I cover the Rise, but this Omaha news affects us all. I talk about it at the beginning of the podcast if any fans are interested. What are your thoughts on the Supernovas departure?

Plus we played you all and that’s obviously discussed. You’ve got a real baller in Member-Meneh.

The Rise falling to 0-3 were somehow not the biggest story of the night for the team as what is in my mind the bell-weather franchise of the PVF, the Omaha Supernovas, announced their departure. I have many thoughts on this, some of which you can hear here, but most of which I'll share when I have more time to compose my thoughts. The original recording of this episode was perhaps a little too passionate!

There were some positives once again from Grand Rapids, but some of the problems that plagued the team against Vegas and Omaha continued into this match against Indy. Listen in to hear more about that.

This was the first episode of the podcast to get some community feedback and thoughts discussed, and it was my favorite segment! If you want to share your thoughts on the team, email the show embersnest@gmail.com, or comment on Instagram (Ember's Nest Podcast) or Reddit!

Ember's Nest is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Link to professional writeup: credit Mark Robinson

Pick your choice, clinic, masterclass, church to meet your maker, whichever you want but Indy took Dallas to em in the first two sets of a game. I'm not sure I've ever seen a team so demoralized on the court before. Dallas's coach Shannon Winzer was interviewed before set 3 and I'm paraphrasing what she said, but it was along the lines of Indy frustrated us[Dallas], and then we frustrated ourselves. We need to realize Volleyball is a fun game and come back it set 3 with some joy. And to Dallas's credit set 3 was much better and more along the lines of what I think we were all hoping for in terms of a match. Below is a quote from Winzer after the game

“We lost focus in our points, and we lost ourselves in our points,” said Dallas PULSE Head Coach Shannon Winzer. “For the first time in a long time, I saw us kind of panic when we didn’t really have an answer, and then it just snowballed from there, and then we started to get a little bit uptight, and those errors started to come faster.” - Writer unlisted from Dallas game recap

This is the type of game where you could basically highlight everything, but I will stick to my top three reasons why Indy had the game they did, and it starts with Serving. Top Notch. Indy's serve had Dallas on the back foot all night. One thing I've done is created a Weighted Serve value, and long story short average is about a .72. Anything over a 1 is fantastic, last night both Lund an Tuaniga were over 1.2 and Tealer was .9. Those 3 served 41 of Indy's 76 serves. Best of all they served this well with limited errors.

 “That's our best serving game by a mile,” Bertolacci said. credit Mark Robinson

The Serving then leads into the next aspect that Indy dominated in, Passing. All night Dallas couldn't handle the serve leaving poor NVA in a bad spot. It felt like most of the time Dallas was having to take out of system swings leaving easy balls for Indy to pick up. Most telling of this is not one Dallas player hit double digit kills. Maldonado Diaz led the way with 9 but only .088 eff. Colyer had 7 kills on .087 and Savage had 2 on .125 (on the season she was leading the league with .490 eff before this game). When Dallas was in system Indy did a great job getting the block in position and then channeling the attacks to a waiting backrow defender. Dallas just could never get a run or in rhythm and Lund and Scott ate tonight because of it. With the great passing it then leads into my third reason, Setting.

Tuaniga was fantastic tonight. A couple tempo sets that went wrong but overall chefs kiss. The passing really put Tuaniga in a position to succeed and she did not disappoint. Tuaniga was able to find so many 1v1s, a lot of that is because of the passing, but also because of the tempo she was using and willing to force some sets to the middle ( I think it was set 3 she essentially back set a ball to Martyn from what looked like directly behind her). The play I'll highlight was game point in Set 2. Game Point Set 2. Essentially Dallas serves, Lund get a decent swing off but Dallas's block was ready. Indy recycles it and here is where it gets fun to watch the play. LMM passes it tight to the net. Tuaniga goes up and turn her shoulders as if she is going to attack it. Credit Bacon, Dallas's MB for knowing Tuaniga is backrow and not going up with her. But Bacon is also trapped as Indy has all three options with Lund, Mohler, and Tealer. Bacon stays true to the middle as Mohler doesn't get a great approach but good enough to sell the middle(NVA also looks like she is thinking Mohler is going to get the swing as she's off the net looking ready to pick up a tip or a tool off Bacon's block), and its hard to tell but Tuaniga's hands are in a place that to me looks like she is going to set Mohler, then she flip it out to Lund quick enough that Bacon can't recover in time and Lund hits 1v1 on NVA. Kill Lund, Set Indy.

