Team effort brings Monon Spike home

It was a team effort for the volleyball team to win back the Monon Spike on their home court in the University Gymnasium in front of a crowd of 1,010. It took four games for the Hoosiers to defeat the Purdue Boilermakers 30-22, 30-25, 27-30 and 30-24. \n"It's nice to get a win in the Big Ten, but I think against Purdue it's that much better," coach Katie Weismiller said. "It's interesting because I think the teams really respect each other and it's a great group of people. You see across the net Purdue colors, and everybody gets excited."\nLeading the Hoosiers Friday was freshman Christina Archibald with 20 kills. Sophomore Melissa Brewer, senior Laurie Gardner, junior Hillary Toivonen and freshman Katie Pollom all came out with double digits in kills. \nWeismiller said the stats make it obvious it was a team effort to win the game. \n"We accomplished some great things with Purdue. Laurie ended up with a triple double, Crecia had 20 digs, and they played some of their best ball all season. We had five players in double digit kills, five players in double digit digs, and it was truly a team effort tonight."\nAfter parents and seniors were recognized, game one went to the Hoosiers, 30-22. At one point, IU (8-18, 5-13 Big Ten) was down 16-20 but didn't let the Boilermakers (4-22, 1-16) enjoy the lead for long as the Hoosiers came back to raise the score 24-20, and eventually took the game.\nGame two also went in IU's favor 30-25. It was game three that gave the Hoosiers a scare, when Purdue won the match 27-30. \n"I think our team was almost shocked that we lost in game three," Weismiller said. "I think they refocused and picked it up to play to win in game four." \nRefocusing worked for the Hoosiers. They won game four 30-24, which named them the victors of the night and gave them possession of the Monon Spike. It also added half a point to the Titan Series, pulling the Hoosiers up and tying them with Purdue at two points each. \nGardner said she was excited with the outcome of her last home game at IU. \n"We wanted to do it in three, but we didn't. Still, we were determined just to get the game over with and kill them in the last game," Gardner said. "We had a great crowd. Purdue was a great way to end the season, and we got the Monon Spike. Our team played well. I can't do anything without my team."\nBrewer said she was impressed with the team's performance as well, and commented on the loss of the seniors looking into next season. \n"The hardest part will be finding a way to mesh again after the seniors are gone," Brewer said. "You become best friends and they're really easy people to get along with. It will be hard to fill that void"