Belief is Key -- Indiana Volleyball Aims to Take Next Step

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Steve Aird contemplates excellence, for his Indiana volleyball program, for his players, for him and his staff, against formidable Big Ten challenge.

"If we finish sixth or seventh in the league, it's a hell of an accomplishment, but it still makes me crazy because I want to win the damn thing."

The bar is high given Big Ten power. The conference is, by almost any measure, the nation's best.

Preseason national polls rate Wisconsin No. 2, Nebraska No. 5, Minnesota No. 7 and Penn State No. 8. Defending national champ Texas is No. 1.

Still, Cream 'n Crimson success won't require a miracle. Entering year six under Aird, IU has the talent (six returning starters and 12 returning players from a 16-16 team that finished eighth in the Big Ten) and experience (10 are juniors or seniors, and six have at least four years of college experience) to make a big conference jump, and if that doesn't mean a championship (a preseason conference poll picked the Hoosiers to finish eighth), well, why spoil the dream.

"I think we'll accomplish anything we set our minds to," all-conference setter Camryn Haworth says. "That's the way the team looks at it."

Or, as standout hitter Mady Saris puts it, "We've got the right people. We just have to put it together."

With most of the Hoosiers also back for the 2024 season, optimism is everywhere you look.

"We're at the start of a runway," Aird says. "We might lose a player or two, but this is a two-year cycle. We have the core of the group back. They had a good year last season. We have a lot of good young talent coming in.

"Belief is important. The locker room has to believe it. I always think we're going to win. They finally started to believe they're Big Ten good. That's hard because the conference is a monster."

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Hoosier success comes down to this universal sporting truth -- make the routine plays, make the necessary ones, make them when they matter most.

In other words, play big and tough in big-and-tough moments.

"To take that next step," Aird says, "we have to keep doing what we're doing. Keep developing."

He pauses.

"The league is not getting any worse."

That's an understatement. Current Big Ten teams have won 13 national championships -- Penn State seven, Nebraska five and Wisconsin one.

Plus, conference teams have 13 national runner-up finishes.

Once UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon begin Big Ten play in 2024, the conference will have 21 of the 41 national champions since the NCAA first started hosting them in 1981.

Four-time defending Big Ten champion Wisconsin -- the 2021 national champion -- is again the conference favorite, with Nebraska, Minnesota, Penn State and Purdue wrapping up the top five.

Minnesota has the reigning conference player of the year (Taylor Landfair) and defensive player of the year (Kylie Murr).

Haworth is the only Hoosier to make the 15-player preseason All-Big Ten team, but others could emerge -- highlighted by Saris, Morgan Geddes, Kaley Rammelsberg and Savannah Kjolhede -- by season's end.

Geddes, an outside hitter, made the USA Volleyball Collegiate National Team along with Haworth last spring. Saris, who is from Ontario, trained with the Canadian National Team.

Kjolhede and Rammelsberg have a combined seven years of college experience.

It adds up to a veteran status (IU is tied with Wisconsin for most returning players in the Big Ten) that reflects a truth especially evident in NCAA tournament basketball -- getting old and staying old equals really good team.

As Aird says about his Hoosiers. "They're finally old. That's what I'm most optimistic about."

Optimism includes five newcomers -- three true freshmen (Ramsey Gary, Ava Vickers and Luca Fickell), and transfers Natalia Hagopian (Northeastern) and Avry Tatum (Cincinnati).

"In the preseason, we skipped a lot of early developing and training," Aird says. "We're into teams and systems stuff way faster than I've ever been at Indiana."

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The Hoosiers warm up for a late afternoon scrimmage at Wilkinson Hall. They are pumped to play and use what they've worked on in practice sessions.

Aird and assistant coaches Rachel Morris, Kevin Hodge and Brett Agne are pumped to watch them. Strengths are all over the lineup.

"We'll be one of the better serving teams in the country," Aird says. "We were last year. We return everyone who does that at a high level."

Haworth sets the tone. Last season, she led the Big Ten with 49 aces and has 91 over two seasons in Bloomington

Saris blasted 427 kills last season. Geddes had 266. Overall, Indiana returns 98.4 percent of its kills and 96.8 percent of its blocks.

"We're physical enough," Aird says. "We're not as physical as the top teams. There's a difference in the physicality, but skill-wise we're in the conversation.

"Offensively and defensively, we'll be fine. We'll be up in all those categories. We're more advanced than we were a year ago."

Credit a combination of strong recruiting and player development.

"Recruiting has gone to a place here it's never been before," Aird says. "I'm proud of that. The talent we're bringing in is really good. The development here..

