Indianapolis, IN

‘Fast-paced and a roller coaster:’ Indy Ignite electrify fans in season opening win

Published

12 months ago

January 12, 2025

‘Fast-paced and a roller coaster:’ Indy Ignite electrify fans in season opening win

FISHERS — After a nervous, out-of-rhythm first set that ended in a 25-13 loss to the Orlando Valkyries, the light turned on for the Indy Ignite who promptly swept the next three sets for a season-opening win inside the sold-out Fishers Event Center.

The victory was a team effort led by a dynamic duo of outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh and opposite Azhani Tealer, who combined for 44 kills and 49 points of the Ignite’s 88 total points scored.

Inside the arena, official attendance of 6,089, the fans were rowdy and raucous. “Thank you fans for making history with us,” the announcer shouted. This was Indy’s newest chapter in women’s professional sports.

“It reminded me a lot of the Fever games,” said Mandy Gripe, a season ticket holder for the Ignite and Fever. “I think that women’s sports have crossed the tipping point, and it just feels really cool to see it and witness all of it. It’s history.”

The Ignite played behind until the second set when the team took a 15-14 lead after a string of kills by Member-Meneh. Next point? Another kill by Member Meneh. After setter Sydney Hilley dumped on two, the Ignite were up 18-16.

The Valkyries, who swept their season opener Thursday against the San Diego Mojo, didn’t take another lead the rest of the match. Set two: 25-19. Set three: 25-17. Set four: 25-21.

Hilley racked up 44 assists and libero Kylie Murr scoured the floor for 12 digs and five assists. Rounding out the key players of the match with five points each were middle blocker Blake Mohler, outside hitter Nina Cajic and middle blocker Caroline Crawford.

After the match, hundreds of fans waited in line for autographs from Ignite players. Luke Miller and Asher Wilson came to the opener not knowing what to expect.

“I’ve always been a little bit of a fan of volleyball, so I thought I’d come check it out, you know?” said Miller. “I was surprised how electric it was. (Member-Meneh) has some hops. She can jump.”

Member-Meneh, who serves at more than 60 miles per hour, also had 18 digs.

In attendance for the team’s first win were Indianapolis Colts player Kenny Moore, commissioner Jen Spicher of the Pro Volleyball Federation and every mascot in the city, including the Colts’ Blue, there to support Ignite mascot Pepper’s debut.

“What most struck me upon entering was the number of young girls with their parents,” said Jake Query, sports radio host of ‘Query & Company’ on 107.5 The Fan. “I love that they have another option for role models.”

One role model who stood out was Member-Meneh, he said. “Leketor is Gary Brackett, Lance Stephenson and Brian Cardinal. The kind of selfless lunch pail athlete Indy loves.”

After attending the Ignite match, Query said he believes the team will catch on.

“Volleyball is a rhythm, momentum sport,” he said. “It is fast paced and a roller coaster.”

For Annabell Gripe, who plays for the Monon Select Club, she said there was a “wow” factor inside the arena.

“It was more than I expected it to be,” she said. “This is crazy that it’s a sold-out women’s sport. Women’s sports are so underrated.”

Her grandmother Gail Gripe, who coached volleyball at Lafayette Jeff and was there before Title IX was enacted, said the Ignite were another step toward gender equality in sports.

“I think that the Fever and the women’s Olympic soccer team and all of this has started this really good ignition. Women’s sports has really been taken notice of,” she said. “They’re so good at what they do. The fact that this was sold out, that’s very important. There are going to be more people that have to come back for this.”

The Ignite’s next match is 7 p.m. Thursday against the Grand Rapids Rise at the Fishers Event Center.

Saturday’s match was the first of 28 for the Ignite this season. Six of those will be broadcast nationally in partnership with CBS and FOX Sports. The remaining matches can be streamed on the PVF YouTube channel. The six Ignite matches designated for national broadcast are:

· January 18 at Columbus, CBS Sports Network, 10:30 p.m. (tape delay)
· February 2 vs. Columbus, FS2, 6 p.m.
· February 8 at Orlando, FS2, 7 p.m.
· February 16 at Atlanta, CBS Sports Network, 6 p.m.
· February 27 vs. Vegas, FS2, 8 p.m.
· March 22 at Omaha, FS1, 7 p.m.

Indy will also play host to the PVF All-Star Match that airs live on the national CBS network at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 22. It will be the first all-star match in league history and the first pro volleyball match to air on CBS’ main over-the-air network.

Follow the Indy Ignite on Facebook, Instagram and X. Purchase tickets.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

Source link

Click to comment

Indianapolis, IN

Everything Taylor Swift said about Indy in the Eras Tour docuseries

Published

8 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Everything Taylor Swift said about Indy in the Eras Tour docuseries

Stop the presses: Taylor Swift talked about Indianapolis.

