Hoosiers lose perfect record in tournament

The Hoosier-Illini men's volleyball tournament against the top teams in the nation March 3 proved that no one is perfect, but after a pre-spring break tournament in Arizona, the men still remain close to perfection with a 27-3 record.\nThe Hoosiers perfect record of 22-0 ended when they fell to Lakeland College March 3 in the semifinals of the Hoosier-Illini Classic, which was held at IU. The men entered the tournament with a 16-0 record after defeating teams such as Michigan State University, Illinois and Ohio State University in the regular season. \n"The loss was very unexpected. They caught us off-guard because we beat them pretty well the day before. We had so many opportunities to win the game and we didn't take full advantage of it. Lakeland came out fired up and we just didn't play our game," junior Jeremy Levy said.\nIU's pool play began with matches against Ohio State, Illinois and Lakeland College. The Hoosiers coasted through all three matches and entered the power round against Ohio Northern University and then took on Notre Dame during the round of 15. \nThe men's biggest rival and co-host for the weekend, Illinois, was paired against IU in the quarterfinal match. The matches against the Illini tested IU, who lost to Illinois in November. The Hoosiers proved they have grown since that loss, defeated the Illini in two matches moving to the semifinal round against Lakeland. The men won the first game of the match, but fell in the final two games. \nThe loss gave the Hoosiers a new perspective as they entered the Great Eight Tournament in Arizona March 8 and 9. \n"There was no reason we lost. I think that a lot of people on the team took it very hard," Levy said. "We are 22-1, and we won six in the weekend. Losing is never easy, but it had to happen at some time. I hope that we will start working harder in practice and get to that next level that we want to be at. \n"I am not worried to be honest. All good teams lose at one point, and I hope that we will be able to bounce back. I am looking forward to the challenge." \nThe challenges the Hoosiers faced, Utah and Texas A&M, were obstacles they weren't ready for. \nThe men began their spring break against University of Victoria, Utah Valley State, San Diego State, Sacramento State and Colorado; all in pool play. \nThe first loss of the weekend came against Utah at the end of pool play. The men lost the match in two games, but received a No. 3 seed and a bye entering the quarterfinals. The men's quarterfinal match against Texas A&M was also a tough two game match, but didn't hinder the Hoosiers confidence. \n"We weren't at all upset about the loss, it was the exact opposite," sophomore JT Gripe said. \n"We knew that we could compete with the teams out west, but we had to go out and prove it. It was a great weekend. The two losses came to teams that we knew that we could beat; We have beat Texas A&M before. We came at them when they were just playing really good volleyball. \n"It just proves that any team can be beat at any time, and you just have to come out and bring your best game." \nThe Hoosiers next action, will be another step in the direction of achieving their goals for the season. The men will compete in the Big Ten Conference Championship this weekend at Northwestern. Each Big Ten team will compete minus Penn State. The Hoosiers enter the weekend as the highest ranked team. \n"I think we learned a lot on our trip out west, it will only benefit the way we perform this weekend," freshman John Feeney said.\n"So many times we have only played to the ability of our competition. This weekend we will be able to play to our ability and not lower our play to the competition. I have no doubt in my mind that we are going to win. It's only our title to lose"