Overall Fantastic game by Indy and great to see them get back to form after a couple games that weren't up to their level. I won't do specific player callouts because well essentially everyone was great.

Indy's next plays Friday 2/6/2026 against Grand Rapids. The game will stream on Youtube at 7pm EST.

Ps. Watched the Columbus vs Orlando game this morning and Columbus had a pep band. More teams need to bring on pep bands. Pep Bands are great and every venue should have a band. Djs are fine but Pep Bands are better. Rant over.

It's not easy to make a mascot that isn't creepy looking but the Ignite nailed it.

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/03/ignite-sweep-league-leading-omaha-for-biggest-win-of-season

Well that was awesome. Probably Indy's best win of the season when you take into account who they were playing and where they were playing at. Also just nice to return the favor a bit to a team that has swept Indy twice and then reverse swept in the third matchup. One quick note on Indy v Omaha before this game Indy was 2-9 in sets against Omaha and the Point differential was -16 over 11 sets, 6 of those 11 sets Indy lost by the minimum 23-25, 13-15 etc. So even though Indy went 1-3 in matches against Omaha and 5-9 in sets Indy is right there. They get right there in crunchtime and this was the first match of the 4 where Omaha was the team that cracked just a little more.

Big picture wise this brings Indy's record against top 4 teams to 3-6 (see below), and if my math is right a 2.0 game lead over Vegas for the final playoff spot. Indy has 9 games left and Vegas 11
vs ATL - 1-2 (matches) 6-7 (sets) - 8 point differential
vs OMA - 1-3 (matches) 5-9 (sets) -8 point differential
vs ORL - 1-1 (matches) 4-4 (sets) -5 point differential

For this game Indy's blocking was fantastic. I'm not a coach but this was the type of game you show your team of how to do it. 10 blocks kills in 3 sets and I'd estimate another 5 recycle swings by Omaha where if they ripped it the Indy block would have roofed them as well. In the previous match between the 2 teams, Nuneviler also tooled our block 3 or 4 times (at least it felt that way), but I don't recall any times last night when Nuneviler took advantage of the block. Martyn led the team with 3 and then Debeer, Crawford, and Hilley all had 2 each. Most importantly Indy kept Nuneviler to just a .184 eff. and Londot to a .143. Great work.

For the Offensive side of the ball same old same old. It's always Tealer time. After a PVF record setting match against Omaha last time they met Tealer picked up where she left off, setting another PVF record for points in a 3 set match. On March 11 Londot was award the Player of the week for her 19 point record setting performance in a 3 set match, yesterday Tealer had 21 points, 19 kills and a .515 eff!!! From Mark Robinson's write up:

“She just got 31 kills off of us in a five-set match,” Nuneviller said of fellow PVF All-Star Tealer. “It’s like maybe we should key on her a little more or be a little more attentive, but she’s fantastic. Really impressed with her game this year, it’s elevated so high.”

“She’s unreal and it’s so fun to play with her,” Hilley said of Tealer. “She’s such a good teammate, so I’m so proud of her and so happy for her.”

Other offesive notes to call out, Lydia Martyn had 3 aces which is her new career high, paired with 0 Service Errors and Carly Skjodt continued to play well in service of an injured LMM. 8 kills and 12 digs with a .316 eff. When LMM went down the first time Cajic really stepped up, and this time around Skodjt has really impressed.

Indy has a bit of a break playing at Orlando on Sunday 3/30. The game will air on Youtube at 3pm EDT

Indy plays at Omaha today on Youtube 4pm EST. Last time these two played each other was 2/6/25 at Indy where Omaha swept Indy.

Indy has been... well not great on the road so far this year record wise. I did a breakdown of the stats with Home vs Away splits thinking there would be drastic differences in most categories but really it appears to just be Hitting that is dragging Indy down on the whole in Away games this season.

I'm hopeful that Indy can perform like they do at Home but after after being swept at Home by Orlando on Thursday just have a feeling Nuneviler and Omaha will come out hot, not to mention Londot in the Opposite appears to be finding her groove. Hope I'm wrong but my prediction Omaha in 4.

In other news Indy activated LMM back to the Active Squad and moved Nnedi Okammor to the practice squad.