Yes, little old us! From the biggest artist in the world’s lips to millions of TV screens across the world, a major Indianapolis moment. We’re even on a nickname basis: She said “Indy.” She likes us, she really likes us!

The Circle City gets a shoutout from Swift and some serious screen time in the fourth episode of “The End of an Era,” the new Disney+ documentary series chronicling Swift’s record-smashing Eras Tour. The six-episode series features behind-the-scenes footage of Swift, her family and friends and the Eras Tour crew throughout her two-year globetrot that clocked 149 shows in 51 cities, including three shows in Indianapolis in November 2024.

Several notable names pop up in the series — Kansas City Chiefs tight end and Swift’s fiancé Travis Kelce, for one, along with her pop protégés Sabrina Carpenter and Gracie Abrams. But the real star of the show in episode four, “Thank You for the Lovely Bouquet”? The downtown Indianapolis JW Marriott, of course.

The hotel is known for plastering graphics of the people, teams and events du jour on the side of its 376-foot building, and Swift got more than a casual nod when Indianapolis relished in the Taylor Treatment. In case you missed it, a so-much-larger-than-life image of Swift — classic red lips, body suit and boots, pink acoustic guitar in hand — graced the building.

Abrams, who opened for Swift in Indianapolis during her Nov. 1, 2 and 3, 2024 shows, spotted the graphic first and texted Swift about it while she was in transit.

“Gracie texted me and she was like, ‘I knew you were tall, but check this out,’” Swift, who stands 5-foot-10, said in the documentary. “I’m on the side of the hotel, like a million feet tall.”

The tribute struck a chord with Swift. Remember that unfortunate “sexy baby” line from “Anti-Hero,” the lead single off her 2022 album “Midnights”? The one where she envisions herself as this colossal omen “slowly lurching toward your favorite city”?

Turns out, being emblazoned on one of Indianapolis’ most notable structures isn’t all that dissimilar.

“I used to have this joke, and that’s part of why I wrote ‘Anti-Hero.’ It’s like, ‘I’m a 5-foot-10 woman followed around by 500-foot-tall monster shadow, and this monster just knocks over buildings and wreaks all this havoc,” Swift continued. “Me being that size tall and I’m a hotel, it’s like, ‘Eh, that’s kind of how it feels sometimes.’”

Local efforts to transform downtown into Swift City paid off in documentary screen time. Cameras captured the friendship bracelet décor strung across The District Tap, renamed street signs like Ready For It Road and Long Live Lane and groups of fans dancing and singing at the corner of Meridian Street and Georgia Street. (And if you crane your neck and really squint, you’ll catch the IndyStar sign outside our former home at the Circle Center Mall.)

Indianapolis had the rare distinction of closing out the Eras Tour’s U.S. dates with Swift’s Nov. 1-3 run of shows. That run also came days before the 2024 presidential election, and the significance of the timing wasn’t lost on Swift.

“The one thing I can provide for people is an escape, like nothing could ever or should ever bother any of us. And nothing will for three-and-a-half hours,” Swift said in the documentary. “I’m glad that I will have given just 100% girlhood and hope and belief and sweat and effort, because that’s the job.”

Contact IndyStar Pop Culture Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X @hmb_1013.

Source link

Indianapolis, IN

Shoppers find calm amidst holiday rush at Fashion Mall at Keystone

Published

20 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Shoppers find calm amidst holiday rush at Fashion Mall at Keystone

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Procrastinators on Tuesday hit the Fashion Mall at Keystone to snag those last-minute gifts.

There were lines to get to shops, including jeweler Pandora, but that didn’t stop 8-year-old Blane Randolph from getting something for his mom. He’s looked at getting a frame or bracelets. “It feels good, because I like giving stuff to people.”

The National Retail Federation has estimates consumers are each budgeting an average of $890 for seasonal items, and that holiday sales in the U.S. will surpass $1 trillion.

Experts say buying at brick-and-mortar stores means having last-minute gifts in hand without worrying about shipping.

James Payer of the Fashion Mall at Keystone on the north side of Indianapolis described the shoppers as calm this season. “The stress level isn’t as stressful as it used to be, because people have a plan and they’re executing that plan.”

He recommended grabbing a coffee or a gelato while shopping to enjoy the experience.

Besides the big box stores, News 8 got a chance to stop by a local gift shop called Silver in the City in downtown Indianapolis and spoke to shopper Jennifer Courteney. “I love shopping small and making sure we’re using stores that are local and not big box stores for everything, so it’s really important to shop small and support local business on Mass Avenue.”

