Sharon Dingman wants her team to hit the ground running when the regular season begins Aug. 31 against No. 26 Louisville in Redbird Arena.
So, she has planned a 'competitive' Red/White scrimmage for 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25 in Redbird Arena as a final public tune-up for the season opener, the first round of the Barker GMC Classic, also in the Arena.
"We started talking to our players last spring about meeting the challenges of our early-season schedule," said Dingman, whose team also meets No. 21 Utah and No. 23 South Carolina in the opening three weeks of the season. ISU also plays No. 20 Notre Dame in November, No. 32 Northern Iowa in conference play and a Wisconsin-Milwaukee team which is receiving votes for the Top 25.
"We know that we were one win away from an NCAA bid last year," said Dingman. "That win could have come in any of five matches. This year, we have the opportunity to win those matches, but we have to be prepared to meet those teams early in the season."
Dingman's veteran team -- five seniors and seven juniors among 17 players -- has bought into the early-season challenges.
"They have known what the schedule would be like for months," said Dingman. "The players have been working and training and preparing for the challenges they will face."
One of the challenges all teams will face is a new rally scoring system which has eliminated the side-out. A match win is still best-of-five, but games one through four will be rally scored to 30 and game five will continue to be rally scored to 15 points.
The scrimmage, which is open to the public at no charge, will feature a pair of 'mini-matches.' Teams will play a best two-of-three format. Games one and two will be rally scored to 30 and game three, if necessary, will be scored to 15. Then Dingman will switch her rosters and repeat the same two-of-three format.
"We will be looking to see how the new scoring system impacts match-ups and rotations," said Dingman.
