Indiana University Athletics
IU Falls to 15th-Ranked ND
9/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
South Bend, Ind. - Facing a ranked opponent is never easy, especially on its home court, and that proved to be the case Friday night. The 15th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-1) defeated Indiana (4-3) 30-24, 30-23, 28-30, 30-19 in the opener for both teams in the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational.
"Notre Dame is a real good team," said head coach Katie Weismiller. "I thought they did a real good job isolating hitters, and they did a real nice job offensively. At times we were really in system. Our defense picked up. At crucial times we made some out-of-system mistakes. Overall, our service was better tonight, and we keep seeing improvement from game to game."
Ready for the challenge of facing one of the top teams in the nation, the Hoosiers charged out to a 6-2 lead in game one. However, the Irish responded with a 4-0 run of their own, evening the game at 6-6. IU regained the lead and held an 18-16 advantage before Notre Dame took control of the game with five unanswered points. Down the stretch, Indiana could not sustain any rally, dropping the game, 30-24.
After falling behind 10-4 in game two, the Hoosiers rallied behind kills from four different players, cutting the deficit to 15-13. In danger of seeing its lead disappear, the Irish came back with a 6-2 run, pushing the lead back to six points at 21-15.
Junior Victoria Zimmerman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) halted the run with a kill and senior Nikki Hill (Muncie, Ind./Central) added a kill of her own before Notre Dame again responded with a run, building the lead to seven points at 27-20. A kill by senior Melissa Brewer (Bloomington, Ind./North) and a block solo by junior Katie Pollom (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) brought IU back within four points, but Notre Dame scored the game's final three points for the victory.
Down two games to zero, Indiana played well early in game three, grabbing a 6-4 lead. With the game even, 8-8, Zimmerman rattled off three-consecutive kills and Pollom added a service ace and a block assist, giving the Hoosiers a 14-11 lead.
The Irish quieted the IU run and regained the lead, 17-15, but junior Christina Archibald (Belleville, Ill./West) was determined to keep Indiana alive in the match. Archibald nailed five kills in an 11-6 Hoosier run that gave IU a 26-23 lead. ND twice trimmed the Indiana lead to one point and Archibald shut the door both times with two huge kills, willing IU to a 30-28 victory and extending the match to a fourth game. Archibald finished with a game-high 10 kills.
Trailing 10-6 in game four, the Hoosiers pulled to within one point after three Fighting Irish errors. Four IU errors pushed the ND lead to 14-9, and Indiana never recovered. Brewer and Pollom tried bringing the Hoosiers back, recording four kills apiece in the game, but Notre Dame finished off the game and the match with a 30-19 victory.
Zimmerman offered a fine all-around performance delivering 48 assists, six kills and 12 digs while Archibald terminated 19 kills, extending her streak with 10-plus kills to 18 matches.
IU returns to the court tomorrow afternoon in its second match of the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational against South Carolina (2-5) at 4:30 p.m. The Gamecocks dropped a three-game match to Utah in the opening match of the event.
"South Carolina is a good, athletic team," said Weismiller. "They are going to come at us from all zones. We're going to have to do a nice job from the service line and try and keep them out-of-system."
