Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
SMU
Hoosiers Sweep SMU To Take Tournament Title
9/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Erica Short tallied 13 kills and Lauren Ditteon added 10 more as the Indiana University volleyball team defeated SMU, 3-0 (30-26, 30-24, 30-24), to close out the IU Credit Union Invitational. The Hoosiers took home the tournament title with the win, and Short was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Ditteon was also named to the All-Tournament team. Indiana is now 9-3 on the season.
"Our offense was great this weekend," head coach Katie Weismiller said. "Our setters did a great job of distributing balls, and the number of kills that we had gave us a lot of confidence. Our defense got better in each match as well."
The Hoosiers took control in the first game, taking a 12-7 advantage on a service ace by Juli Pierce. IU held onto that lead throughout the game until SMU knotted the score at 24-24. A kill put SMU on top, 25-24, but a kill by Caitlin Watts tied it up and another kill, this time by Emily Zulauf, put the Hoosiers back on top. IU kept the lead and took the game, 30-26.
It was a tense battle to begin the second game, as the two teams traded points back and forth and knotted the score 15 times in the opening minutes. The Hoosiers took the lead at 16-15 on a block by Gabrielle Allison and Ditteon and held onto that advantage for the remainder of the frame. Zulauf closed out the stanza with two consecutive kills to give the Hoosiers the win at 30-24.
Despite Indiana holding the early advantage, SMU battled back to tie the score at 11-11 in the third game. After that, the two teams knotted the score four more times before a service ace by Short put Indiana back ahead at 16-15. Although SMU came back to within two points at various other points in the match, Indiana closed out the win at 30-24 to take the game, the match and the tournament.
For the match, Ditteon had 13 digs to go along with her 10 kills. Pierce and Ditteon each had two service aces in the win, and Allison had six total blocks. As a team, the Hoosiers tallied nine total blocks.
Indiana will return to action on Friday, Sept. 22 when they open Big Ten play at Michigan. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM MVP - Erica Short (Indiana) Lauren Ditteon (Indiana) Kellie Violette (Mercer) Leslee Ball (UT Chattanooga) Rachel Giubilato (SMU) Caitlin Rainbird (SMU)
Players Mentioned
