Senior leads IU to tournament title

Despite her name, there was nothing short about Erica Short’s performance in the adidas Classic this weekend at Assembly Hall.

The senior middle blocker and co-captain was named tournament MVP after recording 61 kills during the weekend, including an IU-record 24 in the Friday match against Valparaiso.

Short said the record was a great accomplishment but was quick to credit her team as well.

“(The record) feels great, but I couldn’t do it without my teammates,” Short said.

Coming off a 1-2 trip to the West coast, IU won all three matches this weekend, including three-set sweeps of Valparaiso and Wake Forest to open the tournament Friday. 

On Sunday, however, the competition got tougher, as IU faced a Louisville team that was receiving top-25 votes. IU coach Sherry Dunbar said. Louisville was the preseason favorite to win the Big East.

IU appeared unfazed by the challenge at first, securing wins of 25-23 and 25-20 in the first two sets.  Louisville fought back to take the next two sets 25-20 and 25-12, forcing a fifth and deciding match.

In the fifth set, the Hoosiers were leading 14-12 with Louisville serving to get back into the match. However, the ball had other plans as the serve from Louisville’s Justine Landi floated harmlessly out of bounds, and the Hoosiers were tournament champions.  
Dunbar said she knew Louisville would never give up and was glad her team came out on top.

“I knew (Louisville) would come back strong,” Dunbar said. “We had to fight, and the intensity was good for us.”

Sophomore Ashley Benson, who was also named to the all-tournament team said she was pleased with the team’s play overall.

“We played great,” Benson said. “We had some trouble in the middle sets, but otherwise we had a great tournament.” 

Benson had a solid tournament herself, recording 39 kills individually. As a team, the Hoosiers recorded 152 kills to their opponent’s 118 for the tournament.

For the tournament, more than 1,000 fans passed through the turnstiles, heaping more and more fervent support on the Hoosiers with every kill. 

Dunbar said the crowd was a big key to IU’s success this weekend.

“We put a fighting team out there, and the crowd was on our side this weekend, which was a big key,” she said.

IU will hit the road next week when the team goes to the University of Kentucky Tournament on Friday and Saturday in Lexington, Ky.

Short said she hopes to use this weekend’s tournament success as a booster for Lexington.

“There are great teams (next weekend),” she said. “We just need to play well, and this tournament was a huge confidence booster.”