IU Volleyball began the 2009 season with a dominating performance against Southeastern Louisiana at the Flo Hyman Invitational in Houston, Texas. Indiana swept the Lions by scores of 25-13, 25-18 and 25-17. All 13 healthy players saw action in the match.

"We were unusually calm for a first match of the season," said Head Coach Sherry Dunbar. "I felt like we were in control no matter who was on the floor."

Preseason All-Big Ten selection Ashley Benson hammered home 11 kills while hitting .444 to lead the potent IU offense. As a team, the Hoosiers posted an attack percentage of .386 (42-10-83). Jordan Haverly, Kelsey Hall, Taylor Wittmer and Whitney Thomas also had strong showings on the offensive side of the net. While Haverly racked up nine kills, Hall and Thomas each chipped in six apiece. Wittmer was very efficient with her six swings, connecting for kills on four of them. Ten different Hoosiers notched at least one kill on the night. Freshman Ivie Obeime began her collegiate career with a pair of kills on her first two attack attempts. Setters Mary Chaudoin and Whitney Granado guided the offense with a combined 37 assists.

It took just six points for Thomas to tally her first kill since 2006 (when she was playing high school), connecting with Granado for the Hoosiers' fourth point of the evening. Thomas took a four-year hiatus from competitive volleyball while putting together one of the finest careers in Indiana Women's Basketball history. In 2009 she is taking advantage of a NCAA rule which affords student-athletes a fifth year of eligibility to play a different sport.

Defensively, senior Kelsey Hall led the way for IU, digging 10 balls in the contest. Benson was force at the net with four rejections, including a solo block. Haverly, Thomas and Thrower each contributed two stuffs of their own.

Indiana belted nine aces from the service line, paced by Haverly and her four aces. Granado got the call from Coach Dunbar to open the match at the service line, and Granado responded with an ace on her first career serve. Not to be out-done by her fellow freshman, Haverly accomplished the same feat on her first punch from behind the service line. Indiana was impressive receiving serves as well, successfully handling 41 of 42 serves and hitting the setters with nice passes all night long.

"I'm very proud of our serve receive tonight," said Dunbar. "We could run any offense we wanted. We had a good serving ratio as well, and that's tough to do with so many jump serves. That's been a focus of ours in practice and it's nice to see it carry over to real competition."

The opening set was all Indiana as the Hoosier offense was hitting on all cylinders with a .407 team hitting efficiency (14-3-27). Bloomington High School North graduates Benson and Thomas combined for nine kills at a .727 pace in the first set win. That duo was joined by freshman Samantha Thrower with two blocks each as well. Indiana's aggressive serving was also evident in the season-opening set as the Hoosiers recorded fives aces. IU doubled-up SELU at 10-5 early on, leading the entire way and never looking back en route to a 25-13 final tally. Indiana had an impressive side-out percentage of 92 percent.

Indiana laid off the throttle a bit to the start the second stanza, unable to grab their first lead until the 11-10 mark. The Hoosiers lead remained at a lone point, 17-16, before an 8-2 run from then on sealed the deal and created a 25-18 final score. For the set, the Cream and Crimson added 13 more kills and hit at a .321 clip.

Haverly hit her groove in the third frame with five put-aways on just six swings. She finished the night with a .350 hitting percentage (9-2-20). The Hoosiers jumped ahead 8-7 and led the rest of the way. Indiana improved to 1-0 on the season by finalizing the victory, 25-17, in the third set.

Tune into IUHoosiers.com Saturday for two more IU Volleyball matches. Live audio is available for all matches, free of charge, at IUHoosiers.com. Indiana is set to take on the University of Orleans at 12:30 pm. EST and the University of Houston at 8:30 pm. EST.