More than once during the Loyola-Chicago match, in which the volleyball team found themselves struggling to get a win, IU freshman middle blocker Melissa Brewer called for the ball. She showed surprising initiative for her first tournament, but her leadership was encouraged by her coach and team.\nBrewer started in all three of the matches, and as the tournament went on, Brewer's play advanced. She started out with a negative attack percentage against Cincinnati, had zero attack percentage in the match against Bowling Green and had a .088 against Loyola.\n"It's progressing: Everyone on the bench, the whole time, is telling me to have confidence," Brewer said. "It was stressful at first, but it's a new thing, but people are telling me the whole time to have confidence in yourself; you'll do it. I'm totally getting feedback from everyone what could help for me to get better. It's really built my confidence up."\nHer display of confidence on the court wasn't the only showing for the seven new players on the team. Freshman Nicole Hill, who played for the first time in her career as an outside hitter, had the second highest number of kills (12) for IU against Cincinnati and was one of the leaders with digs. She started all three matches and was on the bench for a limited time. Hill also had an ace in both the Cincinnati game and the Bowling Green game.\nFreshman defensive specialist Beth Heimann was used several times as a substitute for senior outside hitter Amanda Welter, and found playing time in all three matches. Like Hill, she was among the leaders in digs against Cincinnati, and had 13 digs against Loyola.\n"The freshman really stepped up (this weekend), and got over the nerves quickly," coach Katie Weismiller said. "Every time they touched the ball, they gained confidence."
TOURNAMENT RECAP\nIn the first game of the IU Credit Union/Hoosier Invitational, Loyola-Chicago faced Bowling Green, and defeated the Falcons 15-8, 17-15, 15-9. Loyola finished last season with a Midwestern Collegiate Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, and is expected to repeat that this year.\nIn Loyola's match against Bowling Green, senior Kelly Price, a Second Team All-MCC last year, led the team with 13 kills.\nThe Ramblers fell to Cincinnati, 15-13, 15-10, 15-12, in Loyola-Chicago's second match of the tournament. Although Price led Loyola with 17 kills and 15 digs, the team dropped that match before dropping the match to IU. Loyola finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.\nThe only match that went to five games was Bowling Green against Cincinnati. Bowling Green dropped the first two games, then rallied back to win the final three games. The final score was 7-15, 12-15, 15-5, 15-13, 15-13. Each team finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.
