Connected Indiana University Women’s Volleyball Squad Ready for the Next Step Before fall camp got underway Tuesday afternoon, the Indiana volleyball program sent head coach Steve Aird, junior setter Sade Ilawole and sophomore outside hitter Jaidyn Jager to Chicago as its representatives for the fifth-annual Big Ten Volleyball Media Day. The trio of Hoosiers spent the day talking about the upcoming season in a press conference, live studio hits and various social media stations. Their time in the Windy City featured conversations about this year’s Big Ten Tournament, IU’s talented newcomers to the roster and the excitement level about volleyball in Bloomington.
Following a season that saw the program break NCAA-era records for wins (25) and Big Ten wins (14), IU returns a large core of its team to the court at Wilkinson Hall. Along with Jager, sophomore setter Teodora Krickovic, sophomore middle blocker Victoria Gray and sophomore defensive specialist Audrey Jackson each started at least 30 matches a season ago. Here are takeaways from the Hoosiers’ annual trip to the Big Ten Network Studios.
The Next Step Ahead- IU played four spring matches and six matches on its Foreign Tour- It was a record season during the 2025 campaign, but IU’s players and coaches will be quick to say that the past is the past. With a roster that includes preseason All-Big Ten selections in setter Teodora Krickovic and outside hitter Jaidyn Jager, the Hoosiers have a group of players that are ready to keep building. IU added graduate student middle blocker Kiki Granberry and junior outside hitter Izzy Clark to the mix out of the transfer portal while freshman outside hitter Sara Snowbarger and freshman defensive specialist Ellie Hepler provide depth in key positions. 12 of 17 players from last year’s roster will return with experience under their belt.
“Right now, I just feel like the staff has done a great job.” Aird said. “We’ve got really good student-athletes. We’ve got some traction. Recruiting classes over the next few years are exceptional. I just think the pinwheel is starting to spin. Pushing the rock up the hill is the hardest part and getting people to buy into you from the beginning is the hardest part.” Competition in the gym during the preseason will be at an all-time high as head coach Steve Aird preps for his ninth season at the helm in Bloomington. As it stands, all but two players on this year’s roster began their collegiate career with the Hoosiers.
Tough Opponents on the Horizon-The Hoosiers will play nine teams from last year’s final AVCA top-25 poll- Head coach Steve Aird wanted to design a schedule that would put his team in big environments against great opponents. Off the bat, the Hoosiers will face four SEC and ACC opponents in a 10-day span. Two of those (Georgia, Texas A&M) will come in the inaugural Big Ten-SEC Challenge, hosted by Purdue at Mackey Arena. Purdue, Cal Poly, USC, Penn State and Nebraska will all make the trip to Wilkinson Hall as IU puts its incredible home environment to the test on a national state. During the last four seasons, the Hoosiers are 40-15 on their home court and have won 23-consecutive matches at Wilkinson Hall against unranked teams. In total, 22 of IU’s 26 regular season matches will come against power conference opponents. That will set the program up as it prepares for a potential postseason run through the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments this fall. “We’ve got a very daunting slate of matches to start the year,” Aird said. “We’ve gone up a weight class we think in quality and caliber of opponent. We’re not afraid to go and test the waters, so to speak.”
Sophomore Class Ready for Big Season-IU’s deep six-player sophomore class will handle a big load in Bloomington- IU needed a big season from its talented young players last year and they delivered. With a season of college volleyball under their belt, the second-year Hoosiers will be asked to carry a big load across key positions. Among those important contributors are outside hitter Jaidyn Jager and setter Teodora Krickovic, both selections to the Big Ten All-Preseason team. Last year’s freshman class was the only in the country to have a different player with at least 1,000+ assists, 380+ kills, 100+ blocks. On top of that, four different players had at least 15 aces and four had at least 100 digs as IU continued to get great play from all over its lineup. Middle blocker Victoria Gray and defensive specialists Audrey Jackson, Avery Freeman and Hannah Leftridge all got valuable time on the court last year.