"You get good in two ways -- you recruit talent and you develop talent. If you recruit 5-star players, you have a chance. If you bring in kids who are under-valued nationally and develop them into elite talent, you have a chance.

"We're doing stuff that hasn't happened here. We have to keep chopping wood on that side."

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Last year, IU won at Ohio State, a top-five team. It also won at nationally ranked Michigan en route to nine Big Ten victories, its most since 2010. Those were stunners for a program that has struggled for most of its existence.

Could it spark bigger things this season?

"Winning at Ohio State, if that was football, it might be a bigger deal around here," Aird says. "Our players finally thought we have a chance to be good.

"I spent a lot of time last year telling them they were better than they thought they were. I don't lie to them. We got healthy near the end of last year. We had a stretch where we played some pretty good volleyball."

Can that stretch be duplicated this season?

Why not?

"Belief is something we've been working on," Haworth says. "Those big wins gave us that boost of confidence.

"We're doing all the right things. It comes down to that confidence in ourselves and the group. We're on the right course."

*****

Aird sees what he seeks while passing through Cook Hall.

IU basketball freshman guard Gabe Cupps works without coaches on an early summer morning to develop the skills that could deliver winter success in the manner of, say, Jalen Hood-Schifino last season against Purdue.

"It's seeing this kid sweating his butt off at 8 in the morning putting up thousands of shots," Aird says. "That's a kid I'd like to coach. That's my kind of kid."

Aird has a roster full of such kids.

"Our gym is filled with them now. I made it a priority. If I said, I just put up a net, who wants to battle, most of my team would say, 'Deal, what side?' That's what we've gotten to now."

Excellence is often defined by doing more, by doing it consistently, smartly and efficiently. It's how you develop the mental and physical skills crucial to elite success, how you beat teams such as Wisconsin and Penn State.

"That's one of our key things we've focused on," Haworth says. "Doing the little things in the offseason, summer and spring.

"We've spent a lot of time working with just our team. Doing stuff outside of practice, doing extra reps. Everybody is buying into doing the little things."

Adds Saris: "It's doing more, like serving Morgan balls after practice. Little things that will take us to the next level."

*****

Aird learned during his assistant coaching days at Penn State, which included a pair of national titles, and then during four seasons as Maryland head coach, that easy gets you beat.

In other words, weak non-conference schedules won't work against Big Ten firepower.

"You have to play really good teams," Aird says.

IU is. Its non-conference schedule includes the Long Beach Invitational featuring UCLA and Washington, and a Florida trip highlighted by a match against Miami.

"This year is unique," Aird says. "I didn't know UCLA and Washington would be part of the Big Ten when I scheduled this. We're excited to play both.

"Doing it in California is a challenge. It previews what's happening with the conference moving forward."

Under previous coaches, IU often had relatively weak non-conference schedules to build winning records before Big Ten play began. Aird wants no part of that.

"I knew they wanted to win a lot of matches in the preseason. I do, as well. It matters. But I've always wanted to play the best – if you win, you win, lose you lose. It's about challenging yourself. We won't win many matches in the league if our team is not very good. Why not try to be good?"

Hoosier players are all in.

"We play in the best conference," Haworth says, "so it's the best competition. It's a great way to challenge ourselves early."

Adds Saris: "Different conferences play differently, so playing someone like Miami will really challenge us. It's something we're looking forward to."

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The Hoosiers, who open their season Aug. 25-26 with the Indiana Invitational featuring New Hampshire, Southern Indiana and Radford, focus on steady improvement for these next few weeks.

"The coach-speak part is for us win the day and keep getting better 1 percent," Aird says. "I understand all of that. We've grown up. I want them to believe we can win. Develop habits to be a pro. What do you do every day to help us win? If we keep doing that, keep recruiting well, keep developing the kids at a high level, we have a shot."

Then reality tempers him.

"We can turn into a great team and still not crack the top three to four spots in the Big Ten," he says. "That's out of our control. We can only control how good we get. That's the next step.

"I have no delusions. I know what it takes to win the whole thing. We're a ways from that. When I arrived, Indiana had won one (Big Ten) match. We've come a long way. We're on the right path. We have to stick to it."

The Hoosiers will do just that, Haworth insists.

"We've talked a lot about this. How we prepare and how we've changed from last year. We've put a lot of time and effort into our culture and our team. Everybody is very hopeful. We're ready to work."

Indiana University Athletics

Belief is Key -- Indiana Volleyball Aims to Take Next Step

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Luca Fickell

Ramsey Gary

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Natalia Hagopian

Camryn Haworth

Savannah Kjolhede

Kaley Rammelsberg

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Avry Tatum

Ava Vickers

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