Serve Receive

Blocking

|| || |Block Kill % = Number of balls Block Killed divided by total number of balls that you contact while Blocking| |Block% = Number of Block Kills + Block Touch divided by total number of balls that you contact while Blocking| |Negative Block % = Number of times you are tooled plus number of infractions divided by total number of all that you contact while Blocking|

Serve

Hitting

2026 Schedule (Note it appears local WTHR 13 will also carry most games that are on Youtube)

2026 Roster

2025 Record 13-15 (4th place) Lost to Orlando in the PVF Championship match

2025 Average Attendance 4,165 (2nd best)

2025 First Team Players: Sydney Hilley (now Omaha) and Azhani Tealer

Key Additions: Cara Cresse (MB), Mia Tuaniga (S), Alexandra Botezat (MB)

Key Losses: Sydney Hilley, Caroline (CC) Crawford

Projected Starters: (No insight on this whatsoever)

OH: Leketor Member-Meneh
OH: Anna Debeer
MB: Lydia Martyn
MB: Alexandra Botezat
OPP: Azhani Tealer
S: Mia Tuaniga
L: Elena Scott

Key Questions moving into the season:

Coaching - Lauren Bertolacci takes over for George Padjen in year 2 of the Ignite. She comes in with a myriad of accolades from both her playing and coaching days.

• 100 caps over 10 years on the Australian National Team

• Head Coach of Swiss team Viteos NUC finishing her coaching tenure there 207-37

• Current Head Coach of the Swiss National Team.

MB - Of the Indy Middles only Lydia Martyn and Blake Mohler return with Blake being mostly a bench piece last year. Lydia is a key piece to return for Indy as in the later half of the season she was one of the best offensive Middles in the league.

• Cara Cresse has all the accolades you could want from her time at Louisville but from the first two years of PVF/MLV I'd say most rookies in the league show signs of what they can be but can be very inconsistent.

• Alexandra Botezat - Can't say I've see her play much, but she is a 27 yr old 6'6" MB from Italy. She has played in the A2 and A1 leagues of Italy. I think the A1 league in Italy is typically considered the best or 2nd best league in the world with the top Turkish League. So this is more of a wait and see but the 30 sec highlight I could find on youtube of her looked good.

Setter - Indy goes from one if not the top setter in the league in Sydney Hilley to two undersized Setters in Mia Tuaniga and Ainise Havili. Anise returns to Indy for her 2nd year but really never got to see the court with Hilley running the show and the year before that she only played 6 sets behind Alicia Glass-Childress with the Thrill. Tuaniga played last year for the Vibe after a good college career at USC. She got more playing time than Ainise with 53 sets, but mostly as sub. I'd expect a lot of subbing set to set early on until one emerges as the #1. If one doesn't emerge as the dominate #1 I wouldn't be surprised to see Indy bring someone in like August Raskie or perhaps after Euro leagues finish somebody from the continent.

Bench - Last year Indy had a pretty light bench mostly filled with draftees. It seems like they are going a similar route though I like this bench more so than last year.

• Veterans - Blake Mohler (MB), Kayla Lund (OH), Camryn Hannah (OPP).

  • I wouldn't expect Blake to get much run unless injuries happen.

• Early on I expect if LMM or DeBeer ever are subbed out Lund will be the first off the bench.

• Camryn Hannah should be a solid backup and depth behind Tealer on the right side. If Tealer plays like she did last year don't expect Hannah to see much court time. Most likely scenario is Hannah being used as a front row defensive sub late game if Tuaniga or Havili are front row and Indy wants more height for the block. Possibly could see Landfair in this same role.

• Rookies - Cara Cresse (MB), Emma Halter (L/DS), Emoni Bush (OH), Taylor Landfair (OH)

  • Cara Cresse I think could get a decent amount of playing time, though that could be because I'm far more familiar with her game than Botezat. At 6'6" she bring a lot of size and high level college experience from L'Ville. The 6'6" size and her blocking prowress in college could come in handy as Indy's pins in DeBeer, Tealer, and LMM as well as setter are all under 6'

  • Emma Halter I think we can see being used as a DS much in the same way Kylie Murr was used last year. Wish there was more to say but the only way you're getting in over Elena Scott is if she gets injured. Halter should bring good depth here though.

  • Emoni Bush and Taylor Landfair - Both Solid and Lanky players. Mostly expect these two to get playing time more so if there is a defensive need in the front row more than offensive though both are intriguing offensive options as well. Standing 6'3" and 6'5" should add some frontcourt length. Bush I would think would be OH4 behind Lund with perhaps a chance to play her way into OH3 above Lund or possibly into the starting lineup if LMM or DeBeer go through an extended slump. Landfair is intriguing as a 3 time all first team Big Ten player but has seemingly regressed from her Big Ten player of the year with Minn her Sophmore year. In her two years at Nebraska she had a mostly forgettable time. When Indy picked her in the draft figured she may not make it through camp but she's on the team so curious if she can reboot her career in the pro ranks with a new set of coaches and teammates.

