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(10/16/03 4:00am)
The fun used to be on Fridays. \nPeople would leave whatever bar they were at just to be sure they made it to Axis on time to see the Legendary Hot Bod Contest at 12:30 a.m.\nBut some people wouldn't tell their friends if they were going to Axis. \n"People would tell me that they used to go to Axis and then it turned into a really bad crowd," general manager Ken Nickos says. "It just became a place that nobody wanted to go to, except for Hot Bod."\nNickos, Axis' fifth manager in the past five years, was tired of the "bad atmosphere" and wanted to make some changes.\nEven alumnus Heather Walchle of Indianapolis, who graduated last May, remembers that Axis was only popular on Friday nights when she first turned 21.\n"Now I come back to visit on a Thursday and it's not even a question of where we'll go," Walchle says, taking a sip of her nickel beer by the dance floor.\n"Axis never used to have big drink specials and now they do. It draws a crowd."\nFrom building renovations to new drink specials almost every night of the week and the move of Hot Bod to Saturday, Axis is a nightclub that's changing almost everything but it's name.\nA Bit of History\nA few years back, Axis was known to most as Mars. Even the credit card receipts still read "Mars Nightclub." For whatever reason, Nickos says they changed the name to Axis.\nWhen Papa Johns moved in next door, they moved the entrance to where it is now, on the front of the building facing Walnut Street. That's when Nickos says the managers took the club in a whole new direction.\n"Outside of Bullwinkle's, we're the only dance club for students," Nickos says. "The place over the last couple of years has changed directions so many times, it's been hard to keep people coming back and we want to change that."\nA Change of Scenery\nStudent after student walks from one end of the club to the other, their feet sticking to the nasty, sticky carpet drenched in beer and liquor. \n"I don't know who decided it would be a good idea to put carpet in a dance club," Nickos says. "The carpets don't smell all that pleasant and your feet stick to the floor."\nOver the summer, Nickos says they put quite a bit of money into the new hardwood floors beside the bars by the dance floor. Their plan is to put the hardwood flooring around the rest of the club over winter break.\nNickos hopes the new flooring will brighten the place up.\n"That way it won't have such a dark feel," Nickos says. "We want a cleaner atmosphere and (to be) more energetic overall."\nIn August alone, Axis spent almost $25,000 on remodeling and new electronic devices. \nOver the summer, they revamped the sound system and light show and added video screens and big screen televisions.\n"It's not the Axis I remember three years ago," Walchle says, admiring the new scenery.\nBut the changes in scenery don't stop there.\nNickos has plans to take out the stools and tables and put in bench seating along the walls and bigger tables so people don't feel cramped.\nThey also have moved the entrance to where the exit used to be. This allows for customers in wheelchairs to enter and leave the bar more easily. It also helps keep the line outside the club under control.\nDress Code\nNickos remembers the crowd that Hot Bod used to have and remembers that he didn't like it. Girls would tell him that they wouldn't even go to Axis because of the sexual harassment from some of the guys in the club.\n"We switched to a dress code and everywhere that I've ever been we've done one," Nickos says. "My feeling is, is that \n if people want to come out and have a good time, they shouldn't care what they can or can't wear."\nMichael Dabney, doorman and security at Axis for four months, says he's worked for clubs in California and the fact that the Bloomington boys can't wear skullcaps or "wifebeaters" is still a very lenient dress code.\n"We have such a minimal dress code here compared to big cities," Dabney says as he checks IDs. "It's just no cutoff shorts and things like that."\nDabney says some students get mad when he turns them away -- but that it's his job, to help enforce the dress code.\nDress code is important in the event of a fight, Dabney says. Skullcaps and bandannas can too often hide someone's identity.\n"Our dress code isn't strict," Nickos says. "We don't make people tuck in their shirts and if they come in a shirt they can't wear, we've got Axis T-shirts we will give them to put on. It's not like we're sending them away."\nBusting the Myths of Nickel Beers\nThursday nights were never a big thing at Axis, according to Walchle. That is, until late November last year when they started offering nickel beers.\n"Over the course of the spring semester it picked up every week by a few hundred people until the end of the semester we were doing 12 to 1300 people on Thursdays."\nNickos says that number is still rising this year and the popular drink special has become an even bigger deal than Hot Bod.