Water Polo ready for road

The IU water polo team will have a busy break. It heads to Pennsylvania this weekend for a series of matches before heading out to California for several more competitions.\nThis weekend the Hoosiers compete in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Conference Weekend. They travel to Grove City, Penn., Saturday to take on Grove City College, Mercyhurst and Washington & Jefferson.\nThe Hoosiers have never faced Mercyhurst. IU defeated Grove City and Washington & Jefferson by a combined score of 29-2. \nIU looks to build on that past success.\n"It's an important weekend in the sense that they are conference teams," senior Molly Fonner said. "We've beaten them before. We've had two weekends off. This weekend is more to get back in the grove."\nThe Hoosiers finish up the conference weekend when they travel to Slippery Rock, Penn., to take on Gannon. IU won last year's match-up 20-8. \nCoach Barry King believes this weekend is important to get back in the rhythm of playing.\n"It's been three weeks since we touched a ball in competition," King said. "We need to sharpen the things we've done. This weekend will be a good start. Wins are always good for confidence."\nKing said he is happy with the way his team has practiced in the past couple of weeks. He is hoping that the hard work will pay off.\n"(Wins) validate the effort you put in," King said. "They've done well at practice and in the weight room. But the competition gets a little tougher after break."\nAfter the trip through Pennsylvania, the Hoosiers head west to take on Cal State-Bakersfield and the University of California-Irvine in back-to-back weeknight matches. The first game will be played Wednesday night, followed by the Irvine match Thursday. IU defeated UC-Irvine earlier this year 5-4.\nFonner said she hopes the Hoosiers can sustain their intensity level throughout the entire match. She said the team had bad stretches last time it played, and it cost them in a couple of one-point games. \nSophomore Kristy Streefkerk agreed.\n"We have to make sure we play with intensity all the way to the end of the match," Streefkerk said.\nThe Hoosiers make their final stop March 15 in Los Angeles, Calif., when they take part in the Loyola-Marymount Invitational. They face the host school Saturday. Sunday, they compete against California-Baptist and Redlands. \nIU shut-out California-Baptist Feb. 10 for its first shutout since 1998. King hopes that his team will perform well after all of its time off.\n"I think we'd really like to see improved recognition of what the other teams are doing against us defensively," King said. "Fundamentally, we want to see good passes, clean touches and good vision"