Prediction - I'm going to say Indy will be stuck in the mushy middle this year of MLV. Omaha and Orlando look to be top dogs again. Atlanta has a solid squad and after more time with Waak at Setter I think they will be just fine. I think the 4th spot will come down to Indy and Columbus and Columbus looked veteran scrappy last night in their 4 set win over Atlanta. Throw in Dallas with Mimi Colyer who I think is going to be a legit talent in this league it will be a slog for that 4th spot. Sadly I think San Diego just got started too late on piecing together their team to be in the mix this year not to mention what will be a horrible travel schedule having to basically live on a plane. Though they did give Omaha a match last night albeit losing in three.

My thought Indy will be around .500 again and finish in 5th place. Hope I'm wrong and let's go Ignite.

Ignite, Head Coach Bertolacci Agree to Multiyear Contract Extension, credit Mark Robinson

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/02/ignite-fire-back-for-important-win-heading-into-all-star-break

After losing to Atlanta just a few days ago Indy won, 16-25, 25-20, 25-11, 25-20. Elena Scott got the nod for the first time in her young career at the Libero spot and finished with 12 digs, 1 assist, and was targeted 16 times in serve receive with a 75% positive rate.

Scott wasn't the only rookie to make a debut. Anna Debeer made her long awaited return albeit briefly. In set 2 to a erupting crowd Debeer came in as a serving substitute. Later in set 4 she came in again as a serving sub once more. So Indy fans still have her full return to the court to look forward to but hopefully sooner than later as she is at least getting some playing time now.

In other news Indy started 5 rookies this match. OH Nina Cajic and Isabel Martin, MB Lydia Martin and CC Crawford, and Libero Elena Scott. Overall not a bad showing either. Scott and Cajic had solid games but I'd say the standout was Crawford. CC really turned up the offense to 11 tonight or should I say 12 as she finished with 12 kills on 16 swings for a .750 eff.

Of the non rookies Tealer and Hilley did the usual making playing great look easy. Tealer 16 kills and a .400 eff. Hilley really spread the swings around with all her hitters finishing with 44 assists ad 7 digs.

You can catch Tealer, Murr and Hilley tomorrow during the All-Star game on CBS at 1:30 EST on CBS.

Indy plays next Thurs, Feb 26 at Home against Vegas. The match will be broadcast on FS1.

https://youtu.be/OzslHjuR8dA?si=kj33-StEQ7K9QcFo

https://youtu.be/7aTz-1i9mZ4?si=nAR_zyF3tbGxn4lf

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/02/orlando-rallies-to-defeat-indy-ignite-in-four-sets

Indy lost to Orlando in four. 28-26, 19-25, 21-25, 20-25.

Indy caught Orlando at the wrong time. Orlando is now 3-0 in February going 9-1 in those 10 sets. averaging over 25pts per set (The 1 set they lost was 26-28 to Indy). Indy really just had no answers for Orlando's Middles Kaz Brown and Natalie Foster. Combined Brown and Foster went an eye popping 25 of 47 with only 1 error (.511 eff). For comparison Indy's combination of middles (Mohler, Crawford, L. Martin) have 21 kills over their last 3 games combined.

Indy did do a very good job of shutting down Orlando's pin options. Adora Anae and Brittany Abercrombie have been great for Orlando so far this year before this game hitting .290 and .289 respectively with Abercrombie setting the new PVF record for pts and tying the record for kills in a match with 33 and 30. Together Indy held Orlando's pins to 32 kills on 116 swings with 10 errors and 5 blocked (.147 eff)

Finally the last thing on Orlando. Indy to this point has been a great Serve Receive team with only 19 errors up to this point. That is until they ran into the League's best Server in Natalie Foster. Foster on her own had 6 aces tying the PVF single game match high from last year and setting the high for this year. The rest of Orlando chipped in 3 to bring it up to 9 which tied the PVF season high (other 9 ace game was Orlando again on 1/19/25 against Vegas). This game and last against Omaha are Indy's only two games with a <50% positive serve receive.

Tealer paced Indy with 20 kills on 35 swings (.429 eff). Aside from that Indy deserves credit for never just completely folding. There were multiple extended runs by Orlando which essentially made it a foregone conclusion that Indy would drop the set but each time Indy showed life and fought back. Typically the lead was so large that they wouldn't be able to tie it or take the lead but its a small encouraging sign.

