Two days, three wins, one title

This weekend the IU women's volleyball team found out that the old adage is true: the third time is a charm. \nPrior to this weekend's IU Credit Union Invitational, the Hoosiers had competed in two championship matches and fallen both times. But Saturday night, the Hoosiers (7-4) battled back from a two game deficit and defeated Western Kentucky in a five-set thriller 32-34, 23-30, 30-21, 30-25, 15-11 to take home their first tournament championship of the season.\nThe Hoosiers came out strong in the first game of the match, building an 18-12 advantage, but the remainder of the game see-sawed back and forth, and the Lady Hilltoppers eventually took the first game 34-32. Western Kentucky rode the momentum from their first game comeback and captured the second game as well. \n"When you look at the first two games, there were a lot of unforced errors on our end," coach Katie Weismiller said. "We really came back out of the break and focused on terminating, keeping balls in play, and forcing them into unforced errors. We did a great job and came back aggressively and took them out of their system."\nThe Hoosiers emerged from the break energized and the University Gym crowd, which included local middle school volleyball teams, picked up the team and spearheaded the Hoosier comeback.\n"It was electric, the crowd really brought us up," junior Katie Pollom said. "The crowd was great tonight, and they gave us a lot of energy coming out of the break."\nWith the team's title hopes hanging in the balance, the Hoosiers came out strong in the third game, jumping out to a 21-14 lead, and eventually capturing the game 30-21. In the fourth game, the Hoosiers were once again facing elimination as the teams went back and forth trading kill after kill. IU took a 23-18 lead and held that five-point advantage until the conclusion of the fourth game as it took game number four 30-25, forcing a fifth and deciding game.\nAfter a short break between games, the Hoosiers raced out to an 8-3 advantage after sophomore Ashley White pounded one of her 11 kills for the match. The Lady Hilltoppers closed the gap to 13-11, but senior Melissa Brewer provided IU with a timely kill, and the Hoosiers went on to win the fifth game 15-11.\n"We saw a lot of character from this team," Weismiller said. "Being able to regroup, regain our composure is great. This Saturday night feels a lot better than the last couple. You can see the team maturing, and we're just starting to hit our stride."\nEarlier in the season the Hoosiers had ascended to the championship match of the Hurricane Invitational and the T.I.S./Taylor Invitational, losing the final match to Miami and Wisconsin-Green Bay, respectively.\n"We build off each loss," junior Christina Archibald said. "It makes us stronger. We used those loses as learning experiences, and coming out down 0-2, we knew that we had to step up our play to win."\nThe Hoosiers were led by Archibald, who finished the match with 25 kills, Brewer and Pollom, as they both collected 18 kills a piece. Junior setter Victoria Zimmerman dished out a season-high 70 assists and recorded 15 digs.\nNot only did the team collect the championship trophy, but the Hoosiers placed three members of their squad on the All-Tournament team: Pollom, Brewer, and Archibald. Archibald, who was named tournament MVP, collected her fourth consecutive All-Tournament team, marking the third time this year Brewer has received All-Tournament honors. \nEarlier in the tournament, the Hoosiers finished off St. Louis in three games, and overcame losing the first game to Austin Peay, defeating the Governors in four games. \n"It is great to go into the Big Ten with these wins," Pollom said. "The team chemistry is wonderful right now, we can build upon what we worked on this weekend and just keep getting better as we head into the Big Ten season."\n-- Contact staff writer Matt Glenesk at mglenesk@indiana.edu.