Alli Hook has a great record when it comes to IPFW Volleyball, and this upcoming season she has a chance to take her young team to the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years.
Hook, a 6 foot tall business major from Findlay, OH., started 31 out of 31 matches last season and led the team in blocks with 115. Hook has the height, and behind her this season, she has great speed and most importantly, experience.
“Both of my previous years we’ve had three seniors so it is a little odd to only have one now but I respect Alli immensely as a person and a players and really want to make her senior year a successful and memorable one,” junior Megan Steenhuysen said. “She’s worked extremely hard to get where she’s at and I know that the team and I are going to work very hard so that she can have a memorable last year.”
Hook has four juniors standing behind her this season, all with valuable playing time.
Two of those, Tessa McGill and Steenhuysen, each took on great leadership roles throughout their careers even as freshman and sophomores.
In the 2009 season, freshman year for McGill and Steenhuysen, IPFW posted a solid 20-12 record and lost only five matches at home. That same season, the Lady Dons swept IUPUI in the Summit League Championships–after being swept by them just weeks earlier–then went on to win the conference tournament in five sets over North Dakota State University, earning them a spot in the NCAA tournament.
In the first NCAA tournament in IPFW Women’s Volleyball history, the Dons were given a rude awakening in Champaign, IL. In three straight sets, IPFW never exceeded 16 points, scoring only 12 in the final set. It was a Big Ten atmosphere in front of 1,360 fans, and the then-freshman Steenhuysen dished out a very impressive 22 assists. Steenhuysen has only gotten better since then, and is eager for another NCAA appearance.
“I was so lucky to have had the opportunity to play in the tournament as a freshman because it allowed me to see and experience our team’s ultimate goal of winning the conference and making the tournament at such a young part in my career,” Steenhuysen said. “Now that I know how awesome of an experience it is, I know how much I want to repeat it again.
IPFW opens the 2011 campaign Aug. 27 against Loyola (Ill.) in the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge. Throughout the weekend, the Dons will battle Ball State before heading to Dayton, OH. to take on Wright State.
On the upcoming season, Steenhuysen commented, “I am very excited for the upcoming year! I feel like teams are going to be after us because we’ve been very successful in the past couple years and I love that,”
“We have some very hard working returners that are ready to keep the success going and some very talented freshman who will have the opportunity to make a very large impact on our team,
“We still have a lot of work to do but are ready to do it and get better everyday in practice so that we can achieve that goal of making it to the Summit League Championships … and winning it!”
