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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Old foes, new chance for team

Hoosiers to play rematches against OSU, PSU at home; IU looks to improve play

The women's volleyball team brings competition back home this weekend as it faces Ohio State today and Penn State Saturday. Previously this season, the Hoosiers lost to both nationally ranked teams on the road. Since then, team members said they feel they have improved and have proved that by winning three of their last five matches. They will go into this weekend with a 7-15 overall record and 4-10 record in the Big Ten.\n"We're still gaining our confidence," Coach Katie Weismiller said. "We're playing so much better this second half of Big Ten play. The big thing for us now is how we respond to our side of the court." \nFriday night brings the Ohio State Buckeyes to Bloomington. The Buckeyes are ranked ninth nationally, have a conference record of 12-2 and overall record of 20-2. \nOSU's Stacey Gordon, a freshman with a career-high 30 kills against Purdue, is one player the Hoosiers will be on the lookout for.\n"Ohio State is a good team," senior Meghan Stout said, "But I don't think we're overlooking them by any means. We've got to go out there and make it our game. We'll feel good if we go out there and play like we know how to play, win or lose."\nThe Nittany Lions will be in town Saturday to try to continue their winning streak in the series against IU, 22-0. PSU is ranked 13th nationally with a 17-5 overall record, 10-4 in the Big Ten. \nPenn State coach Russ Rose said he looks at playing IU just like he would any other team. \n"It is my opinion that all matches in the conference are challenging, and I would expect nothing less from our match this weekend with Indiana. Indiana has a number of talented players and with experience comes opportunities to win," Rose said. "I expect as I always do when we play at IU, a competitive match and the need for Penn State to play at a high level if we hope to win."\nRose said his team has experienced ups and downs this year with wins against Wisconsin and losses to Ohio State and Michigan. He said life on the road has been challenging for this team.\nWeismiller said her squad will be able to compete with the Nittany Lions. \n"I think this is a great time to be playing Penn State," Weismiller said. "They played a great game at Wisconsin and beat them. I know they are going to be ready to come out and be aggressive when they play, but I think our strengths are some of their weaknesses. If offensively we can pick it up a notch or two, we can compete with them."\nStout said it's been tough losing some of their matches this season but that it is their second time around now with these teams and a new chance for them to win.\n"We gave Penn State a good match last time at their home and that's who we started out with in the Big Ten," Stout said. "I think we can go into this and I think that we can have the confidence to beat these two teams if we eliminate our errors"

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