\n"There have been a lot of people here on Thursday nights," Dabney says. "It's made business slow on Fridays because people don't want to come to the same place two nights in a row, but still, Thursdays have been pretty crazy."\nSome people, including general manager Nickos, say they at Axis have heard that the beer for Thursday night's big selling is expired. He says that rumor is ridiculous.\n"Every Wednesday afternoon we get 30 to 50 kegs delivered from Miller and they are brand-new kegs," Nickos says. "We go through all of them every week and anyone is more than welcome to ask about it and we'll show them the dates on the kegs."\nAnother rumor Nickos had heard was that the nickel beers were illegal to sell. He busted that rumor quickly.\n"The only thing you can't do is give beer or liquor away," Nickos says. "And we don't do that."\nAxis has teamed up with Dominos this year and perhaps brought a bit of color to the club. Instead of clear, flimsy plastic cups for the nickel beers, red, green and blue plastic cups with handles are seen in everyone's hands. To get a cup, customers pay one dollar and then have unlimited nickel beers for their cup. They can even bring it back each week.\n"Those cups cost us a small fortune and keg prices went up," Nickos says. "It was either raise cover charge or charge a dollar for plastic cups that people can bring back all the time."\nNot Just a Dance Club Anymore\nNo, the dance floor won't be hopping with crazy light shows and a DJ, and students don't have to wear their "clubbin'" clothes to Axis on a Monday or Tuesday night. But business at Axis has been picking up on the first two nights of the school week.\nMondays and Tuesdays started out with 100 people or so, Nickos says, but the crowd has been picking up. The big screen televisions and video screens are perfect for Monday Night Football and with their good rapport with Dominos, free pizza is always a possibility, Nickos says.\n"And on Tuesdays we offer a cash prize for karaoke," Nickos says. "I really hope that picks up."\nNickos also hopes that with the dance floor being blocked off on Mondays, people will look at Axis in a different light, seeing the awesome drink specials and realizing it's a great place to watch the game.\nWalchle thinks nickel beers have brought in an entire new clientele to Axis and that the changes in scenery will be a good move for the nightclub.\n"Some people aren't the club or dancing type and Axis never had any great drink specials that everyone knew about," Walchle said. "Now all that has changed"
(10/15/03 9:51pm)
The fun used to be on Fridays. \nPeople would leave whatever bar they were at just to be sure they made it to Axis on time to see the Legendary Hot Bod Contest at 12:30 a.m.\nBut some people wouldn't tell their friends if they were going to Axis. \n"People would tell me that they used to go to Axis and then it turned into a really bad crowd," general manager Ken Nickos says. "It just became a place that nobody wanted to go to, except for Hot Bod."\nNickos, Axis' fifth manager in the past five years, was tired of the "bad atmosphere" and wanted to make some changes.\nEven alumnus Heather Walchle of Indianapolis, who graduated last May, remembers that Axis was only popular on Friday nights when she first turned 21.\n"Now I come back to visit on a Thursday and it's not even a question of where we'll go," Walchle says, taking a sip of her nickel beer by the dance floor.\n"Axis never used to have big drink specials and now they do. It draws a crowd."\nFrom building renovations to new drink specials almost every night of the week and the move of Hot Bod to Saturday, Axis is a nightclub that's changing almost everything but it's name.\nA Bit of History\nA few years back, Axis was known to most as Mars. Even the credit card receipts still read "Mars Nightclub." For whatever reason, Nickos says they changed the name to Axis.\nWhen Papa Johns moved in next door, they moved the entrance to where it is now, on the front of the building facing Walnut Street. That's when Nickos says the managers took the club in a whole new direction.\n"Outside of Bullwinkle's, we're the only dance club for students," Nickos says. "The place over the last couple of years has changed directions so many times, it's been hard to keep people coming back and we want to change that."\nA Change of Scenery\nStudent after student walks from one end of the club to the other, their feet sticking to the nasty, sticky carpet drenched in beer and liquor. \n"I don't know who decided it would be a good idea to put carpet in a dance club," Nickos says. "The carpets don't smell all that pleasant and your feet stick to the floor."\nOver the summer, Nickos says they put quite a bit of money into the new hardwood floors beside the bars by the dance floor. Their plan is to put the hardwood flooring around the rest of the club over winter break.\nNickos hopes the new flooring will brighten the place up.\n"That way it won't have such a dark feel," Nickos says. "We want a cleaner atmosphere and (to be) more energetic overall."