Team heads to coast for tournament

The women's water polo team heads to California to face San Diego State today before competing in the NoGrip Invitational over the weekend. This is the second time the Hoosiers have competed in the tournament.\nNo. 17 IU takes on No. 9 San Diego State in San Diego today. Team members said they (0-3) enjoy the fact that they will be playing quality teams.\n"It's definitely more fun (to play against highly ranked competition) because there's more adrenaline," senior Kirsten Mayberrys said. "You know you have to come out and do your best."\nJunior Kirstin Stanford agreed that better competition makes for better games.\n"It makes it more fun to play because we want to play to that level," she said.\nIU travels to La Jolla, Calif., Saturday for the NoGrip Invite at the University of California-San Diego. The Hoosiers will battle No. 7 Hawaii in the morning game before taking on No. 12 UCSD in the afternoon.\nThe team faced Hawaii in their first match of the season at the Michigan Invite. IU lost 11-8 but is now more prepared for this match.\n"We are going to try and do the same things," Stanford said. "We just need to finish our shots more and work on our counter attacks. We played well last time but ended up on the wrong end."\nThe Hoosiers will also compete Sunday, when matches will be based on Saturday's performances. Mayberry said she hopes that this second tournament will mean better results for the team.\n"I think we are more focused on winning now," Mayberry said. "Last week was to look at the other teams. We've been practicing more on offense. We'll be ready."\nCoach Barry King hopes his team gets eager when it sees the opponents on its schedule. The Hoosiers battle many of the top-ranked teams every week.\n"They should be excited to play that kind of competition all the time," King said. "That's the type of competition we want to be. To be in the top 10, you have to beat the top 10."\nThe trip to the coast will be a homecoming of sorts for five team members. Freshman Jessica Goldner, juniors Ginger Wang and Kim Steele, and seniors Mayberry and Kate McCollum are all from California. \nBut despite being a homecoming of sorts, the travel can be rough.\n"Travel is always a certain amount of stress," King said. "It's an advantage to other teams. I just want us to play to the level that I know we can"