IU Columbus volleyball coach Jose Olivo, center, talks to his team between the first and second sets Friday during the Crimson Pride’s game against Saint Mary-of-the-Woods at Nexus Park.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
In the River States Conference volleyball preseason coaches poll, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods was picked fourth, and IU Columbus was picked 10th out of 12 teams.
But Friday night, when those two teams opened the conference season at the new fieldhouse at Nexus Park, the Crimson Pride looked nothing like an underdog.
The Crimson Pride battled to a straight-set victory against the Pomeroys, prevailing 25-20, 25-21, 26-24.
“St. Mary is a top team in our conference, so beating them, let alone in three sets, that says a lot about our team and we’re about to accomplish this year,” sophomore libero Alyvia Luce said. “So that one was really big for us tonight.”
IUC (5-3, 1-0) did it without middle hitter Kenze Bostic. The freshman from Hauser injured her right foot in Tuesday’s five-set win at Boyce and will be out about three-to-four weeks.
“It was honestly amazing,” sophomore hitter Cora Baker said. “We have a couple injuries here on the team, and we have a brand new rotation here on the floor, and in two or three practices, we put an amazing rotation out on the floor. It was a massive team effort. Every single person who got in the game made a big impact.”
The Crimson Pride never trailed in the first set. The Pomeroys led by one point a few times in each of the final two sets, including 24-23 in the third set. But IUC got a sideout and two consecutive points with Baker at the service line. Match point came on a block from Sadie Egan and Leah Thompson.
“I think it was amazing,” sophomore hitter Olivia Embry said. “The competition was awesome. It’s the best competition we have faced so far, and we fought hard, especially with the rotation that we got put in.”
The Crimson Pride played all of their home matches at Ceraland in their inaugural season last year and were back there for their home opener this season. Friday’s match was the first intercollegiate match at the spacious Nexus Park facility.
“This is a great facility here at Nexus Park,” Baker said. “It did take a little getting used to. Ceraland is a small gym, and it’s a great environment to be in, but being here at Nexus Park was honestly a great experience.”
“It was a big change, but we still felt really compacted over here,” Luce added. “We had a lot of fans show out. A lot of our other athletes came here, and I think that made the atmosphere really good.”
Embry noted that they made a little history.
“We practice here not that much, but we come in and we work together and we work hard and we play hard and it doesn’t matter where we’re at, we all play as a team and as a family, and I think it’s historic,” Embry said.
Brown County graduate Abigail Watson pounded seven kills, Addison Lemon recorded 18 assists, Baker and Kera Wischmeier each had three blocks, Luce notched nine digs and Madison Hunter served three aces to lead IUC.
Also for the Crimson Pride, Egan tallied six kills, nine assists, one block and two aces. Wischmeier also added six kills, Adelynn Anderson had eight digs and two aces and Hunter posted eight digs.
“It truly is big, and it is a recognition of the work that these girls are doing,” IUC coach Jose Olivo said. “I told them before the game started, ‘This is the game that we need to say, you need to start counting on IUC from now on.’ Beating them 3-0, it was huge for this program. It’s a way to say we are working in the right direction. This is good for us to know we can do things, and (Saturday), we’ll do our best to show it again.”