\nIn August alone, Axis spent almost $25,000 on remodeling and new electronic devices. \nOver the summer, they revamped the sound system and light show and added video screens and big screen televisions.\n"It's not the Axis I remember three years ago," Walchle says, admiring the new scenery.\nBut the changes in scenery don't stop there.\nNickos has plans to take out the stools and tables and put in bench seating along the walls and bigger tables so people don't feel cramped.\nThey also have moved the entrance to where the exit used to be. This allows for customers in wheelchairs to enter and leave the bar more easily. It also helps keep the line outside the club under control.\nDress Code\nNickos remembers the crowd that Hot Bod used to have and remembers that he didn't like it. Girls would tell him that they wouldn't even go to Axis because of the sexual harassment from some of the guys in the club.\n"We switched to a dress code and everywhere that I've ever been we've done one," Nickos says. "My feeling is, is that \n if people want to come out and have a good time, they shouldn't care what they can or can't wear."\nMichael Dabney, doorman and security at Axis for four months, says he's worked for clubs in California and the fact that the Bloomington boys can't wear skullcaps or "wifebeaters" is still a very lenient dress code.\n"We have such a minimal dress code here compared to big cities," Dabney says as he checks IDs. "It's just no cutoff shorts and things like that."\nDabney says some students get mad when he turns them away -- but that it's his job, to help enforce the dress code.\nDress code is important in the event of a fight, Dabney says. Skullcaps and bandannas can too often hide someone's identity.\n"Our dress code isn't strict," Nickos says. "We don't make people tuck in their shirts and if they come in a shirt they can't wear, we've got Axis T-shirts we will give them to put on. It's not like we're sending them away."\nBusting the Myths of Nickel Beers\nThursday nights were never a big thing at Axis, according to Walchle. That is, until late November last year when they started offering nickel beers.\n"Over the course of the spring semester it picked up every week by a few hundred people until the end of the semester we were doing 12 to 1300 people on Thursdays."\nNickos says that number is still rising this year and the popular drink special has become an even bigger deal than Hot Bod.\n"There have been a lot of people here on Thursday nights," Dabney says. "It's made business slow on Fridays because people don't want to come to the same place two nights in a row, but still, Thursdays have been pretty crazy."\nSome people, including general manager Nickos, say they at Axis have heard that the beer for Thursday night's big selling is expired. He says that rumor is ridiculous.\n"Every Wednesday afternoon we get 30 to 50 kegs delivered from Miller and they are brand-new kegs," Nickos says. "We go through all of them every week and anyone is more than welcome to ask about it and we'll show them the dates on the kegs."\nAnother rumor Nickos had heard was that the nickel beers were illegal to sell. He busted that rumor quickly.\n"The only thing you can't do is give beer or liquor away," Nickos says. "And we don't do that."\nAxis has teamed up with Dominos this year and perhaps brought a bit of color to the club. Instead of clear, flimsy plastic cups for the nickel beers, red, green and blue plastic cups with handles are seen in everyone's hands. To get a cup, customers pay one dollar and then have unlimited nickel beers for their cup. They can even bring it back each week.\n"Those cups cost us a small fortune and keg prices went up," Nickos says. "It was either raise cover charge or charge a dollar for plastic cups that people can bring back all the time."\nNot Just a Dance Club Anymore\nNo, the dance floor won't be hopping with crazy light shows and a DJ, and students don't have to wear their "clubbin'" clothes to Axis on a Monday or Tuesday night. But business at Axis has been picking up on the first two nights of the school week.\nMondays and Tuesdays started out with 100 people or so, Nickos says, but the crowd has been picking up. The big screen televisions and video screens are perfect for Monday Night Football and with their good rapport with Dominos, free pizza is always a possibility, Nickos says.\n"And on Tuesdays we offer a cash prize for karaoke," Nickos says. "I really hope that picks up."\nNickos also hopes that with the dance floor being blocked off on Mondays, people will look at Axis in a different light, seeing the awesome drink specials and realizing it's a great place to watch the game.\nWalchle thinks nickel beers have brought in an entire new clientele to Axis and that the changes in scenery will be a good move for the nightclub.\n"Some people aren't the club or dancing type and Axis never had any great drink specials that everyone knew about," Walchle said. "Now all that has changed"
(10/09/03 4:38pm)