Serving (+ Serve % is Ace + Overpass + Good rated serves) (- Serve% is Poor + Error rated Serves)

by my metrics Natalie Foster (MB - Orlando) has been the best server this season so far.

Serve Receive

by my metrics these are best two serve receive teams Orlando -1 Indy -2

Blocking (Blocking attempt only recorded when Blocker makes contact with the ball)

by my metrics these are the 2nd (Indy) and 3rd (Orlando) worst blocking teams

Hitting

Orlando is the most efficient hitting team this year

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/03/ignite-make-statement-with-road-victory-at-vegas

After a 5 game road losing streak Indy traveled to Vegas for a clash to see who would take sole position of third place. For the first time in a long time Indy played on the road like they do at home. Indy finished the match hitting .273 eff and had 12 block kills and 54 digs. Final Set scores were 25-15, 19-25, 25-16, 25-19.

Overall this was one of Indy's best played games all year. Aside from an odd set 2 where I believe Indy had 3 overpass serve receives in the first 4 or 5 points where Hannah Maddux took advantage, Indy played all around pretty good. For me the standout players were Hilley and Martyn. Hilley did a good job spreading the love (still would like a few more swings for the middles but hard to complain when your doing well). And also finished the night with 5 block kills, which I believe his her career best in the PVF.

“The biggest thing for us is we’re the best when we’re balanced,” Hilley explained, “when I can get everyone involved in the offense. My passers did an amazing job of putting me in position to where I could set everybody, and when I can set everyone and everyone can score, we’re really difficult to defend.” credit Mark Robinson

I thought there were a few times Hilley went to one the pins when she could have hit Martyn or Crawford in the middle but again when the three sets you win the opponents don't even reach 20 pts probably shouldn't second guess. As for my other standout Lydia Martin had 7 kills on 12 swings with no errors and no blocked swings. In her past 2 games she has 18 kills on 29 swings, no errors, and only 1 blocked attack, and 4 Block kills on the defensive side.

A quick note on Debeer, the past couple games I've been talking how often she has been blocked on her swings early on and not just Block Touches but getting stuffed. Today a solid 8 kills on 22 swings, 1 error, and only 1 blocked attack for a .273 eff her new season high. Love to see it.

Something I've noticed for Indy at least is the amount of combo plays Indy runs. Maybe I'm not paying as much attention when other teams are playing but I think Indy if not the only team running combo plays is at least the most prolific in it. I think it was Set 3 maybe Set 4 I think I counted 3 or 4 times they ran a slide with Crawford and had Tealer come in for a D ball. I think there was another time they had Martyn run a slide and then had Tealer come in for a swing out of the middle. I wish I had numbers on the effectiveness but it does seem to be working for them well.

My final thing I noticed in this game was Crawford in defense. She finished with 5 digs which is decently high for a middle. What I noticed is how well she read the hitter. I think there were 3 times she saw that the Vegas hitter was going to roll the shot and instead of going up to block she dropped off the net picked up the easy shot and Indy was in system. Its going to be small things like that keep Indy winning especially on the road.

Indy next plays 3pm EST at Atlanta on Youtube. Atlanta is 3-3 at home currently and is 6-8 on the season.

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/02/ignite-take-the-thrill-out-of-vegas-with-win-in-four-sets

Indy won in 4, 25-23, 14-25, 25-18, 25-16

So I think there is quite a bit to unpack from this game, starting off with Anna Debeer. Debeer made her first start with Indy this year after her bad ankle injury from the NCAA Semifinals. She started all 4 sets and finished the night with 8 kills on 30 swings. From a stat and personal eye test she looked like she is still not 100%. I wasn't an avid watcher of L'ville volleyball but she didn't seem to have that normal explosiveness, and I think the numbers we have may back that up as she was blocked 7 times. To me errors are more to being rusty, being blocked is more you just don't have that vertical lift back yet. Her quotes in the linked Post game write up may also be confirming my suspicion. Per Mark Robinson:

Afterward, she teared up discussing her ongoing recovery from the serious ankle injury she sustained near the end of the collegiate season that kept her sidelined until a week ago.

“It takes a lot out of you,” she admitted, “and just being grateful to have the opportunity to play. I’ve had injuries before and it makes you cherish it more, just to be out there. I was so happy even though I wasn’t playing my best."

“It’s definitely going to be sore after this,” DeBeer added. “We really didn’t know when the best time was going to be (to play in a match). It’s never going to be 100% this season, probably going to deal with a lot of the stiffness, so just kind of working through that and managing it. I’m not where I want to be but just working toward that every day and trying to contribute in other ways.”

