Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Lose Five-Game Heartbreaker
9/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
South Bend, Ind. -- The Indiana volleyball rallied from a two-game deficit before falling to South Carolina in five games (30-15, 30-24, 30-32, 15-10) at the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational. IU drops to 4-4 on the season and 1-2 in five-game matches, while the Gamecocks improve to 3-5.
"We started off really, really flat," said head coach Katie Weismiller. "They attacked us hard from the service line in games one and two. South Carolina does a nice job offensively. I thought we came back and handled the ball well in games three and four. There was a huge difference in our offense when we passed the ball well."
USC opened game one scoring five of the first seven points and never trailed in the game, winning the opener, 30-15. The Hoosiers trailed, 15-11 when the Gamecocks ended the game with a 15-4 run.
Game two saw Indiana get off to a promising start, jumping to out a 9-6 lead fueled by kills by senior Monique Pritz (Columbus, Ind./East), junior Victoria Zimmerman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and junior Christina Archibald (Belleville, Ill./West). After South Carolina evened the game at 14-14, USC used a 9-2 run to build a seven-point lead. The Hoosiers put together a rally, slicing the deficit to 25-21, but Carolina put the game away and took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 30-24 victory.
Sophomore Ashley White (St. Charles, Ill./East) led Indiana with five kills in nine attempts in the game.
IU ran off to an 8-6 lead in game four with senior Melissa Brewer (Bloomington, Ind./North) nailing three kills during the stretch. The Gamecocks bounced back to even the match at 9-9, and the score remained tied at 18-18 when USC rolled off three-unanswered points building a 21-18 lead.
Unlike the previous two games, the Hoosiers responded with a flourish of their own. Junior Katie Pollom (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) started a 3-0 Hoosier run with her third kill of the game and a kill by Brewer gave Indiana its first lead since 9-6 at 25-24. Archibald followed with a pair of kills as IU extended its lead to 28-25. Once again, the Gamecocks came back, reclaiming the lead at 30-29, but the Hoosiers would not be denied. Pritz drilled a kill, tying the score at 30-30, and IU closed out the game with a block assist from Zimmerman and Pollom and a Carolina error, forcing a fourth game after a 32-30 win.
Archibald contributed five kills and Brewer added four in a game that featured 14 ties and seven lead changes.
Feeding off the momentum gathered after game three's victory, the Hoosiers opened up an 8-5 lead in game four. Archibald made sure Indiana would not suffer a letdown, accounting for three of the points with three kills. Three kills each by Brewer and Pollom helped IU up its lead to 20-11, its largest lead of the match, and helped send the squad on its way to an impressive 30-23 victory and a decisive-fifth game.
The trio of Archibald (nine kills), Pollom and Brewer accounted for 17 of the team's 20 kills, enabling Indiana to hit a season-high .563 in the game.
After falling behind 7-3, the Hoosiers cut the lead in half, but USC scored four of the next five points and would not relinquish the lead en route to a 15-10 game-five victory and 3-2 win in the match.
Archibald finished with a personal and team season-high 23 kills and recorded 15 digs, good for her third double-double of the season. She has scored 20-plus kills in three matches this season and has reached the 10-kill plateau in 19 consecutive matches.
Up next, the Hoosiers return home next weekend for the Indiana Invitational. IU will face Saint Louis on Friday at 7:00 p.m., Austin Peay at noon on Saturday, and Western Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in the tournament finale.
"We will get back in the gym and pick it up," said Weismiller. "We learned some things this weekend."