The weather was chilly, but the music and performers were so hot that steam literally rose from their heads.\nSponsored by Kilroy's Sports, Chicago's very own 17th Floor and Kentucky's Nappy Roots gave a concert at Pic-a-chic Farms that Clutch from Nappy Roots said was real "nappy."\nTonight there was a lot of love out there," Clutch said. "We had a lot of fun and even though we were out here on this farm it felt good and free."\nProphet of Nappy Roots also said he enjoyed the atmosphere and crowd that Bloomington brought to the concert.\n"It was our first time here and we came in the right way," Prophet said pointing at the countryside surrounding the stage. "We kept it country."\nThe 17th Floor started their show out with a cover of DMX's "Party Up!" Dressed in all white, the band performed a lot of their usual cover songs and really got the crowd going when they ended with a cover of "Get Low." Almost every hand was up in the crowd of a couple thousand when they got to the chorus. \nEven members of Nappy Roots could be found bobbing their heads to the beats of The 17th Floor.\nGT, drummer for The 17th Floor, said they had never met Nappy Roots before, but they looked forward to opening up for them. The 17th Floor sometimes even does a cover of Nappy Roots' "Awnaw."\nThe 17th Floor said they were excited to announce that their first single, "Hold Up" will be released on the radio airwaves soon, and that their first album is expected to be released in January.\nDanny Rosenberg, a junior with Atlantic Records, said the 17th Floor concert was great.\n"We love the 17th Floor," Rosenberg said. "And anytime you open for Nappy Roots you're going to get noticed and get gigs. This will be real good for them."\nBetween shows, the girls of HoosierLife.com and Doc from Indy's Radio Now 93.1 got the crowd pumped and ready for Nappy Roots and threw out t-shirts to the thousands of screaming fans.\nThe weather got colder as the night went on but Nappy Roots came out with a bang and kept things hot. Each wearing a different shirt and an array of hats, their beats and lyrics got the crowd to raise their hands and voices.\n"The crowd was crazy," Prophet said. "Everybody was just out here partying and having a good time. It's the kind of scene we like."\nNappy Roots didn't forget their inspiration during the concert, and had a special song in memory of some of their favorite people like Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Big Pun, and even for the U.S. soldiers. Earlier this year the group was in Kuwait and performed for the troops.\nNappy Roots hit all the popular singles on Wednesday night like "Roun' The Globe" from their newest album Wooden Leather and "Po Folks" from Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz but saved their first ever single, "Awnaw" for the last song. After performing the album version, they left the crowd with a rock remix of the song.\nThe Grammy nominated group played for a little over an hour and said looked forward to the after party that Atlantic Records was throwing them back in Bloomington Wednesday night after the concert.\nScales said the group likes to play for college crowds so they can reminisce on their own college days. The group likes the fact that college concerts bring people from all over the country.\n"It's a bunch of wholesome kids wanting to have fun," Scales said. "And I can appreciate that"
(01/23/03 5:00am)
Paul (Jason Lee) is totally in love with his fiancee Karen (Selma Blair), but too many drinks at his bachelor party leave him with no memory of that night. He wakes up to Becky (Julia Stiles) in bed and assumes he's just cheated on his soon-to-be wife.\nMoviegoers are once again stuck with a romantic comedy that just doesn't make us laugh enough or even tug at the heartstrings. Romantic comedies are supposed to make viewers bust out laughing one moment and melt hearts the next. "A Guy Thing" creates a few chuckles, but it misses the warm-hearted feeling it needs.\nStiles, however, is once again creative and impressive in her role as the air-headed Becky. From a tough teenager in "Ten Things I Hate About You" to the preppy, popular girl in "O," Stiles shows her versatility in "A Guy Thing." Too bad she picked the wrong script to show it.\nWhile Paul is falling in love with Becky and out of love with Karen, it's hard to feel it. Lee doesn't come through in his role. As the lead male, it's important that viewers feel the love he feels. \nSome of the humerous parts in the movie are funny, but they've all been done before. A bathroom scene, a wedding scene and parental meetings are not novel, just scenes that viewers can watch in any movie classic.\n"A Guy Thing" is also disturbing in its portrayal of men. What is referred to as "a guy thing" is when Paul wakes up with a woman other than his fiancee. More like a jerk thing. The situations Paul puts himself through in order to lie are ridiculous. It just doesn't hit the mark. "A Guy Thing" has its moments, but not enough to be remembered. Some movies like this have worthless scripts but still bring tears to girl's eyes. This one does not.
