The IUC volleyball team opened their season at the Forester Invite in Huntington, Indiana, and they showed they were ready as they won all four matches. Three of the wins were three-setters while Huntington took the Crimson Pride to a fifth set. Head Coach Jose Olivo was obviously pleased overall with his team's performance. 

Friday, August 14
IU Columbus played Madonna University in the first match and swept in three sets 25-16, 25-23, 25-16. Cora Baker and Mikaela Salinas  had strong performances to lead the offense. Journee Brown dominated at the net with her blocking and some key kills. Bre Lawrence, a transfer from Anderson university, showed skills that will add to the Crimson Pride this season.

The second match of the day was a dominating performance against Wilberforce University, winning again in three sets 25-14, 25-13, 25-16.This match allowed Coach Olivo to get more court time for most of the roster for much needed experience. Gabie Francis and Kilani Jackson provided a spark offensively.

Saturday, August 15
Host Huntington was the first opponent on Saturday, and the Crimson Pride were not as sharp as the first day. They were able to get the win in five sets by scores of 25-13, 22-25, 31-29, 19-25 and 15-10. The ability to hang in and win in five sets while not playing their best could be a sign of mental toughness.

The Crimson Pride rebounded with a good win against a strong IU South Bend team in three sets 25-13, 26-24, 25-18.

Coach Jose Olivo: "We played great matches against Madonna University and IU South Bend, finishing both with 3-0 wins, and we have to give a lot of credit to our team. Both Madonna and IU South Bend are very good teams, but we came out strong and based our success on balanced serve receive and a very strong offense. 

Our defense and serve receive were led by Lyv Luce, with great support from freshman Faith Schoettle. These two will create a lot of conversation in the conference this season.

The game against Wilberforce gave us the opportunity to rotate our players and see some of the athletes who will be ready to step in for our starting lineup when needed. Gabie Francis and Kilani Jackson made a difference offensively. Even though their stats don't fully reflect their performances, their play was very promising.

The game against Huntington was complicated. We did not play our best volleyball, and we made the match more difficult than it needed to be. We lost a second set that we should have won after holding a 17-10 lead and allowing Huntington to come back. That affected us mentally and gave confidence to a Huntington team that we had dominated in the first set and through most of the second.
We won the third set, but it wasn't easy. The fourth set clearly belonged to Huntington, but we were able to regroup and stay strong in the fifth set. So far, I think this has been our lowest-performing match of the season, and there are definitely lessons we can take from it."

Next on the schedule:
IU Coliumbus will travel to Mishawaka to play Bethel University on Wednesday, August 19.