Volleyball team wins first tourney

The volleyball team opened their season this weekend exactly the way coach Kate Weismiller wanted them to; with three wins and the championship of the IU Credit Union/Hoosier Invitational. The team had three tough matches against Cincinnati, Bowling Green and Loyola-Chicago, and although they had a couple of scares, the team came out undefeated.\n Friday, the Hoosiers kicked off the tournament by dispatching the Cincinnati Bearcats 15-12, 15-10, 15-11. After a shaky start, in which IU fell behind 3-8 in the first game, the young team settled down and went on to easily defeat the Bearcats in a three-game sweep. \n IU increased its offensive attack in each game and clearly seemed to come together as the match progressed. A slow start was expected as three freshman took the court for the first time in a varsity match, but they were able to answer the call and contribute in the win. Freshman outside hitter Nicole Hill recorded 12 digs and was second in kills (12) for IU behind sophomore outside hitter Hillary Toivonen who led the Hoosiers with 16. \n "(We were) happy to start with a win, because Cincinnati is a very good team and they challenged us the entire way," Weismiller said. "The team came together tonight and really formed as a team on the court."\nSaturday, the team played two matches, the first against Bowling Green. The team managed to hang on to win the match 15-8, 15-13, 14-16, 16-14, but the play was not pretty, and there were some rough patches for IU. The team started out strong, winning the first two games. But, according to Weismiller, over-confidence got the best of the team, and the Hoosiers fell to Bowling Green in the third game. \nIn that game, the team started the match out strong, leading early by eight points, but Bowling Green got the serve back, and went on a four-point run. The Falcons went on to pass the Hoosiers and won on an ace. In the fourth game, the Hoosiers also found themselves down but managed to pull it together to win on a Toivonen kill. \n"We were on a roller coaster ride the whole match," senior outside hitter Amanda Welter said. "We're learning how to focus through an entire match, so we're going to have those scares, but they are going to make us stronger."\nToivonen led the team in digs against Bowling Green with 16 and was second in kills (13). Welter led the team in kills with 14. Freshman middle blocker Melissa Brewer and Hill tied for total attacks for the team with 31 each.\nThe team faced Loyola-Chicago later that day, and although they had already won the tournament, the match was still an important one. The team was able to fight through the rough moments of the match and a second game loss, to hang on to win 15-12, 8-15, 16-14, 15-11.\nIn the second game, Loyola-Chicago jumped to a big lead, and although IU managed to keep up with Loyola, the Hoosiers let it slip away. Loyola went on a big run, giving them a 3-10 lead. IU managed to cut the lead to 8-12 but were unable to produce any other points.\nThe final two games of the match were similar to the second one. IU found itself down several times, but leadership from Welter and a surprising Brewer helped the Hoosiers to the win.\nToivonen ended the tournament leading the team with 25 kills and 26 digs. Welter had 19 kills.\n"We had so much confidence going into that game (against Loyola), even though we were down, we knew we were going to win," Toivonen said. "That's the really good thing about this team; we knew we were the better team. And in our position, we had to win. It was our home court and we were going to do it any way we had to do it. It may have been ugly, but we came together as a team."