Postseason tourney bid in Hoosiers' grasp

Dropping two matches against conference rivals Ohio State and the 13th ranked Penn State in a single week, the IU volleyball team has fallen to seventh in the conference with an 8-8 record.\nThe stumbles have caused IU to lose some of its thrust in trying to secure a 2002 NCAA Tournament bid. \nHowever, the team said its hope has not been lost with last Wednesday's upset and the dashed hopes of toppling Penn State for the first time.\nDespite IU's recent losses IU is still two wins away from reaching an all-time NCAA season win record of 20 and reaching the NCAA tournament for only the fourth time in school history. Helping the Hoosier team reach single season goals, many players are reaching single season records of their own. \nSophomore setter Victoria Zimmerman has performed well this season after seeing little action in her freshman season. Zimmerman currently sits at second in the Big Ten by notching 13.74 assists per game, placing her at just .02 assists per game behind current conference leader Wisconsin's junior setter Morgan Shields. These numbers place Zimmerman at second on the single season list with 1,519 total assists. Zimmerman needs 58 more assists to break Kristina Sanderson's 1997 record of 1,577.\n"Victoria Zimmerman has done an incredible job. Really you can look all the way around," coach Katie Weismiller said.\nAlong with Zimmerman's single season accolades, sophomore outside hitter Christina Archibald came off of a match-high 18 kill outing last weekend to move her 2002 season total to 485. This total moves her into second in single season kills by overtaking Ryann Connor's 1998 total of 482. In order to gain the all-time single season record, Archibald must overtake Anne Eastman's 1994 record of 539 kills. Running second in the Big Ten with 4.41 kills per game, Eastman's record is within Archibald's reach. Simply playing to her averages, Archibald would be within two kills of overtaking Eastman's mark with every IU match being three-and-outs.\nHowever, Archibald is not alone in her pursuit of single season records. Sophomore middle blocker Katie Pollom logged eight block assists in the Hoosiers' last outing against Penn State, with this performance, Pollom has moved into third in single season block assists with 113 total. Pollom's block assist performance overtook teammate junior middle blocker Melissa Brewer's 110 block assist total set in her freshman season. However, Brewer is padding her own block assist statistics with 106 to date, good enough for sixth all-time with four more matches this season.\n"Setting for our blockers (Pollom, Brewer) and hitters (Archibald, junior outside hitter Nikki Hill) has been great, I've just got to put it up and I know they'll get it," Zimmerman said.\nTag-teaming with impressive individual play all around the court, the "One Match at a Time" mantra has kept IU's head above water this season. \n"We need to play each match one at a time," Pollom said. "The NCAA Tournament is still our primary goal and we will probably have to win at least half our matches to earn an invitation. We'll have to treat every opponent with the utmost respect to achieve that goal"