(01/22/03 8:36pm)
Paul (Jason Lee) is totally in love with his fiancee Karen (Selma Blair), but too many drinks at his bachelor party leave him with no memory of that night. He wakes up to Becky (Julia Stiles) in bed and assumes he's just cheated on his soon-to-be wife.\nMoviegoers are once again stuck with a romantic comedy that just doesn't make us laugh enough or even tug at the heartstrings. Romantic comedies are supposed to make viewers bust out laughing one moment and melt hearts the next. "A Guy Thing" creates a few chuckles, but it misses the warm-hearted feeling it needs.\nStiles, however, is once again creative and impressive in her role as the air-headed Becky. From a tough teenager in "Ten Things I Hate About You" to the preppy, popular girl in "O," Stiles shows her versatility in "A Guy Thing." Too bad she picked the wrong script to show it.\nWhile Paul is falling in love with Becky and out of love with Karen, it's hard to feel it. Lee doesn't come through in his role. As the lead male, it's important that viewers feel the love he feels. \nSome of the humerous parts in the movie are funny, but they've all been done before. A bathroom scene, a wedding scene and parental meetings are not novel, just scenes that viewers can watch in any movie classic.\n"A Guy Thing" is also disturbing in its portrayal of men. What is referred to as "a guy thing" is when Paul wakes up with a woman other than his fiancee. More like a jerk thing. The situations Paul puts himself through in order to lie are ridiculous. It just doesn't hit the mark. "A Guy Thing" has its moments, but not enough to be remembered. Some movies like this have worthless scripts but still bring tears to girl's eyes. This one does not.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Great players have come and gone in the history of IU basketball. Some are remembered and some are not. Brian Evans, who started at IU from 1993-1996, is one who will likely be remembered for a long time. \nThe forward's accomplishments at IU put him in close contention for IU's All-Century Team, and his talent has continued after his time on McCracken Court in Assembly Hall.\nEvans was IU's leading scorer in 1996, also leading the team in rebounding and field goal percentage. He ranks 10th in school history with 1,701 career points and was named First Team All-Big Ten, the conference's Most Valuable Player and IU's Most Valuable Player of the year, in 1996, his senior season.\nEvans said he developed many close relationships while playing at IU and keeps in touch with several old teammates, including Todd Leary, Charlie Miller and Matt Nover.\nHe said he has many great memories from his time with one of the nation's storied basketball programs.\n"I'll never forget sophomore year when Kentucky was ranked No. 1 and we beat them at the Hoosier Dome," Evans said. \nEvans said he'll always remember his first year in Blooming-ton, when he was red-shirted while the Hoosiers made a run to the NCAA Final Four in Minneapolis.\nAfter receiving a degree in recrea-tion/sports management, Evans went on to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing professional basketball. \nFrom 1996-1998, Evans played for the NBA's Orlando Magic, and was with the New Jersey Nets for the 1998-1999 season. After the 1999 season, Evans moved across the Atlantic -- to Siena, Italy -- to play for the Monte Paschi Siena basketball team. He's still playing basketball in Italy, where the game is different from the style he grew up with in America.\n"Professional basketball is a totally different style in Europe," Evans said. "I came over here to Europe expecting to dominate, and the guys are smaller, but they played much better than I thought they would. The game in Europe is much more fundamentally sound than it is in the U.S. The guys aren't only skilled in shooting, but dribbling and passing as well."\nEvans said the game in Europe has come a long way and continues to improve.\nAlthough busy, Evans said he finds time to come back to Bloomington to practice with current players. Some of the players said Evans has helped them both mentally and physically for the strains of playing college basketball.\nSophomore guard Kyle Hornsby said Evans taught him not to attack when on the court.\n"It was neat to see the way he plays. Evans is such a good player because he never hesitates on anything," Hornsby said. "Brian has wonderful leadership qualities that we could all learn from. More than anything, he has great vocal leadership."\nJunior forward Jarrad Odle said he hangs out with Evans both on and off the court.\n"Brian is a guy that really understands the game," Odle said. "He's a great guy that prepared us all for transitioning from high school basketball to college basketball. It was also nice how he could relate to those of us from small towns in Indiana, coming to play at a big university."\nOdle said when he chose to come to IU, Evans helped prepare him for former coach Bob Knight's style and system.\nEvans said although Knight is no longer at IU, he considers himself lucky to have been able to play for him.\n"I am a strong supporter of Coach Knight," Evans said. "He made my experience with IU basketball what it was. It was always a dream of mine to play for Coach Knight, even more than a dream it was to play at IU."