Hoosiers salvage weekend

IU headed into the weekend with two tough games on tap. After getting blown out by Wisconsin on Friday night, IU came back to defeat Northwestern 3-1 on Saturday to earn a split on the road this weekend.\nIU faced a Badger team focused on getting revenge after their 3-2 loss in Bloomington three weeks ago. And that they did, as Wisconsin blanked IU 3-0. The No. 15 ranked Badgers pushed their lead to two games over IU in the Big Ten standings with the win.\nIn the opening match, IU and Wisconsin were knotted at 16 before the Badgers made a strong run to win game one 30-21. \nIn the second game IU jumped out to an early lead but failed to sustain its attack, as both teams battled back and forth. Wisconsin pulled ahead late 24-23 and won the game 30-24. \nThe Badgers and Hoosiers were tied 25-25 late in the third game, when Wisconsin grabbed the lead on the next point for the first time all game. And again they would not look back, holding off IU for a 30-28 victory and a 3-0 match sweep. \nBut the Hoosiers turned their play around for their Saturday game against Northwestern, as they won three straight games to defeat the scrappy Wildcats 3-1 in Evanston.\nIU lifted its record to 16-8, 6-6 while Northwestern fell to 13-11, 6-6 in the conference.\nJunior middle blocker Melissa Brewer led the Hoosiers with 20 kills while sophomore middle blocker Katie Pollom had 16 kills and sophomore outside hitter Christina Archibald added 15. Archibald's 15 kills moved her into ninth place in the school single-season kills record book with a total of 416.\nNorthwestern opened up a 15-11 lead in game one, forcing an IU timeout. The Wildcats would not lose any momentum though, as they cruised to an easy victory in game one 30-22.\nBehind Brewer's nine kills, the Hoosiers came out firing in game two and would eventually tie the match at 1-1 with a 30-26 victory.\nContinuing their hot play from game two, IU jumped out to an early 12-7 lead. The Hoosiers held off a late Wildcat run to win the crucial game three by the final of 30-28.\nIn game four, IU continued their pattern of early leads, jumping out to a 13-7 advantage. A service ace by junior outside hitter Nikki Hill gave the Hoosiers their biggest lead 25-18. A blocking error by the Wildcats ended game four by the score of 30-23.\n"We put (Friday's) loss in the past because there was nothing we could do about it," Hill said. "We focused on tonight's match and beating Northwestern. We really played as a team tonight and we improved our record which is especially important in the Big Ten"