She got little baby socks with meatball prints, and a Star Wars book for a new dad. She didn’t seem too frazzled by the last-minute shopping.

Source link

Indianapolis, IN

Why former starting CB Jaylon Jones is buried on Colts depth chart

Published

1 day ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Why former starting CB Jaylon Jones is buried on Colts depth chart

INDIANAPOLIS — The fall Jaylon Jones has taken down the Colts depth chart has been one of the most surprising developments of this season.

Jones, a full-time starter in his first two years in Indianapolis, played only four defensive snaps against the 49ers on Monday, a night when Jones was the team’s clear-cut fifth cornerback despite injuries to Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward.

Monday night’s game was the fourth time in seven games that Jones has played fewer than five snaps, and from the sounds of it, even an abysmal defensive performance that hemorrhaged 440 yards and 41 points is no guarantee that Jones will be elevated on the depth chart for this week’s game against Jacksonville.

“We evaluate each guy each week, and certainly, everything will be up at that position to be evaluated going forward,” defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said. “We’ll look at all avenues.”

The team’s reluctance to play Jones stems from a hamstring injury that plagued the third-year cornerback throughout the summer.

Jones first suffered the hamstring injury during organized team activities in the summer, injured it again a couple of days into training camp and pulled it significantly again in the season opener, robbing Jones of precious time to learn how he fits in Anarumo’s scheme.

“Obviously, starting the year with the injury kind of set him back,” Colts defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson said. “If we would have had him throughout all of training camp and continuing to play, obviously, I think he plays better.”

Jones has never been through an injury like that one.

He dealt with a significant hamstring injury in college that forced him to miss the first two games of a season, but Jones had never missed that much time before.

The experience taught him something.

“Trusting my process, man, understanding I need to do all the right things, make sure my body’s ready to go and I’m available,” Jones said. “A learning experience.”

The time in the training room seems to have driven a wedge between Jones and the field. Jones has played 149 defensive snaps in seven games this season, starting against Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, but he hasn’t been able to hold onto that spot consistently. In those snaps, Jones has limited opponents to 9 of 18 passing for 117 yards, a touchdown and an 89.4 rating when he’s the nearest defender in coverage, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

But Indianapolis has consistently chosen trade pickup Mekhi Blackmon over Jones in a pinch; now, undrafted rookie Johnathan Edwards and street free agent Cameron Mitchell have passed a player who started 27 games the past two seasons and played 1,932 snaps for the Colts. Of those three, only Blackmon has a better rating against him than Jones (88.4) and he’s given up a higher completion rate.

Henderson rebuffed a question last week about whether Jones is a poor fit for Anarumo’s defense.

“None of them are perfect,” Henderson said. “Even the best ones have things in their game you wish you could tweak and change. … You try to grow them in the area he needs to grow, keep him confident in the areas that he’s really good at. If he’s in, use him to his strengths.”

Indianapolis believes the 6-2, 200-pound Jones is best suited to playing against tight ends.

“He’s doing well in the role that he plays,” Henderson said. “He’s going to go guard the really good tight end pass-catchers in this league.”

From a philosophical standpoint, the role sounds weighty, particularly for an Indianapolis defense that has given up the second-most yards in the NFL to tight ends this season.

Practically, Jones is playing more of a bit part.

Anarumo has talked a lot about getting more defensive backs onto the field to avoid pitting a tight end against linebackers regularly, and Jones seems to be the perfect solution.

Except that the Colts actually reserve those looks for a handful of passing situations each game. If a team attacks Indianapolis on first or second down, an opposing tight end is often looking for holes in the zone against Colts linebackers Zaire Franklin and Germaine Pratt.

“We don’t go into any game looking at linebackers covering tight ends at all,” Anarumo said. “Our deal is to try to match up, and that would be more in the true passing situations. … That was a little bit of the predicament last night.”

Jones is handling his reduced role without complaining publicly.

He has tried to focus on his own game, rather than the decisions that have kept him on the sidelein.

“Looking in the mirror, being consistent within myself, within my game,” Jones said. “Once I do that, I think it takes care of everything else. … Being consistent with my process, zoning in on the little details. I’m just happy doing my role, playing my role, trying to help my team win games.”

But it has not been easy.

“In moments like this, just growing,” Jones said. “I think I became more of a man this year, just because there’s going to be adversity in the road, there’s going to be bumps in the road, things like that, but I’m just doing my role, doing what I can for this team so we can win games.”

Even though it’s hard to play a big role in a team’s wins or losses when a cornerback spends all but a handful of snaps on the sideline.

Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.

Source link