Volleyball Hoosiers fall to Ohio State

The volleyball team took No.17 Ohio State to four matches before losing to the Buckeyes 4-15, 15-8, 14-16, 7-15.\n"We competed well against Ohio State," coach Katie Weismiller said. "They have a great offense. We had a lot of digs. We just failed to take advantage of those digs and it cost us. So many things are working well for us right now. There are just some little things that continue to break down and hurt us."\nThe match was under way after a 10-minute introduction of each player and her parents for the year's final home match. The Hoosiers (15-13, 6-12) struggled with their passing in the first game for a 1-12 deficit. \nThe Buckeyes jumped ahead 2-14 by causing five side-outs and scoring two more points. The first game ended on a Hoosier ball-handling error.\nIU used the momentum it had built at the end of the first game to jump to a 8-5 lead in the second game. There, the Hoosiers put up a strong offensive attack led by sophomore outside hitter Hillary Toivonen, who had two timely kills, and freshman middle blocker Melissa Brewer, who had the game-winning kill.\nAt the end of the second game, IU had a 46.9 total hitting percentage to the Buckeyes' 26.2. Freshman outside hitter Monique Pritz led the attack with a 62.5 hitting percentage and no errors. Senior outside hitter Amanda Welter followed with a 55 hitting percentage and 12 kills. Freshman outside hitter Nicole Hill had the lone ace of the match.\nBut after a strong finish in the second half, the teams retreated to the locker room for the usual break. This was similar to the Wisconsin match, when IU had momentum going into halftime, but played a dismal third game.\n"When we went into the locker room we made sure what happened in the Wisconsin match didn't happen again," Welter said. "We knew that match wasn't over. We had won one game, but that was only half of it."\nThe third game turned out to be more about which team had the better luck, and in the end it was Ohio State. Numerous times the ball hit the rafters, only to be saved by a team member to keep the play alive. At one point, a ball hit Welter in the face but bounced toward sophomore setter Laurie Gardner. The play ended with a sideout for IU after a double block by Brewer and Toivonen.\n"We just showed a lot of heart on the floor by going for everything," Welter said. "We didn't want the ball to die. We've been looking for that all year, and it finally came out tonight."\nThe Hoosiers led most of the third match, but the Buckeyes took over and stretched the lead to 11-7. There were nine sideouts before Ohio State scored another point and widened the gap to 13-8. Two aces from Gardner, an ace from Toivonen and errors by Ohio State marked an IU comeback, and the Hoosiers tied the game at 14. But a strong kill by Ohio State, and a wide block from IU sealed the win for the Buckeyes.\nOhio State jumped to a quick lead in the fourth game, but the Hoosiers were able to tie it at 4. That was the closest the score would be in the game. IU attempted to make a comeback late in the match, but Ohio State held them off and won on an ace.\n"It was a tough night," Weismiller said. "It was a very offensive match. They beat us defensively. There were a lot of digs, but we didn't take care of the ball."\nThe Hoosiers ended the match with a 22.3 hitting percentage, and the Buckeyes had 28.6. Welter led in kills with 25 and had a 42.3 hitting percentage. Pritz had no errors in the match and led the team with a 52.4 hitting percentage. Gardner had 59 assists, and Brewer led the team in digs with 20.\nIU has road matches against Purdue and Illinois to finish the season. The likelihood of a NCAA tournament appearance for the Hoosiers is slim after the loss to Ohio State. \n"I'm just really disappointed right now," Brewer said. "I don't know what to say. I just feel really bad right now"