In total, IU’s six returning second-year players combined to play in 186 matches this season and will be crucial to success as the team marches forward in 2026. “We’ve got good balance, good depth. I feel it’s the — will-over-skill thing for us is really important,” Aird said. “That’s something I’ve always taken from Coach [Russ] Rose. I don’t know if we have the top-end talent. I’m not sure if I’m the best coach in the conference, but we want to fight you from the beginning to the end. We don’t care where and how. I think that’s something the locker room is really locked into.”
Indiana University Men’s Soccer Opens Preseason Looking Forward to the 2026 Season Indiana welcomed the 2026 men’s soccer season, training together for the first time on Tuesday as it opened its preseason. IU welcomed 13 newcomers to its squad, including seven members of the top-ranked transfer class according to Top Drawer Soccer. Kicking off his 17th season as head coach of the program, Todd Yeagley met with the media to discuss early impressions of his new squad. “It’s a good mix. The mix that we’re looking for,” Yeagley said.
“Our focus is very much what [we are] doing right now to prepare for what is our first real game, Notre Dame.” Indiana comes into the fall the No. 22-ranked team in the country in the United Soccer Coaches poll, a reflection of its 2025 national finish, pending the Top-Drawer Soccer and College Soccer News preseason rankings. The Hoosiers open the season with a three-match homestand, kicking off with the season opener August 20 against Notre Dame. Fans will get their chance to see the 2026 team for the first time in a pair of home preseason exhibitions, August 10 versus Bowling Green and August 15 versus Loyola Chicago. Admission is free for both exhibitions.
Compelling Curt Cignetti Delivers Blueprint for Success for Indiana University Football Is Indiana’s Curt Cignetti America’s most compelling coach? You are the judge. Cignetti is the last of 18 coaches to speak during this week’s three-day Big Ten media gathering at the Hilton Chicago. As he stands at the podium, three championship trophies are next to him. They reflect what last year’s team achieved, culminating in a national title. That was the Big Ten’s third straight after Michigan and Ohio State. Questions come, and intriguing answers follow, a mix of insight, humor and quips that enlighten and entertain. And if any conference tries to claim college football supremacy, well, Cignetti sets the record straight.
For instance … “The Big Ten is the best league in football,” he says. “There are a lot of really good teams, very physical, very well-coached teams. It’s hard to win on the road. It definitely prepares you for the playoffs.” For anyone missing the who’s-best point … “There’s no doubt about it,” Cignetti says. “The numbers speak for themselves. We don’t run a hype machine here in the Midwest. We believe everything is earned, not given. When we fall short, we say: We fell short. We don’t cry a river, whine, and complain. That’s why we’re the best.” And then, with August camp set to start next week … “I’ve been on vacation long enough,” he says. “I’m tired of being bossed around by my wife. I’m ready to boss around someone else and build this football team.”
What Cignetti has built at IU is a two-year, 27-2 record, a 16-0 national title run, a Big Ten championship, a huge Hoosier following to capitalize on Indiana’s biggest-in-the-nation 800,000-plus alumni base and a sense that everything is possible at what was, before he arrived in November of 2023, the losingest program in major college history. “I think we excel at development and creating the intangibles,” he says. IU beat six top-10 teams last season, including top-ranked Ohio State, second-ranked Oregon (twice) and a Miami team once ranked as high as No. 2, drawing huge crowds along the way. “We probably had 75 percent of the people out there for the Rose Bowl,” Cignetti says, “about 95 percent for the Peach Bowl, and for the national championship on the opponent’s home field (Miami), we probably had about 60 percent there.” And then, in a reference to 52,000-seat Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium, he adds, “We probably can’t expand the stadium soon enough, but those things take time.”
How will this team differ from last year’s group? “It’s different people, so there’s going to be a little bit of a different team,” Cignetti says, “but it’s going to be more same than different. All of our teams have been successful because they’re more similar than different. “We don’t turn it over; we play smart; all three phases play off each other; we stop the run; we run the ball; we’re good in the red area, in touchdown percentage, in third- and fourth-down percentage. Those are things I want to continue to do. The faces just change a little bit.”
