Indiana’s road trip concluded Sunday in Piscataway, N.J., where Indiana was looking to get back on track after a near-miraculous comeback win on the road against the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers. Following their revenge mentality, Indiana would win this matchup against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights sloppily in four sets, with scores of (25-20, 17-25, 25-21 and 26-24 ).
Entering set one against the Scarlet Knights, it was a neck-and-neck tie for the first half. The Hoosiers suffered from self-inflicted errors causing them to fall short giving Rutgers a two-point lead. Avry Tatum and Ella Boersema had a service error in the early stages of set one.
Head coach Steve Aird has talked all season long in press conferences specifying how important it is that Indiana cleans up their serving game going into these higher-caliber teams in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers had a plan all along entering this matchup against unranked Rutgers. Slowly Indiana built momentum up with Kiki Granberry finishing out set one with six kills. The set score was 25-20 in Indiana’s favor.
Setting up for set two, Rutgers started on top. Indiana looked to tighten things up midway through hoping for a big kill but fell short to the Rutgers aggression. The matchup up to this point has lacked a defensive presence from the Hoosiers. Rutgers has been able to keep momentum steadily. The Scarlet Knights found themselves heavily protected by their libero, Kenzie Dyrstad. Indiana let this set get away from them both offensively and defensively, and Rutgers won 25-17.
Coming out of half tied one set apiece, Indiana would set the tone early on with great defense from both Granberry and Tatum. The Hoosiers would continue to keep their foot on the gas courtesy of good offensive efforts from both Jaidyn Jager and Boersema.
The Hoosiers would play not as parallel to their previous matchups on the court this season as they recorded a lower-status game than usual. The Indiana Hoosiers’ hitting percentage danced on the line, creating an inconsistent playing field leading to a messy match of volleyball. These Scarlet Knights are giving Indiana a run for their money as the Indiana Hoosiers continue to underperform. Indiana would hold on despite late efforts from Rutgers to win the set 25-21.
Indiana showcased one of their sloppiest performances of the season as Jager led in errors, finishing with nine. Without the help of middles Boersema and Granberry, this would not have been the prettiest game to watch.
A positive highlight to take away from this match is Teodora Krikovic's consistency all year long. Krikovic has been able to facilitate nearly every matchup leading in assists compared to her opposing setters. As the season moves into a more dangerous competitive playing field, Indiana will need Jager to clean up the errors and for their defensive specialist to give Indiana a stronger backbone.
Finishing out in set four the Indiana Hoosiers would sneak in their strongest lead, leaving Rutgers with no hope. Jager and Granberry took control during this set, as Granberry would record her 11th kill midway through this final set surpassing her usual single-digit total. Rutgers would claw back thanks to a strong offensive effort by Malia Romes who led the Scarlet Knights with 14 kills. Fortunately for Indiana, they would finish out the final set 26-24.
“We’ve had matches this year where you guys have seen, we’ve won but I haven’t been pumped. Aird said after the previous matchup against Wisconsin. “I think there's winning and learning.”
Despite the win, Indiana will need to minimize these errors immediately. Learning from this matchup will be incredibly necessary. In this matchup, Indiana had their top dogs scrambling for consistency. Jager, Tatum and Granberry led the matchup with errors. This accumulation is a recipe for disaster that will need to be completely corrected before competing against No. 1 Nebraska. This snowball effect is not something Indiana can afford now or later, Indiana took a step backwards this match nearly mirroring the same mistakes from their previous matchups against Southern Indiana and Coastal Carolina during the non-conference schedule.
Now Rutgers moves to 10-6 overall as well as 1-3 in Big Ten play. For an unranked team with zero votes in the AVCA poll, they are showing great promise in their growth as the season progresses. Indiana moves to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten. Indiana will not be able to handle any more matchups like this one as they head to their biggest matchup of the season against No. 1 Nebraska back in Wilkinson Hall on Oct. 8.
