Indiana University Athletics
IU Falls in Championship
8/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Coral Gables, Fla. - The Indiana volleyball team dropped a four-game match to Miami, Fla., in the championship game of the Hurricane Invitational 30-19, 26-30, 30-23, 30-20. IU gave the Hurricanes (3-0), who are receiving votes in the AVCA/USA Today Top 25, all they could handle before coming up short.
All in all, head coach Katie Weismiller was pleased with the team's 2-1 record and its overall opening-weekend performance.
"I think with each match we saw improvement and we are getting better and better," said Weismiller. "Miami was a tough opponent and we did a lot of things well against them. Our outside hitters have really come along and they played really well. Overall, we are still working on lineups and are still trying to figure out how to use our personnel. We are getting better in all our skill areas."
Hungry for a championship, the Hoosiers started quickly in the opening game behind two kills by senior Melissa Brewer jumping ahead 4-1. The Hurricanes regained their composure and grabbed an 8-6 lead before back-to-back kills by seniors Monique Pritz and Katie Pollom tied the game at 8-8. With the score even at 10-10, Miami went on a 7-2 spurt building a 17-12 lead IU could not overcome. Brewer tried to spark a Hoosier rally nailing consecutive kills closing the gap to 18-15. However, the Hurricanes responded with six-unanswered points essentially putting the game away. Miami captured the opener 30-20. Brewer led Indiana with five kills.
Led by junior Christina Archibald and her two kills, the Hoosiers opened game two with an early 6-4 lead. IU extended its lead to 11-6 after several Hurricane miscues and kills by Pritz and sophomore Ashley White. Indiana maintained its five-point advantage at 14-9 when Miami went on a 3-0 run to slice the lead to two. Another Hurricane miscue stopped the rally and propelled the Hoosiers on their own four-point run making it 18-12. The lead would not last long as Miami rattled off the next six points evening the match at 18-18. After the teams split the next six points, Pollom picked up a huge block solo followed by Brewer and Zimmerman kills giving IU the lead once again at 25-22. Two Brewer kills and one kill by Archibald moved the Indiana lead to 28-24 and the Hoosiers closed out the match 30-26 after two Miami hitting errors. Archibald compiled five kills and Brewer added four kills, one block solo and one block assist in the game, as the Hurricanes dropped their first game of the season.
With the match even at one-game apiece, Miami opened the important third game scoring seven of the first eight and 11 of the game's first 14 points, building an insurmountable 11-3 lead. Trailing 15-8, the Hoosiers staged a furious rally, scoring four-unanswered points to make it a ballgame at 15-12, but two IU hitting errors and two Hurricane points slammed the Hoosier window of opportunity shut. Miami maintained its seven-point lead at 21-14 when the Hoosiers charged back one more time. A kill by Brewer followed by a Hurricane hitting error and a Pollom block solo sliced the Miami lead to 21-17, but the Hurricanes captured three of the next four points, giving themselves some breathing room at 24-18. Miami finished the game off with a 30-23 victory taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
Needing a victory in the fourth game to continue the match, Indiana could not muster any offense against the Hurricanes suffocating defense in the early going, falling behind 6-3. After exchanging the next eight points, Miami netted three of the next four points on its way to a 13-8 lead. Brewer and White cut the lead to three after back-to-back kills, but the Hurricanes firepower proved to be too much the rest of the way. The Hurricanes scored the next three points en route to taking the largest lead of the game at 16-10. White tried to bring the Hoosiers back with three-consecutive kills and one block assist, helping IU slice the lead to 17-15. However, after a Miami time out, the Hurricanes responded with three-straight points putting Indiana away. Archibald tried bringing IU back, drilling two kills to make it 22-19, but Miami claimed four of the next five points, reclaiming its six-point margin. Despite White's six kills in the game, Miami closed out the game by a score of 30-20 and claimed the victory, 3-1.
Archibald led the Hoosiers with 15 kills followed by Brewer, who contributed 14 kills. Senior Beth Heimann provided a defensive spark with a match-high 20 kills and Zimmerman distributed 41 assists and added 15 kills.
Additionally, Archibald and Brewer capped big weekends representing Indiana on the All-Tournament team.
The Hoosiers have a week off before their next contest and Weismiller plans to iron out some of the team's shortcomings.
"Our timing has to get better with the middles," said Weismiller. "They have been the bread and butter of Indiana volleyball the last few years. Hopefully we'll get back in the gym and get our middle timing a little better."
IU returns home next Friday against IUPUI at the TIS/Taylor Invitational. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at University Gym.
Hurricane Invitational All-Tournament Team
Christina Archibald - Indiana
Melissa Brewer - Indiana
Goedele van Cauteren - Manhattan
Danielle Holt - Kent State
Jamie Grass - Miami
Elizabeth Tyson - Miami
MVP - Valeria Tipiana