Cignetti talks about the standard being the standard and having a blueprint for success. What does that mean? “That’s culture,” he says. “That’s leadership. That’s where having guys that have been in the program who have been successful, who have strong character and who are smart, helps. “I like to recruit good players that are smart and have strong character because you can do a lot with guys like that. I think a part of the key to the drill is getting everybody to think alike. That’s where my messaging is important and upholding a standard and having accountability. “Look, you’ve got to have the right people in place. You’ve got to have a process and people in place. We have the right people in place, upstairs and downstairs. I feel very strongly about that. I’ll be stalking complacency. I know that question is coming. But I like what I’ve seen so far.”
Cignetti insists the “schematic part” part of football is overrated; that success comes down to blocking, tackling, running, throwing and catching and, in the end, mindset. “We’ve got to create the identity, the mindset, the relentlessness, the resiliency,” he says. “We’ve got 17 new transfers, which is about par for the course across college football right now. We have to further indoctrinate them into how we do things.”
Cignetti has a 146-37 record in 15 years as a head coach with zero losing records. In this era of transfer portal and NIL, where massive roster turnover is the norm, how difficult is it to maintain a winning culture year after year? “The guys that earn NIL, let’s say they earn a big number,” Cignetti says. “They’ve earned that number. Nothing is given. Everything is earned. They’ve earned it based on their production. “If they’re highly productive, that probably means they want to be a great player. I’ve never known a great player that didn’t want coached. To be the very best you can be, sometimes you’ve got to take a guy out of his comfort zone for him to improve as much as possible. “Some people might call that ‘old school,’ but we’re very demanding to a standard. Everything we ask of our guys is reasonable and fair. I think they view it that way, too. I think they like the way we take care of them in terms of time on the field and banging and clanging and things like that.”
How does that explain last season’s 16-0 record, a feat matched only by the 1894 Yale team that won against the likes of Brown, Harvard, Crescent Athletic Club, and Orange Athletic Club? “What separated last year’s team from the other really good teams I had was their day-in, day-out consistency,” Cignetti says. “They stacked meetings. They stacked practices. They went into every game with the right mindset and respect for the challenge, and then they put it between the white lines and did the things that we emphasized. “You’ve heard my mantra before about the consistency part. If I have a guy that consistently cannot do his best, cannot be on time, cannot rub off positively on others, who is uncoachable; he’s not going to be in my program. “The guys that are really productive, they get paid. So, we’ve tried to adjust, improvise and navigate those unpredictable waters for the last few years, and I think we’ve done okay.”
‘Terrific’ – Peru Trip Sets Up Indiana University Men’s Basketball for Promising Season The 7,200-mile trip is complete, four international basketball games played, four games won, five for five counting the earlier exhibition victory over Team Canada. Indiana played with purpose and poise in earning a gold medal in the FISU America Games in Lima, Peru. A dominating tone was set and never wavered, and if success didn’t come against Big Ten-caliber competition — blowout victories against Peru, Chile and Virgin Islands (twice) — for now, for Indiana coach Darian DeVries, it is more than enough.
“I loved how hard our guys played all week,” DeVries says. “I thought we got a lot out of out of that. I thought our transition game was really good. I liked how we got out of the blocks, so to speak, and then I loved our offensive rebounding. We had a very clear mindset. There was great carryover from practices and what we’ve emphasized and taking that to the game floor. “Those are some great things that that we saw. We thought defensively, as the week went on, we did some good things. We got a little anxious at times trying to get some steals and things like that, but overall, I liked our activity.
“We’re continuing to learn how to cover for one another, how to be more connected as a defense. But their unselfishness, how hard they played, their approach, their attitude, their togetherness was terrific.” During the tournament, veterans such as power forward Aiden Sherrell (named tourney MVP), and guards Darren Harris, Bryce Lindsay, Jaeden Mustaf, and Markus Burton played to their experience even with limited minutes because of the lobsided games (no opponent finished within 42 points), while promising freshmen Vaughn Karvala (team-leading 65 tournament points), Prince-Alexander Moody (49 points, 18 assists, seven steals), and Trevor Manhertz (32 points, 19 rebounds, 64-percent shooting) thrived under game conditions.
