IUS volleyball team in quarantine after possible COVID-19 exposure
Two week break taken “out of an abundance of caution”
File photo of IU Southeast Activities Building
August 29, 2020
The IU Southeast volleyball team is self-quarantining after a possible COVID-19 exposure, according to IUS Director of Athletics Joe Glover.
“I can confirm that the volleyball team at IU Southeast is on a two-week break from team activity out of an abundance of caution because an individual associated with the program tested positive with COVID-19,” Glover wrote in an email to The Horizon.
“Everyone involved is doing well and is being monitored by our excellent sports medicine team,” he said.
This voluntary self-quarantine is one of many preventative measures IUS is taking this week as students return to campus for the fall semester amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The obvious precautions, for example, are a daily questionnaire, temperature checks, masks, and maintaining social distancing,” IUS Women’s Volleyball Coach Eric Brian said. “We’re also keeping the players [in] small groups or cohorts that we keep more separate as well.”
Brian declined to comment specifically on the team’s self-quarantine, citing student privacy concerns.
“Our biggest opponent [this season] will undoubtedly be the Coronavirus,” Brian said. “Keeping players safe is our number one priority. As such, we are likely to have to pull players from practices and competition. I think it [is] realistic to believe that, COVID aside, even allergies, stomach bugs, and other conditions are likely to produce symptoms that will require us to pull players out to make sure we are keeping players safe. This will surely cause us to have to use various line-ups and strategies along the way.”
Glover is confident the team will be able to return to practice next week.
“We are taking all necessary actions to protect our community, and our protocols are working well. We expect the volleyball team to return to practice in the middle of next week,” he said.
The Grenadiers, who ranked second in the River States Conference Coaches Preseason Poll, are scheduled to begin their regular season on Thursday, Sept. 17, when they host Oakland City University to open conference play.
