IU places second in home tournament, loses to Maryland in finale

University of Maryland volleyball player Teryn Papp returned to her native town of Bloomington to spoil the previously undefeated IU women's volleyball season. Papp and the Terrapins won the TIS Bookstore Tournament this weekend by defeating IU, Chicago State University and Marshall University to take the crown. The Hoosiers, who hosted the tournament, took second.\nIU continued its success from the previous weekend Friday night in a match against Marshall, winning in three straight games (30-27, 31-29, 30-28). Sophomore Erica Short, who was named to the all-tournament team, led IU with 22 kills while freshman Allison Regas contributed 22 assists in the victory.\nSaturday morning, IU cruised through the Chicago State match, again winning in three games (30-17, 30-14, 30-14). The Hoosiers used the match to help the young team gain experience by having 13 different team members play. The team also spread the ball around, having eight different players score kills and 10 record digs.\nAfter defeating Marshall and Chicago State, a win against Maryland on Saturday night would have given IU the tournament title. But the Hoosiers came up short.\nAfter dropping the first two games of the match (30-27, 30-27), IU rallied and won the next two games (30-18, 30-22). This put Maryland and IU into a decisive fifth game, which Maryland won 15-3 -- winning them the tournament in the process.\nAlthough the team was disappointed in the loss, Short said the comeback showed the trust in the team.\n"You never want to lose on your home court," Short said. "But it's a new season with a new mentality. We trusted each other in that we could come back, and we had that mentality that we could win."\nRegas said she agreed.\n"We showed a lot of heart tonight," Regas said. "We gained some more confidence, but we have to keep working hard.\nIU coach Katie Weismiller agreed that the comeback was a good step for the team but gave Maryland the credit it deserved.\n"We lost to a very good team," said Weismiller. "A lot of credit goes out to them. We were well scouted by them, and they did a good job defending our offensive. It is obvious why they have votes to be in the top 25."\nDespite the loss, Weismiller was happy with the weekend and the way the team played.\n"Overall I was pleased with our play this weekend," said Weismiller. "We are still learning and getting better."\nWeismiller has some plans for practice before IU travels to the Dayton Invitational this upcoming weekend to face Wake Forest University, Louisiana State University and the University of Dayton.\n"We are going to work on our defensive and our transition game," said Weismiller. "We want to continue to distribute the ball to other hitters"