Hoosiers suffer tough losses over weekend

Another tough weekend for the women's volleyball team leaves the Hoosiers with a 4-12 overall record and a 1-7 record in the conference after hard losses to Michigan State University and University of Michigan. \nThe weekend left the Hoosiers dissatisfied as they search for more victories. \n"We know that we can play with any of these teams and we just need to figure out that missing link as to how to win, because we have competed with everyone. Now we have to turn this corner and figure out how to get a win," head coach Katie Weismiller said. \nThe Hoosiers started the weekend with a close match against Michigan State (11-3, 4-3 conference) Friday. \nAfter falling to MSU in the first game, IU rallied to claim game two with fierce kills by sophomore Melissa Brewer. MSU had the lead for the majority of game three. The Hoosiers battled back and MSU trailed by three as they hit the 20-point mark. The score was tied up again at 28, but errors on the IU side added two points allowing MSU to claim their second win of the evening. \nGame four began with a confident IU lead, which left MSU scoreless in the first four points of the game. However, the Spartans quickly bounced back, taking the lead 14-21. The Hoosiers never regained their lead despite attempts to add senior Disney Bronnenberg and freshman Karla Crose to the court for the first time of the evening. They fell to MSU in the last game of the match 20-30. \nDespite the team's loss, three Hoosiers tallied kills in double digits. Leading the team in kills, freshman Christina Archibald recorded 16 kills. Other Hoosiers in double digits were Brewer, racking up 14, and freshman Katie Pollom with 11. \n"I felt we played very competitively and we did have fun…when we put things together on the court when everything meshes with our team it's really fun to play," Pollom said. \nIU had a second chance for a victory as they faced off against Michigan Saturday, who was without sophomore outside hitter Chantel Reedus, who suffered a knee injury against Illinois. UM started the evening with a quick lead over the Hoosiers defeating them in Game one 30-25. \n"We have to be ready for game one and not allow the other team to get into it…we are too often finding ourselves trying to fight from behind," Weismiller said.\nGame two began with another Wolverine lead, until the Hoosiers rebounded to tie the game at 23. The comeback continued as the Hoosiers took the lead over the Wolverines 28-26. An error by IU at 29-26 gave UM a chance to salvage the game, but a kill by Pollom pushed the Hoosiers over the top to claim the game 30-28. IU fell to Michigan in game three, as the Wolverines jumped ahead and never gave up the lead. IU returned the favor by never giving up the lead in game four. The match determining fifth game, which is only played to a final score of 15, caused problems for the Hoosiers. They tried to battle back from a strong UM start, but fell in the end 11-15. \nThe heartbreaking lose to Michigan only left the Hoosiers looking forward to next weeks' games against Illinois and longtime rival Purdue.\n"I don't think that anyone is ready to give in the towel at all," junior Hillary Toivonen said. "We are constantly saying we need to work on our side of the net and control the match and we need to do that before we go into Illinois because that's a big match up for us and a big rivalry with Purdue"