Indiana Volleyball Breakdown: 2022 Season

8/23/2022 9:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana returns to Wilkinson Hall in 2022 for the 48th season of volleyball in Bloomington.

The Hoosiers, led by fifth-year head coach Steve Aird and 14 returning athletes from last year's roster, open the campaign with the Indiana Invitational on August 26th (Friday) and August 27th (Saturday).

This will be the fourth season that Wilkinson Hall has been home to Indiana Volleyball and the first campaign with no COVID-19 restrictions or mask requirements since the 2019 season.

Before the 2022 season gets underway on Friday evening, meet this year's roster and get a rundown on what to expect as volleyball returns in Bloomington.

Season Outlook:

The Hoosiers are coming off a season in which they went 10-22 overall and 4-16 inside the highly competitive Big Ten Conference. IU's schedule won't get any easier in 2022 with matches against talented teams in the non-conference before the grueling, 20-game slate in the Big Ten.

However, IU has perhaps their most veteran team since Steve Aird took over the program in 2018. The Hoosiers return 14 players including 10 athletes that have multiple years of collegiate volleyball under their belts.

Five athletes on the roster have played three seasons of NCAA volleyball including libero Paula Cerame who enters her fifth year on the job.

Aird is joined by a new coaching staff on the sidelines, featuring associate coach and former Stanford outside hitter Spencer McLachlin and assistant coach and former Oregon setter Rachel Morris. The trio of coaches bring along a heavy amount of coaching experience at the high school, college, club and international level to the IU sidelines.

Additional staff changes include Brett Agne's transition from technical coordinator to director of operations.

Returning Athletes:

The Hoosiers are bolstered by the return of 14 athletes from last year's roster including five players that appeared in more than 100 sets last season.

Veteran libero Paula Cerame and middle blocker Kaley Rammelsberg enter their second season with the program after transferring to Bloomington from Florida and High Point respectively.

The pair of players own seven years of NCAA volleyball experience between themselves entering this year and made a profound impact during their debut season for the Hoosiers last year.

Middle blocker Savannah Kjolhede and outside hitter Morgan Geddes will play their third season for the Cream and Crimson in 2022. The pair came into the program for the COVID-19 shortened campaign of 2020-2021 but experienced a full year of volleyball in the fall of 2021.

Following their first full spring and summer with the program, this pair of athletes is expected to play big roles for the Hoosiers in 2022.

Outside hitter Mady Saris and setter Camryn Haworth carved out immediate roles with IU last season as freshmen and will look to take that momentum into this campaign.

Setter Emily Fitzner, defensive specialist Haley Armstrong and outside hitters Grae Gosnell and Ashley Zulauf all bring multiple years of Big Ten Volleyball experience into IU's lineup as well.

Newcomers:

The Hoosiers welcome the additions of outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles (Madrid, Spain) and right-side Melisa Ilter (Bursa, Turkey) to the 2022 roster.

The pair of talented freshmen bring years of experience at the European Club level and have the potential to make a quick impact in Bloomington.

With the additions of Alonso-Corcelles and Ilter, the Hoosiers will play with five international athletes in 2022. IU's roster is comprised of 11 athletes from the United States, two from Canada, one from Spain, one from Turkey and one from Puerto Rico.

The Schedule:

The first four weekends of the season will see the Hoosiers partake in multi-team tournaments with three matches scheduled for each weekend.

IU begins the campaign with the Indiana Invitational, playing host to Indiana State, Jacksonville State and Chicago State.

The second weekend of the year will see the Hoosiers travel to the Lone Star State for a weekend against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Sam Houston and SMU. To close out the non-conference portion of the schedule, IU will spend weekends at NC State and Western Kentucky.

The Big Ten portion of the schedule promises some high-level talent across the board. IU will play seven opponents both home-and-away including Penn State, Maryland, Iowa, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Purdue and Michigan State. Trips to Penn State and Maryland on the opening weekend of conference play will be the first of 20 matches over three months in the Big Ten.

Position-by-Position:

Setter: