Volleyball Central: at Northwestern

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After a tough five-set loss at Illinois on Wednesday night, a match in which the Hoosiers scored 15 more total points than the Fighting Illini, the Indiana Volleyball team (16-8, 6-5) will complete the second match in a four-game road trip at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston against Northwestern.

Northwestern has dropped three-straight matches and has been without the services of star outside hitter Julia Sangiacomo, a graduate student who averages over four kills per set.

The Hoosiers sit in a tie for fifth place in the Big Ten at 6-5 with Illinois and Minnesota as the season comes down the homestretch. IU split the season series with Illinois and play the Golden Gophers just once at home in November. Purdue is two games clear in fourth place with nine contests remaining.

IU and Northwestern met just once last season with the Hoosiers winning in five in Bloomington behind a triple-double from setter Camryn Haworth. The Fishers, Ind. native recorded her second career triple-double on Wednesday night at Illinois (50 assists, 13 kills, 10 digs).

Match Info
Sunday, October 29th, 2023 | at Northwestern | 2:00 PM ET
TV: Big Ten Network
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Live Stats

Hoosier News and Notes
Team Breakdown
• The Hoosiers sit at 16-8 (6-5) heading into the weekend's competition. On the season, IU has quality wins at Miami (FL) and Maryland as well as beating No. 15 Purdue and (RV) Ohio State at home.

• IU tested itself early in the season with a trip to the Long Beach Invitational, playing future Big Ten opponents Washington and UCLA as well as the hosts Long Beach State. Of the nine set losses on the weekend, eight came by four-or-fewer points.

• With a straight sweep of opponents at the Stacheville Challenge and four wins at the 305 Challenge, IU won seven-straight contests heading into Big Ten play. This included a big five-set win at Miami (FL.)

• A victory over No. 15 Purdue (Oct. 11) was the fourth top-15 win of the Steve Aird era and the first in Wilkinson Hall (opened in 2019). IU's 6-4 start to conference play matched the program's best 10-game start to the Big Ten in school history.

The Hoosiers
• IU opened the season with its best 20-game start to a season (14-6) since beginning 15-5 in the 2010 campaign. The Hoosiers also began conference play 6-4 for the first time since 1985.

• The Hoosiers possess six conference wins already this season including sweeps of Iowa and Maryland and a four-set victory over Illinois and No. 15 Purdue.

• A perfect weekend in Miami at the end of the non-conference schedule ensured the Hoosiers 10 wins in the preseason for the first time since 2019. It is the fourth season since the turn of the century the program brought 10+ wins and at least one power five victory home out of the preseason.

• Head coach Steve Aird became the first coach in program history with multiple seasons of 10+ wins in non-conference with at least one true road win over Power Five team (2019 and 2023). IU's nine victories by sweep in the non-conference were the most since winning nine during the 2010 preseason.

• To follow up a strong end to the preseason slate, IU beat Illinois 3-1 at Wilkinson Hall to kick off the Big Ten season. The Hoosiers blocked the Illini 18 times with a career-high 12 stuffs from senior middle blocker Savannah Kjolhede. The victory was the final in a run of eight-straight wins, IU's longest winning streak since 2017.

• As a team, the Hoosiers are 1st in the Big Ten and 21st nationally with 1.84 aces per set. In total, IU has 158 aces on the season including 53 from Haworth (No. 1 in Big Ten and NCAA).

• The Hoosiers are 37th in the NCAA and 2nd in the Big Ten in total team blocks, racking up 208.0 stuffs across the first 24 matches of the season. They average 2.42 per set.

• IU is holding opponents to just .180 hitting offensively which ranks fifth in the Big Ten and top-70 nationally among team defenses. As a team, IU is hitting .238 which is on pace to be one of the best marks in program history for a single season.

• The Hoosiers sold out matches vs. No. 2 Nebraska and No. 15 Purdue with the latter setting a new Wilkinson Hall Attendance Record of 2,725. IU is averaging 1,730 fans per game across nine home matches this season.

What's At Stake?
• A win over Northwestern would be the 17th win of the season, the most in a single campaign since 2016.

• This would be IU's 40th all-time win over Northwestern. A victory would make Northwestern the third Big Ten opponent IU has recorded 40 wins all-time against (Iowa, Michigan).

Player Watch
#10 Haworth, Camryn
• Haworth has built on an impressive 2022 season, continuing her fine form into 2023 as a junior and a team captain. She leads the conference in aces (53) and assists (844).

• The Fishers, Ind. native became the 11th player in program history to record 2,000 assists, crossing the mark in a 33-assist effort against Jacksonville on September 16th. She is now No. 10 in program history with 2,459 assists.

• She is one of just 19 players in program history with 100 career aces and broke the program's rally-era record (in place since 2001) with aces 131 and 132 of her career against Nebraska. She is No. 4 all-time in program history and will challenge for the all-time mark of 197 in the next year.

• In her time at IU, she has three of the best five single-season aces performances in the rally-scoring era. She's got 53 aces on the season which broke IU's rally-era single season record of 51 set in both 2005 and 2014. She is No. 14 in Big Ten history during the rally era in service aces with 144.

• She recorded the second triple-double of her career at Illinois on Oct. 25. Haworth tallied 50 assists, 13 kills and 10 digs. Her 13 kills were the most by a Big Ten setter since Feb. 2021.

#18 Rammelsberg, Kaley
• The fifth-year middle blocker is having one of the most efficient hitting seasons in program history. On the season, she's hitting .369 and is second on the team with 195 kills.
• In 11 conference matches, she's reached double figures in kills on six occasions including a 15-kill display in a five-set victory over Ohio State.

• For her IU career, she is hitting .324 despite missing 10 games in conference play with an injury in 2022. She is currently second in program history in hitting percentage among athletes with over 1,000 career attempts.

• Rammelsberg has the most attempts (420) and kills (195) among those Big Ten players hitting .360 or better this season (min. 3.0 total attempts per set). She is seventh in hitting percentage overall this season.

#32 Gary, Ramsey
• One of the top-rated prep liberos in the 2023 class, Gary has lived up to the billing early in her college career. She has 376 digs across 24 matches including seven 20+ dig efforts in Big Ten play.

• Her 376 digs are most in the Big Ten and top five among freshmen nationally. She is averaging 4.37 digs per set on the season which leads the Big Ten and has 4.86 digs per set through 11 conference games.

• Her 26 digs in a win over Ohio State matched the single-game freshman digs record in program history. Her five-straight matches with 20+ digs matches are the most by a single player at IU in the last 15 years.

• She will challenge both the freshman single-season digs record (402) and the all-time single season digs record (525) over the remaining regular season matches.

Opponent Breakdown: Northwestern
Series History: 39-38 (Northwestern leads) | Last Meeting: 11/18/23 (W, 3-2)

• The Wildcats are 10-11 (4-7) on the season, having lost three-straight matches without the services of star hitter Julia Sangiacomo.
• When healthy, Sangiacomo is averaging 4.13 kills per set and has gone for 30+ on two occasions this season.
• Libero Ellee Stinson, a product of Munciana, has produced 340 digs on the season and 4.20 per set.
• Lelani Dodson has been solid out of the middle, hitting a collective .353 on the year with just 37 attacking errors.
• Alexa Rousseau, perhaps the most offensive setter in the Big Ten, is ultra-reliable running the offense.

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Players Mentioned

Camryn Haworth

Savannah Kjolhede