Hoosiers on a roll heading into Big Ten

The volleyball team took first place this weekend in the IU Credit Union tournament, beating Central Michigan and Butler and upsetting the No. 30 ranked Louisville Cardinals. IU extended their winning streak to five games heading into conference play Wednesday night against Ohio State. \nIn the opener Friday night, Central Michigan took a 28-25 lead on a late 5-0 run. But, IU quashed the rally, as the Hoosiers scored the next four points en route to a 34-32 victory in game one. \nIn game two, the Hoosiers held off numerous Chippewa rallies to win the game by the score of 30-25. In game three, the Hoosiers got off to a fast start as they reeled off five of the first six points and cruised to a 30-23 victory and a 3-0 match win. \n"The team came out and showed a lot of character tonight," coach Katie Weismiller said. "To come back and win game one was huge."\nSophomore Christina Archibald finished the match with a team leading 38 kills.\n"It took me a game to figure what the defense was running," Archibald said. "But after that, I knew I had the line open all day long."\nOn Saturday afternoon, the Hoosiers began their second match of the tournament by squaring off against state rival Butler. Game one went back and forth early, but the team held off the Bulldogs behind a couple 3-0 runs. The Hoosiers won game one 30-26. In the second game, Butler took an early lead and held off a late IU rally to win 30-27. The Bulldogs continued their momentum in game three with a late 8-1 run to pull ahead and eventually win 30-22.\n"They dug some hard shots; you have to give their players a lot of credit," Weismiller said. \nIn the deciding game four, Archibald had 21 kills and sophomore Katie Pollom added 11, as the Hoosiers jumped out early with a 12-5 lead. IU took a late 27-24 lead on a monstrous Archibald kill and won the game 30-28 on a Butler service error.\n"Our blocking picked up in game four," Weismiller said. "We had some key players step up for us."\nIn the fifth and deciding game, the Hoosiers established themselves early as they jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. The Hoosiers trailed13-12, but then scored the next three points before ending the match on a powerful Nikki Hill kill. \n"We knew it would be tough against Butler," Weismiller said. "We did not start off the way we wanted to, but a win is a win and I will take it anytime."\nNext up for the Hoosiers was the No. 30 ranked Louisville Cardinals. Archibald led the team as she scored five of the Hoosiers' first eight points, and the team won the first game 30-18. \nThe second game was more tightly contested, as the Hoosiers used timely blocking and powerful hitting to jump out to a 19-18 lead. Louisville pulled to within 28-24 on a kill by sophomore Bing Sun, but would get no closer as the Hoosiers scored three in a row to win 30-25. The third game turned out to be the closest game of the year for IU, with ties at 15, 21 and 28. Indiana grabbed a late 30-29 lead on a kill by Archibald. Louisville extended the match, however, scoring on an ace by junior outside hitter Anastasia Zaitseva and a kill by Sun to win game three 32-30. In game four, the Hoosiers jumped out to a 12-1 lead and never looked back. Louisville closed to within 6, at 21-15, but the Hoosiers cruised to a 30-22 game, match and tournament victory. \n"We came out and really played well in game four," Weismiller said. "Christina (Archibald) had a tremendous weekend and we did what we had to do -- run a fast offense, played defense and terminated."\nThe Hoosiers have won five in a row and now own a 10-2 record. Hoosiers Archibald, Hill and junior Melissa Brewer were named to the IU Credit Union Classic All-Tournament Team.