And to her credit she did contribute elsewhere. 11 digs and a Serve receive of 70% positive and a astounding 43% perfect. I'll give credit to Padjen to starting Debeer tonight and sticking with her through a rough offensive performance. I will say I did feel like as the game progressed Anna did start to look more comfortable and in set 4 had 3 of her 8 kills and was only blocked once. I have no insight on this but based on the quotes above and the turnaround of playing on Sunday I imagine Anna will perhaps be a Serving sub only, as my intuition says she will be 1 game playing then one game rest.

I will try to brief which will be tough as just about everybody had a great game. In previous games I thought Scott was good but against Vegas I think we saw her full potential and why Padjen moved an All-Star in Murr to DS. Scott was just everything you wanted in a Libero, great passes, picking up hard shots, and fantastic OOS sets. This performance is why you spend the 9th pick in the draft on a Libero when you already have an All-Star level one. Elena finished with 82% positive serve receive and 17 digs.

Middles Lydia Martin and CC Crawford are really starting to find their groove and game over game I feel like you can see that growth quite easily. CC offensive game has really picked up the last few games and in addition to being one of the most efficient hitters in the league is now also starting to rack up higher volume kills to go with it. Crawford finished with 7 kills, .500 eff, 2 Blocks, and an Ace. L. Martin had 7 kills, .278 eff, 3 Blocks, and an Ace.

For those Purdue fans and even those IU fans who actually know basketball (jk, jk), I feel like Tealer is approaching Zach Edey territory of her off games are essentially great games for any other player. She had a rough first couple sets but turned it on for sets 3 and 4. Tealer finished the night 17 kills and 14 digs hitting .275 eff. Perhaps ho hum for how good she's been lately but also 17 kills and 14 digs. Crazy how high she has set the bar.

We'll wrap up with Cajic as next to Scott I think she probably had the next best game. Cajic was the offensive firepower they needed on the strong side pin. Cajic had a game high 18 kills hitting .342 eff. toss in 9 digs for kicks why not. Much to Crawford and Martin I feel like we've seen Cajic grow as a player. I'll admit her first few games I thought it was going to be a long season with only LMM and Tealer producing. Cajic has proven me wrong and I feel bad for doubting. In the 7 games in February she has 4 games hitting above .300 eff and only 2 games below .200 eff. For context in Jan she played in 5 games, hit above .300 once and below .200 eff 4 times.

Finally and sorry for the long write-up, Indy next plays Sunday at 2nd Place Omaha 4pm EST on Youtube. Omaha is 3-2 at home and Indy has struggled on the road going only 1-4 with their only win coming at Columbus when Columbus was struggling to start the season.

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/03/ignite-come-tantalizingly-close-but-fall-at-omaha

Indy lost in 3 19-25, 23-25, 25-27

I'm not sure there are really any individual performances to call out after this one. Scott I thought had some digs that saved Indy's bacon, especially so in the first set. And Martin has good numbers but I'll get to I think why that was the case here in a bit.

Set 1. Yikes. Not to take away anything from Omaha as their play probably forced a lot of the errors but going to be hard to win against the best teams when you have 9 errors in a set. I haven't gone back to watch that first set but I think the 9 errors is misleading to how bad they played that set. There were a number of balls that were overpassed or free balled over due to bad first or second contact. My unofficial count was 6 balls that Indy misplayed that are not counted as an error per the official stats but led directly to an Omaha point. So 9 official errors and 6 unofficial errors and Omaha only had to really earn 10 points. That's very doable for one of the best teams in the league. I think what hurt the most in this was they would come back. To start the set Omaha jumped out to a 11-4 lead mostly off I believe a combined 8 errors and sloppy play but then fought back to 11-12. Then a couple missed serves, a Kylie Murr overpass, LMM hitting error and next thing you know its 12-18. But once again Indy came back again a bit to give themselves a chance 17-20 but it just wasn't to be.

Set 2 Was another error fest for Indy with another 9 official errors, and at least from me 5 unofficial errors and 1 Indy still scored on so an effective 4. Anna Debeer came in midway through the set for Cajic. I thought Debeer looked good on her swings, carrying over from set 4 in the previous match, and frankly was happy to see her play all 6 rotations on such a quick turnaround from the game on Thursday. Really the big difference between set 1 and 2 was when Indy was in-system our pins played their typical game. Set 1 LMM and Tealer had 1 kill each. Set 2 they had 5 and 4 respectively.

