Around The Game

The IU women's volleyball team traveled south this weekend to Coral Gables, Fla., to compete in the Hurricane Invitational. The Hoosiers opened up their season with a hard-fought, five-game match against Kent State. \nThe Hoosiers were led by junior Christina Archibald and senior Melissa Brewer. Archibald made a match-high 20 kills and Brewer added 15.\nThe win against Kent State improved coach Katie Weismiller's record in season openers to 11-0. \nOn Saturday, the Hoosiers had an early wake-up call as they faced Manhattan at 9 a.m. The early start did not seem to daunt the team as they came out firing on their way to defeating the Lady Jaspers.\nFor the second consecutive game Archibald led the team with 17 kills, and sophomore Ashley White finished with 11 in her first extensive action of the young season. \nWith the team's victories over Kent State and Manhattan, the Hoosiers advanced to the championship game where they met host Miami. The teams split the first two games, but the Hurricanes came back to win the next two sets and won the tournament.\nArchibald and Brewer were named to the All-Tournament team for their performances in the three matches.

Cross country runs well in first meet\nThe men's and women's cross country team competed in their first meet of the season Friday, running in the Indiana Open. \nThe women took seven of the top 10 finishing places, missing the 15-point shutout by one position, which allowed the Hoosiers to take the victory by scoring 22 points.\nFreshman Kristen Whitezell, turning in arguably the best performance of the afternoon, ran a 19:00.61 on the 5-kilometer course with a fifth-place finish.\nSenior Audrey Giesler finished second with a time of 18:13.67, defeated only by South Florida's Christa Benton, who was 40th at last season's NCAA National Championship Meet.\n"I was glad to see that some of my teammates had good races," Giesler said. "Kristin, our freshman, ran a very consistent race, and she's only going to get better and better."\nRounding out the Hoosiers finishers were sophomore Lindsay Hattendorf who finished third, junior Mindy Peterson, finishing fourth, sophomore Julie Shields in eighth and junior Amber Miller in 10th place.\n"What I like about this meet is that it's a low-key starting point for the season," Giesler said. "There's really no pressure going into it, but it allows us to get into race mode again. Now we just have to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses and go from there."\nFreshmen Marcus Aguilar and Nick Kruse both finished in the top 10 for the Hoosiers, along with senior Matt Sweetman. Also running for the Hoosiers was sophomore Kurtis George and junior Jeff Zeha, who finished in 16th and 30th places, respectively. \nSince some of the IU runners were not officially registered to run in the meet, it was not scored in accordance with NCAA rules. The Hoosiers would have easily taken care of the other competitors with Aguilar finishing third, Sweetman in ninth and Kruse in 10th. \nThe next meet will be on Sept. 12 when the Hoosiers compete in the Cream and Crimson Open.

Women's soccer loses two heartbreakers/b>\nIU traveled to Florida to compete in the Florida Atlantic Invitation and walked out with two one-goal loses.\nThe Hoosiers were shutout in both games, losing by 1-0 in both contests. On Friday, IU lost to Miami and then faced the host school Florida Atlantic on Sunday, but couldn't find a way to win.\nThe Hoosiers will be in action again this Friday when they head to St. Louis, where they will play St. Louis on Friday and Army on Sunday.