Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Win Three Straight to Defeat Northwestern
11/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
November 2, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Hoosiers faced Northwestern in Evanston Saturday night, looking for redemption after a sore loss to No. 15 Wisconsin Friday in Madison. Indiana found what it was looking for in four games, 3-1 (22-30, 30-26, 30-28, 30-23) and winning three straight to take victory back to Bloomington."Our team displayed a much better effort tonight," said head coach Katie Weismiller. "We played a good game. The kills were much more evenly distributed throughout our team. We also picked it up defensively. Overall, we played like a much different team than we did last night."
IU lifts its record to 16-8, 6-6 in the Big Ten while Northwestern falls to 13-11, 6-6 in the conference.
Melissa Brewer (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North) led the Hoosiers with 20 kills while Katie Pollom (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) had 16 kills and Christina Archibald (Belleville, Ill./West) added 15. Archibald's 15 kills move her into tenth place in the single-season kills record book with a total of 416 on the year.
The Hoosier defense was led by Pollom with seven block assists while Monique Pritz (Columbus, Ind./East) chipped in with four. Pollom's mark ties her career game-high in block assists.
Game one started as a back and forth battle between the Wildcats and the Hoosiers. Archibald served up a unique challenge to Northwestern early in the match with an ace, tying the game at 4-4. The battle waged on as the teams went back and forth with exciting volleys and intimidating kill-setups until Northwestern went on a five-point run, taking an 11-15 lead and forcing Indiana to call for a timeout.
Northwestern continued to dominate on the attacking end, bringing the score to 18-24, pressuring IU to take its second timeout of the game. Returning from the stoppage of play Indiana came out strong, scoring on the ensuing play. IU could muster only three more points in the game before the Wildcats capitalized on the final four plays of the game to own victory in game one, 22-30.
Indiana took an early 3-0 advantage in game two but the hungry Wildcats were not satisfied, tying the score at seven. Northwestern tied the game and then took the lead for the first time in game two off back-to-back block assists. This series of plays roused an offensive effort from the Hoosiers as IU took the momentum to regain and stretch its lead to four points, the largest lead in the second set. The Hoosiers would go on to win game two with that four-point differential. The final score stood at 30-26 in favor of the Cream and Crimson, tying the match at 1-1. Brewer led the Hoosier attack with nine kills as IU out-hit the Wildcats .293 to .184.
IU took the energy from game two into game three, jumping out to an early lead. A Pollom kill gave the Hoosiers the largest lead of the evening to that point, 12-7. The Wildcats would rally but it was not enough to stave off the Hoosier offense as they won their second straight game, taking a 2-1 advantage entering game four.
True to form on the evening, the Hoosiers took the early lead, scoring the first three points of game four. The Pollom/Pritz wall teamed up for back-to-back block assists giving Indiana a 13-7 advantage. A service ace by Nikki Hill gave IU its biggest lead of game four, widening the gap, 25-18. A blocking error by the Wildcats ended game four, 30-23 sealing the Hoosier victory 3-1.
"We put yesterday's loss in the past because there was nothing we could do about it. We focused on tonight's match and beating Northwestern," said Hill. "We really played as a team tonight and we improved our record which is especially important in the Big Ten."
The Hoosiers return home Friday, November 8, to face Big Ten opponent Michigan State. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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