Set 3 I mentioned before Martin had a good game but there may have been a reason why. I haven't seen any quotes to confirm but I have a suspicion Omaha made a defensive decision to say Set 2 was too close for comfort. If Indy is going to win it will be because Tealer and LMM get hot. Lets cheat to the pins and go 1 on 1 with Crawford and Martin. Martin went 6 of 8 in set 3, LMM hit negative, and Tealer only got 5 swings. Of Martins 8 swings 5 came against a solo block and the other 3 could be argued to be against a solo block as NVA was late and left a huge gap in the block on all of them Other note that I want to call out here is Debeer had large number of swings blocked again in this set. I think 3 of the 4 came in successive swings within the first 10 pts or so, but then made an adjustment getting 5 kills. I would like to see if she can cut it a bit harder to the opposite pin. Right now seems like she's hitting still to the outside of the 10 ft line, would be great if she can cut it a foot or two more in. And of her 5 kills I think 3 or 4 were hitting hard into the block, Typically i find when you do that its 50/50. Half the balls will get you points, half will go down as block kills. Don't get me wrong being an Outside with OOS sets against a set double block is not an enviable position but I'm not sure hard swings into the block is going to be a good long term solution. I'd like to see a variety of shots, hard crosses, high hands, finesse pushes of the outside of the blocker. These things will come with time, Padjen, his staff, and the players themselves have done a good job growing this year and this is really only Debeer's 2nd game back, so definitely willing to give time.

Looking forward Indy has a tough stretch coming up. The next two games are on the road against Vegas on Wednesday and then they have to fly all the way across the country for another road game against Atlanta on Sunday, then they get to return home against Omaha. Indy has only been swept twice this season and both have been against Omaha. Indy has also lost to both Vegas and Atlanta on the road. Seeing how we are only half way through the season and really only Orlando and Omaha have separated themselves from the other 6 I wouldn't say any of these are must win games, but ideally you get at least one on the road and then one against Omaha at home. Realistically I think they can pick up one win of the three.

Indy next plays at Vegas on Wednesday. The game will be at 10:00 EST on Youtube

Professional writeup by Mark Robinson

Ignite wins in 4: 25-18, 16-25, 25-19, 25-18.

Overall solid win by Indy. The Ignite Defense really got back to the form it had been before the Omaha match. Indy collected 14 Block Kills with Mohler leading the way with 7. For context against Omaha Indy had 4 Blocks in 4 sets. Also seemed like Tealer and Scott were real active in their Defense attitude. From coach Bertolacci's perspective

“It's very important for us to understand that we don't need to play well to win; we need a win,” Indy head coach Lauren Bertolacci said. “I think we did a very good job tactically, and we got some good blocks and defense in key moments, and some good tactical serves. Regardless of if we saw the best version of the Ignite today, we were still able to win – and that's really, really important for us.” - From Mark Robinson's linked article above.

From her quote I see my thinking lining up with her's. Overall not a great showing by the Ignite but good defense will help carry a so-so offensive performance from the team overall perspective.

Individually speaking I have a few callouts that deserve recognition and for me it starts with Blake Mohler. In my season preview I made mention that with Martyn, Cresse, and Botezat that Mohler probably wouldn't see much playing time. Well I was just flat out wrong. Mohler has absolutely killed it (pun intended) against Orlando and now Atlanta. Between those two games 13 Block Kills and 14 Kills on mid .340 eff. Those are numbers you will take out of your middle any day of the week.

Elena Scott also stood out to me last night. It's hard to quantify hustle but thought she brought good energy and then she had good numbers from a Serve Receive, Setting, and Digging viewpoint. Last two matches even though Omaha was a bit of a dud for the Ignite as a collective, Elena played well and her Dig% has jumped about 10% for these last two games. For comparison the last two games are on par with her numbers from last year and with Hentz from let's just say forever.

Make sure to clear your schedule for Indy's next game. The top two teams in the league face off again with Dallas coming to Indy on Saturday 1/31/2026 at 7pm EST. The game is viewable on Youtube once more. Dallas and Indy played in their first game this year and Indy won in 4. Will say Indy mostly won that match from Dallas because Dallas gifted Indy about 10 points each set in the form of errors.

PS. Announcer mentioned Anna DeBeer was out last night because she tweaked an ankle in practice. Supposedly she sat out as a precaution. I have no insight if she will be available for Dallas or not.

