Indiana Volleyball is having itself a season. It is one of it’s best seasons in years. They just beat Purdue for the first time since 2012, ending a 21-game losing streak to the Boilermakers. They’re currently 5-3 in Big Ten Conference games so far this season. If that record holds, it will be the first time since 2002 that they finish with a record of .500 or better in conference games.
The excitement for Indiana Volleyball has increased dramatically in Bloomington, and there are four guys who work behind the scenes, contributing to the success the team has enjoyed so far this season. The four men practice with the team and try to imitate some of the players the team will face in the Big Ten.
Their names are Luke Morley, (Sophomore), Zachary Mayer, (Senior), Eduardo Marxuach, (Junior), and Justin Jehl, (Sophomore). They do more than just show up to practice and play. Much more work goes in behind the scenes. They watch film with one of the assistant coaches to learn swing tendencies and playing styles of the players and they replicate it in practice.
“We’ll do tendencies about an hour before practice, two hours before practice,” Jehl said. Just learning what kind of shots they take, what kind of tips, rolls– any kind of aspect of the game that we can try and replicate.”
“He’ll [Assistant Coach Brett Agne] be like, Nat [Natalia Hagopian] is going to set a ball that’s inside,” Morley said. “We want you to cut it back to Cam [Camryn Haworth] at this height, with this amount of speed. We want to perfectly emulate what the other teams are going to be doing.
The four practice volleyball players talk about what value they bring to the IU Volleyball program.
While they love playing volleyball and are talented enough to replicate some of the best players in the Big Ten, they did not end up playing volleyball in college. Morley attempted it, but his recruitment was thrown off because of COVID-19. But the problem for them is the major difference in the number of schools that have men’s volleyball.
There are over 300 Division-1 women’s volleyball teams (334 to be exact) and just 26 Division-1 men’s volleyball teams.
Given the lack of Division-1 men’s volleyball teams, the odds were against them. However, three of them play on the club volleyball team together at IU, so they do still get some of the competitive aspect of volleyball outside of practice.
The four practice volleyball players talk about their career path and the reasons they decided not to play volleyball in college.
With so much time spent at practice playing with the team, the practice players have built strong relationships with the team.
“The girls have become some of my great friends too,” Mayer said. “They’re really just kind and welcoming and fun to be around.”
Mayer said he spends a lot of time with Isa Lopez, Kaley Rammelsberg, and Carly Mills. They go to church together when they aren’t traveling for games. Their houses are also close, just around a block away from each other, so they’ll get together for a bonfire or other outdoor activities.
Morley said that the practice players and the team go to football tailgates together as well.
“Everyone is friends, and I like that,” Morley said.