“I love what the freshmen did,” DeVries says. “It was an awesome experience for them, for us, to get them a lot of time out there together, get some game minutes in, and be able to see some of the things they can do.” Throughout the month, the backcourt displayed skill, depth, aggressiveness and relentlessness. That was important in Peru, it will be crucial this coming season. “We have great versatility; we’ve got good depth,” DeVries says. “Prince was coming along as that third option at the point guard spot, and even Mustaf can play point guard if needed. He gives you that bigger guard.
“I love what Bryce and Markus bring. They’re both a little different in how they approach it. Prince is more of a passer. Marcus is a downhill attacker. Getting them both on and off the ball is a great luxury to have.” The team’s overall depth should generate intriguing lineup rotations. “What I love is I think it’s going to make for a very competitive fall, which will be great for us to continue to grow as a team,” DeVries says. “In some ways, it’s a coach’s dream of having some very hard (lineup) decisions as you get into the season. “We do have great depth, and it’s really across the board, and we love that. We love what everybody brings.
“It will be finding those rotations as you get deeper into the season and ultimately into conference play. A lot of that stuff works itself out, but we feel very good about all of our guys and their ability to come in and contribute. I love that about this group,” Defense could be a huge strength given the Hoosiers’ versatility, length and athleticism. “All those pieces really fit well together,” DeVries says. “They allow us the opportunity to maybe switch more off balls so you’re not chasing quite as much, you’re not as concerned about foul trouble and playing heavy minutes for multiple guys. “We have that that flexibility to keep guys fresh and have different types of lineups that – on the offensive and defensive ends – of giving teams different looks and being able to do different things.”
The aftermath of basically two months of practice and playing now finds the Hoosiers — players and coaches — in break mode until the Aug. 24 start of the fall semester. “The guys will basically have time off until school starts,” DeVries says. “It will be a nice little break for them to refresh and restart to get ready to come back fully fresh and healthy for fall workouts.” The fact the Peru trip wrapped up in late July was a big attraction, he adds. “Typically, when you take this kind of tour, a lot of times you go into mid-August, and then you just get a week, start school, and you’re back at it. “We felt this trip gave us all the advantages of a of a tour, but also a break too. So, our guys get to go home here for three weeks, refresh and be ready to go because you do have to be careful of doing too much for too long and trying to sustain it all the way into March.”
Caitlin Clark Named the WNBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week for third time this season Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, it has been announced on Tuesday. Clark averaged 25.7 points and 9 assists per game last week, helping lead the Fever on a 2-1 road trip. Clark scored 32 points in a win against the Seattle Storm, which was the ninth 30+ point game of her career. The highlight of Clark’s week was a triple-double in a win against the Portland Fire, where Clark scored 26 points, dished out 10 assists, and hauled in 10 rebounds. She now has the third-most triple-doubles in the history of the WNBA. This is Clark’s sixth time winning Eastern Conference Player of the Week and her third time winning the award this season. This is also the third straight week a Fever player has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week, with Kelsey Mitchell winning one and Clark winning the other two. The Fever are back in action tonight at home against the Las Vegas Aces, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
Notre Dame and USC Football to renew rivalry starting in 2030 Notre Dame football announced on Monday that the rivalry with USC is returning in 2030 with a four-game home-and-home series. The first matchup will be in Los Angeles on August 31, 2030, with Notre Dame hosting USC on August 30, 2031. The games in 2032 and 2033 will be played in the first three weeks of the season. Notre Dame and USC have played 96 times, with the Fighting Irish leading the series 53-38-5. Navy (98 games) is the only team Notre Dame has played more in program history. The Irish are 3-1 against USC under Marcus Freeman. he Jeweled Shillelagh is the rivalry trophy for the matchup, with the tradition beginning in 1952.
Indiana Fever Center Damiris Dantas out for season after surgery on torn meniscus Indiana Fever center Damiris Dantas is out for the season after undergoing successful surgery on a torn meniscus in her left knee. Dantas averaged 3.3 points and 1.5 rebounds per game this season in 12 games. The Fever had a five-game winning streak snapped on Sunday, losing to the Minnesota Lynx. The Fever are back in action at home this evening against the Las Vegas Aces, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.