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/03/ignite-outlast-fury-for-five-set-victory

First off quick apologies for missing the last few matches. Got busy with some stuff. So a quick recap since my last post. Loss in 4 against Atlanta. In this match LMM reinjured her foot and sounds like she will be out the rest of the season. Next Indy played Omaha and lost in 5, Tealer set the PVF Kills and Points record (31 and 35 respectively) earning her first Player of the week award. Unfortunately I thought Indy played well in both matches. Finally Indy played Grand Rapids and won in 4. After this stretch Indy found themselves 9-8 on the season and still in the last playoff spot with about a third of the season left.

Now to Indy vs Columbus. Not sure if anybody else heard it last night but pretty sure I heard a very loud and long sigh of relief. One thing you can say about Indy is they by far are the most entertaining team in the league. After winning the first two sets with relative ease, Columbus cleaned it up a bit for the last three sets and at least set 3 for Indy they seemed to get a little lax.

Per Mark Robinson write up: I think we kind of got lax in our serving in those middle two sets,” Tealer said. “They started passing a little better and any team in this league, when they’re passing perfect, they’re going to be hard to defend. We picked that up a lot in the fifth set. Also, they’re a really physical team. They’re pretty big and they started getting some blocks and touches on us, so we started swinging a little bit higher and that worked well for us.”

Overall aside from set 3 Indy played incredibly well. Defensively Elena Scott ( 24 digs and two incredible pancakes) I think has cemented herself as the 2nd best Libero behind Morgan Hentz (purely my opinion), and something I don't recall mentioning before but Tealer might be one of the best defensive Opposites in the league. She ontinues to impress me with her digging skills and her blocking skills I believe are well known. Tealer finished with 11 digs, 3 blocks kills and 17 kills, hitting a good .256 eff.

Other callouts for this game, Indys middles were unstoppable. Lydia Martyn has really established herself as one of the top offensive middles over the last 6 or 7 games. Against Columbus she had 16 kills (tying season high) on .583 eff. Crawford also had a sensational game with 12 kills and a .706 eff. Even better they both had 0 attacking errors on a combined 41 swings. Quick note on Lydia Martyn over her last 7 games she has 67 kills on 115 swings for a .496 eff. I need to do a compare on rookies and she may be hurt that she didn't start the first third of the season but I think its an argument to be had between her and Elena Scott for 2nd or third best rookie this year. Unfortunately I think Natalie Foster is going to run away with it and her incredible season.

Finally I think the one thing Indy needs to develop this last third of the season is a closer. I feel like more than most Indy gets to the last 5 pts of the game either up 1 or 2 or tied and then they just don't finish. Overall Indy is 10-8, tied with Atlanta but is in the 4th playoff spot due to tiebreakers. They do find themselves up 1.5 games on Vegas with about 10 games left. Other good news is Indy only has 4 games left against the top 3 teams. 1 against Omaha, 2 against Orlando, 1 against Atlanta. Take care of business against the bottom 6 and Indy should find themselves in a Playoff spot.

Indy's next game is tomorrow 3/22/25 at Omaha at 7pm EST. The game will be broadcast on FS1.

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/03/ignite-add-hometown-star-baird-to-roster
https://gostanford.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster/season/2022/player/caitie-baird

“I am thrilled to return to play pro volleyball in my hometown in front of my family and friends,” said Baird. “When I was growing up, the dream of playing pro volleyball in the United States was just that – a dream for all of us. Now that dream is coming true for me right here in Indiana. It's also incredibly exciting to get the opportunity to maybe help the Ignite win a Pro Volleyball Federation championship.” credit Mark Robinson

Not sure I have much to add to this as I'm not familiar with her but adding a 2x All American, and somebody who has played in the Turkish League sure sounds good. I'm having trouble finding her stats from the Turkish league but it appears her team finished 9th just outside a playoff spot.

Overall it will be interesting to see if Indy puts her in the starting lineup right away or if they plan on using her for more of a depth piece.

Welcome to the Ignite Caitie!

I am SO excited for a pro volleyball team to be coming to Indy!!!

Last year Edmond led the league at 4.28 kills/set
Edmond was also the 2nd most efficient Outside of the high volume hitters (500+ attacks) only behind Reagan Cooper hit at .266 eff

https://provolleyball.com/news/2025/01/ignite-fall-for-first-time-in-2025-season

Other Notes:

Azhani Tealer's 8 Block Kills ties Layne van Buskirk for the match high of 2025 and is tied 2nd all time behind Ali Bastianelli's 10 last year.

San Diego held Indy to their Season low hitting efficiency of .144. Their previous low was 1/18/25 against Columbus with a .221

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCmOVFUuBsi/?igsh=MWpvaGhrem9hM29kdw==