NCAA volleyball tournament: Can Texas fend off upstart Indiana?

Indiana may be the new kid on the block when it comes to the Austin Region of the NCAA volleyball tournament, but don’t call the Hoosiers underdogs.

That label doesn’t apply to a gritty Big Ten program that has taken massive strides under eighth-year coach Steve Aird. Sure, the fourth-seeded Hoosiers (26-7) don’t have the championship pedigree of the other three squads in a Sweet 16 quartet that includes the Texas Longhorns, Wisconsin and Stanford, who have combined to win six of the past nine national titles. And, yes, they’re in just their second Sweet 16 and have never advanced to an Elite Eight.

But Aird, a former assistant at Penn State with a pair of national title rings, says its just a matter of time before Indiana gets its shot. And Friday’s round-of-16 match at 11 a.m. at Gregory Gymnasium against the top-seeded Longhorns can only hasten his program’s growth.

“We came to win a match and then and then try to win another match,” Aird said. “A participation trophy is not something that we're into.”

But Aird is also a realist who understands what it takes to beat an established Texas program, especially on its home court. Aird faced off against Texas (25-3) plenty with Penn State, and he knows a young Hoosiers team — Indiana has just six upperclassmen on its 17-player roster — faces a stern test against a veteran Longhorns bunch led by junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford (488 kills, 283 digs), junior setter Ella Swindle (898 assists, 187 digs) and senior libero Emma Halter (387 digs), who's a native of Indiana.

That Texas trio alone has played in a combined five Final Fours and won three national championships.

“I think the thing I'm so hopeful about is I think the next three to five years at IU are going to be spectacular,” Aird said. “This group is amazing. Recruiting is going as well as it's ever gone. And these big-match experiences, whether we win and make a run or we don't, it's going to bode well for the future.”

But longtime Texas coach Jerritt Elliott dismisses such chatter. Indiana survived a brutal schedule in the Big Ten, he said. At this point of the NCAA Tournament, there’s no such thing as stage fright.

“I don't think it really matters,” Elliott said. “I think it's the confidence in each team. You've seen some people in volleyball or basketball go on long runs that haven't been in those situations. So, I'm way more worried about our girls’ mindset, how we prepare them and how their confidence is. And we're in a really good spot. But (Indiana), they’re a really good team, and they’re obviously here for a reason.”

Aird said the Hoosiers want to avoid the early knockout blow that Texas delivered in sweeps over Florida A&M and fellow Big Ten program Penn State in the first two rounds of the tournament.

“We'd like it to be a really long day,” he said. “I think there's very little chance we sweep Texas at Texas, but the longer we can play, the more games we can play, the more volleyball we can play. ... All year we've talked about dragging teams out to the deep water. The longer we can go, the more we can play, the better we're going to be.”

Middle blocker Victoria Gray, one of several talented freshmen for Indiana, said Aird’s experience in such high-stakes matches helps make up for a lack of seasoning across the lineup.

“I know this is a lot of our first times being in this situation, but knowing the coaches have been in situations like this before, we're able to lean on them," Gray said. "They just walk us through it and tell us what to expect. And they don't sugarcoat anything. But we know what we have to do, and we're ready to get it done.”

Even Halter, who grew up in the Indianapolis suburbs, is excited about her home-state program. But that enthusiasm ends when the first serve goes over the net Friday.

“I think it's super cool that they made the Sweet 16,” Halter said. “They're an awesome team. We've been watching them a whole bunch. They're fast, but we've also been preparing for that. So, hopefully on (Friday), we'll be ready for whatever they throw at us.”