Indiana swept Maryland thanks to a strong offensive performance, winning 25-23, 25-22 and 25-14 on Sunday in Bloomington. With the win, IU matched its single-season records for regular-season wins (21) and Big Ten wins (12).
Holding momentum from Friday’s victory against Oregon, senior outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles' 14 kills fueled a record-breaking offensive performance. IU hit .456 on Sunday afternoon — the highest in a Big Ten match since 2001.
The Terrapins tormented the home team with a sturdy defense and off-the-jump offense. The opening set had nine ties before Indiana eventually won. Maryland senior opposite hitter Ajack Malual struck a team high of 13 kills but still had a .091 percentage. However, the strong defense wasn’t enough as Indiana remained in control for most of the game.
The Hoosier offense took the Terrapins by storm with 54 kills in three sets with only seven attacking errors. All five primary hitters had five or more kills throughout the match. While IU had the lead for most of the match, Maryland kept fans on their toes by keeping all three sets close. Maryland redshirt freshman setter Lilly Wagner recorded 32 assists following a .583 hitting percentage for junior middle blocker Eva Rohrbach.
The team's effort and tenacity were evident on Sunday. IU displayed a strong team chemistry on and off the court closing out with 51 assists as a whole.
“If you can bring in really top-level human beings that care a ton and don’t care who gets the credit, you can do really amazing things,” Indiana head coach Steve Aird said. “We’ve been able to bring that in. Top to bottom and all across the board, I thought there were huge contributions everywhere.”
IU has four more chances to break its records for regular-season and Big Ten wins. Both records were set in the 1995 season, and IU matched the wins record with 21 regular-season victories in 2023.
Alonso-Corcelles, senior opposite hitter Avry Tatum, junior setter Luca Fickell and junior middle blocker Ava Vickers landed the title of being the only Hoosiers in program history with two 21-season wins since the NCAA began sponsoring volleyball in 1981.
Since the beginning of 2022, IU is now 37-14 (.725) inside Wilkinson Hall. The Hoosiers have now won 21 straight contests against unranked opponents inside the home gym. IU is just one win away from recording at least 10 home wins in three straight seasons for the first time since 1998-2000. Indiana will look to defend its win streak in Wilkinson at 6 p.m. this Thursday against Rutgers.
