish character. Breana Edwards had a terrible match last night and she was great tonight. It's about resiliency and it's such a good conference, there's nowhere to hide. We had nine kids in the program that had never been a part of a Big Ten match. We have two matches. We have film. We have practice Monday to get back in the lab and get better."