‘Hungry’ Hoosiers Seek to Scale More Volleyball Mountains
By Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Kiki Granberry crushes it, sending a volleyball straight to the ground on the other side of the Wilkinson Hall court. Indiana practice is wrapping up but effort and focus are not. Granberry, a 6-foot-2 Tennessee transfer middle blocker with 509 career kills on her resume, showcases a we-got-this mindset shared by her fellow Hoosiers after a first-ever NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance.
The goal -- once again go where no IU team has gone before.
“It will take us being hungry,” Granberry says. “You preach about all these things. We have to actually do them. Be more all-play than all- talk.”
Beside her on a Wilkinson Hall bleacher, Jaidyn Jager nods in agreement. The 6-foot-2 second-year outside hitter is coming off perhaps the most remarkable freshman season in program history with 383 kills, a team-leading 249 digs, 57 blocks, 31 aces and 30 assists.
“It’s doing all the little things, the small things, the little details,” she says. “If we can nail that down, we can be great.”
Greatness resonates throughout the program as head coach Steve Aird begins his ninth season. Granberry and Jager are among the reasons why IU is 16th in American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) preseason rankings. It’s the first time it has made the preseason poll.
“If we’re healthy and at full throttle,” Aird says, “I think this year’s team is better than last year’s team.”
Those Hoosiers set NCAA-era program records for overall (25) and Big Ten (14) victories, then won two NCAA tourney matches.
Talent is everywhere you look. Like Jager, setter Teodora Krickovic made the preseason All-Big Ten team. Third-year middle blocker Ella Boersema is back and healthy after last October’s season-ending injury.
Aird and his staff targeted the transfer portal with Granberry and outside hitter Izzy Clark from San Diego to support its returning core.
“There were certain needs we wanted to fill in the portal,” Aird says. “Kiki was the second-best attacker statistically in the NCAA two years ago. Izzy put up huge numbers in matches against really good teams.
“That, plus the core kids we have back, plus (Krickovic) and Jaidyn being All-Big Ten, we have a good group of kids who can play at the high end of the Big Ten.”
That’s impressive given the Big Ten is, by far, the nation’s best conference with No. 1 Nebraska, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 9 Purdue, No. 10 Penn State, No. 14 Minnesota, IU, No. 20 USC and No. 25 Oregon setting the tone.
“The floor of this program is much higher than it’s ever been,” Aird says. “The level in the gym is much higher than it’s ever been. We hope that translates.”
Translation will come against a formidable non-conference schedule. IU opens Friday against No. 7 Louisville. Then comes Big Ten/SEC Challenge week against Georgia and No. 8 Texas A&M in West Lafayette followed by No. 22 Tennessee and solid opponents such as Cal Poly (a Sweet Sixteen team last season), NC State and Coastal Carolina.
“The pre-conference is the toughest IU has ever faced,” Aird says. “I also think this has a chance to be one of the best teams we’ve ever had. That was intent.”
As for the Big Ten, Aird says, “It will be interesting because I think the league will be up a peg this year. The teams that had down years went into the market and decided to fix some holes. They’ve done so at a high level.
“The top half of the Big Ten is impossibly challenging. The quality of teams we play from match number one is the highest it’s ever been.”
Opening at Louisville, which has beaten Texas A&M and lost to Wisconsin, will be a huge challenge. Aird says he’s known Cardinals’ head coach Dan Meske for a long time.
“I thought the proximity between the schools and the fact they’ve been so good for so many years would be a great opportunity to play,” he says. “The initial conversation was, ‘Do you want to do it? Yeah.’
“We played them in the spring when they came up here. I wanted to play there.
“It’s a great way to open the season and set the expectations that we’re going to play the elite teams and increase the quality of our pre-conference schedule. We’re getting better every year. I thought it was time to do it.”
The Hoosiers are all in.
“It’s really helpful for us to play a high-level team right away,” Jager says. “It will show us how we’ll play together. We have some new people. There is nothing but benefits that can come from it.”
Adds Granberry: “Starting off with a top-10 matchup is what we need for the program. It’s what we want.
“We have such big goals for ourselves later in the season. Starting off with a big bang and showcasing what we’ve been practicing throughout the offseason is what we need.
“Yes, we had a good team last year, but we’re still considered the underdog. We want to show them what Indiana has.”
The Hoosiers honed themselves with the equivalent of 12 exhibition matches since last December. That includes a foreign tour to Spain, Portugal and Türkiye. They won all six matches and all 24 sets in Europe. Fifteen of the 17 players have trained together since January.
“I know this team can do great things,” Granberry says. “I know we can make it far and achieve our goals. It comes down to us wanting it more than the other teams.”
Or, as Aird puts it, “At times, it won’t be pretty. We’ll have to grind through the year and try to outwill people in four- and five-game matches. Try to drag people to the deep end a little bit.
“I don’t think you’ll have any clean sweep easy matches. It will be a battle from the first whistle to the last.”
The Hoosiers can’t wait, Jager says.
“It’s going to take a lot from every person. We know we can do it. We are putting every ounce of ourselves into it. I’m super excited.”
