Indiana University Athletics
Indiana Wears Down IUPUI, 3-0
8/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
August 31, 2002
DeKalb, Ill. - After defeating Drake, 3-0, in its first match of the Best Western Invitational early Friday evening, Indiana returned to Victor E Court at Northern Illinois' new $35.8 million Convocation Center early Saturday afternoon looking for its second consecutive victory to begin the 2002 campaign.Similar to yesterday's match vs. Drake, Indiana (2-0) recorded a 3-0 victory over IUPUI and was very impressive in two of the three games, while struggling to overcome a late deficit in one of the three stanzas. Sophomore captain Katie Pollom (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) led the Hoosiers as she recorded 14 kills in 16 total attacks, with no attack errors, to notch an incredible hitting percentage of .875. Indiana hit .355 as a team on its way to earning a 30-20, 30-28, 30-14 victory.
"Our passing was great and our serving was on but we have to improve our blocking," said Indiana head coach Katie Weismiller. "Katie (Pollom) did a really nice job for us offensively. She came to us last night and said that she wanted to be a go-to player for us offensively and she definitely was that today. Fourteen-of-16 with no errors is one of the best hitting percentages that we've ever had at Indiana."
Despite the proximity of the two schools, Indiana had not met IUPUI in volleyball prior to today's match since November 11, 1977, when the Hoosiers defeated the Indianapolis-based school, 2-0. IUPUI (0-2) fell to the host Huskies, 3-0, in the second match of the tournament Friday night and the Jaguars were looking to earn their first win of the young season in today's match against their intrastate opponent.
With several former Hoosiers in attendance, including Christina Sanderson, Indiana's single-season recorder holder in assists with 1,557 in 1997, Indiana looked to get off to a fast start in today's match and did so with a 30-20 victory in game one that saw the Hoosiers record a .448 hitting percentage.
To open the match, Indiana quickly grabbed a 5-1 lead on three kills by sophomore outside hitter Christina Archibald (Belleville, Ill./West) and one by Pollom. Yet, despite the quick start by the Hoosiers, the Jaguars answered with four consecutive points to tie the game at 5-5. Indiana then regrouped to score eight of the next nine points between the two teams to take a 13-6 lead. The Hoosiers took a 12-6 lead on a tremendous dig by junior Monique Pritz (Columbus, Ind./East) that set up a kill by junior Academic All-America candidate Melissa Brewer (Bloomington, Ind./North), who finished the match with 14 kills and a .524 hitting percentage. Pritz then increased the IU lead to 13-6 with one of her three service aces on the day, prompting IUPUI head coach Steve Payne to call time out.
Following the stoppage in play, Indiana kept the Jaguars at arms length through the latter portion of the game, taking a nine-point advantage on several occasions. After the Hoosiers had taken a 25-16 lead, IUPUI pulled to within six points at 25-19 but Indiana scored the next two points of the game to take an insurmountable 27-19 lead. Beth Heimann (Decatur, Ill./Bellmont) then saw her first action of the year as she served on each of the Hoosiers' final two points of the game ---- a block and a kill by Brewer that gave the Hoosiers the game.
After the Hoosiers' impressive play in game one, IUPUI bounced back to take a 6-4 lead in game two. Indiana answered and secured a 7-6 advantage on a kill by Archibald. The two teams were then involved in a back-and-forth affair with the game tied at 9-9 through 18-18 before Indiana finally took a 20-18 advantage. IUPUI again tied the game at 22-22 before Weismiller called time out. Following the pause in play, IUPUI eventually grabbed a 25-23 lead before Indiana again tied the game at 25-25, prompting IUPUI to call a time out of its own. Indiana grabbed a 26-25 lead on a back row kill by Archibald, who was serving, and then eventually took a 28-25 lead on a kill by Brewer. Following an IUPUI time out, the Jaguars pulled to within 29-28 before Indiana called time out to try to stem the tide. The coaching ploy worked as Brewer's kill answered an IUPUI serve to end the game.
While IUPUI was attempting to recover from a difficult second-game loss, Indiana quickly grabbed a 5-2 lead in game three behind the strength of two Pollom kills. IU increased its lead to 11-4 on back-to-back net violations by the Jaguars, and a high-velocity service ace by sophomore setter Victoria Zimmerman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington), who finished the match with 42 assists and two service aces. Indiana took a 22-8 lead and never looked back on its way to a 30-14 victory. Freshman Ashley White (St. Charles, Ill./East) saw the first action of her career late in the third game.
"We set a goal between the second and third games that we didn't want to allow more that 15 points," said Weismiller. "Maybe we need to set that goal more often."
Indiana will complete action in this weekend's tournament vs. the host Huskies at 7:00 p.m. this evening. Northern Illinois earned an NCAA Tournament bid in 2001.
"Northern Illinois is very good," said Weismiller. "They know they are good and they are scrappy and they're small. They run a lot of fast plays and we'll have to have our A game to win."
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