\nIn addition to his basketball career, Evans is making wedding plans with his fiancee, Erin Heimann, a former IU athlete who played on the volleyball team from 1996-1999. \nThe two met through mutual friends at IU, have been dating for eight months and plan to get married in June.\n"I didn't attend IU while Brian played basketball; I was still in high school," Heimann said. "Brian's mom gave me some tapes of old games from when he played for IU; it's been fun to look back and watch when he used to play as a Hoosier."\nAs for the future, Evans said he hopes to come back to the United States and play in the NBA again.\n"Right now, playing in Italy is the best thing for me," Evans said. "Playing in the NBA, I would play only about 12 minutes a game. Over here I'm playing 35-40 minutes a game. I'm still improving and when I feel I'm ready to play in the U.S. again, I'm going to give the NBA another shot"
(06/20/02 8:16pm)
(06/20/02 4:00am)
(08/24/01 4:29am)
Nine underclassmen are not going to keep the 2001 volleyball team from being successful and having great chemistry.\n"This year is actually like a repeat of last year with so many underclassmen, but we are more experienced," Coach Katie Weismiller said. "We have five of six returning starters, and when you look at us on the court, we look like we've aged. We truly look much more mature than we were a year ago."\nWeismiller also believes the team is much more physical.\n"We're touching higher, we're reaching higher, and we're faster," Weismiller said, "You'll see that offensively we're probably better than we've ever been."\nEven though the coaches aren't allowed to have hands on practice with players during the summer, the volleyball team has managed to work hard. "They've worked really hard on their own, getting into shape and being ready to step on the court in much better volleyball shape than in the past," Weismiller said.\n"Our biggest concern this season is the same as any other team, and that's to stay injury free. Injuries a lot of times can't be controlled so it's a big concern," Weismiller said, "The chemistry with this team will not be a problem at all. Adding chemistry is going to help win more matches than a year ago. The team chemistry is already starting to gel."\n"We're close friends," Freshman Christina Archibald said, "We get along off the court just as well as we do when we're on the court."\nNot only are there nine underclassmen, but also a transfer student from Kansas State. Senior Disney Bronnenberg, originally from Bloomington, set a NCAA record with 15.54 assists per game and was named to the 1999 First-Team All-Big 12 squad. During Bronnenberg's junior year at Kansas State she helped lead the team to a Sweet 16 appearance in the 2000 NCAA Tournament. This year however, she made the decision to come back to her hometown and play for the Hoosiers. \n"It was a very tough decision to make, especially after establishing roots in a place for three years. I finally decided that this was the right place for me," Bronnenberg said. Bronnenberg doesn't mind playing with so many underclassmen, and even looks at it as a good experience. "Working with the underclassman and dealing with the transition of my transfer has really forced me to mature in a lot of different ways. I think that's one of the things I can bring to this team is a little experience, little maturity, and I think the underclassman are great. They're fresh and excited to play."\nFreshman Christina Archibald from Belleville, Ill. will be a contributor in deciding the success of this year's team. This past May in the tryouts for the Junior Olympic National Team, Archibald reached the second round. This freshman, with impressive high school records, chose IU because of its great coaching staff.\n"The players are awesome to get along with," Archibald said, "It's a much more high level volleyball than what I'm used to and so much more upbeat. Overall though, I've been having so much fun here with the team."\n"I just love the girls on the team. They have been so welcoming to me and to the other new comers," Bronnenberg said, "The main focus off the court has definitely been team chemistry and bonding us as a team. We spend a lot of time together off the court and we've done a lot of different things to help the chemistry of the team."\nOff the court the IU women's volleyball team has participated in other activities together. One activity was volunteering to participate in the Adopt-A-Road program. The team walked up and down the road they adopted, picked up trash, and recycled what they could.\n"We also had a great promotional day where we went out to different parts of the town and passed out schedules and posters and that was a great time for the team to really bond," Bronnenberg said.\nThe season kicks off with the Blimpie/Holiday Inn Classic Tournament on the Hoosiers home court. The first game will be against Maryland and will take place 7 p.m. August 31.\n"The most important and difficult match for us will be the first one," Weismiller said, "We're more concerned this year about our side of the court, and how we play together. We're truly looking at every match, one match at a time"