IU splits first 2 games in Credit Union Invitational

For 13 years, one thing has remained constant with IU women's volleyball -- the first win of the season. IU head coach Katie Weismiller improved her record of leading the Hoosiers on opening day to 13-0 Saturday when her team knocked off Indiana State. \nThe Hoosiers ending up splitting their weekend series, beating the Sycamores in straight sets (30-24, 30-14, 30-18) before falling to tournament champion Western Kentucky in a five-set loss (28-30, 30-24, 23-30, 30-19, 9-15) during the nightcap of the IU Credit Union Invitational. \nThe Hoosiers, spurred by the performance of freshman Erica Short, swept right past Indiana State in their first match of the year. Sophomore middle blocker Annie Moddrell led the team with eight block assists, tying for third place in the individual three-game, single-match record book. Short led the offensive attack with 14 kills and a .407 hitting percentage in her first collegiate match. \n"She had a great match," Weismiller said. "She really loves to play and is fun to play with."\nIn the first game of the match, IU had a difficult time putting away Indiana State before going on a 9-0 run spurred by senior Mandy Eberle's serve. IU extended its lead to 27-18 and never looked back, out-hitting the Sycamores .359 to .250 on the way to the win.\nIn the second game, the Hoosier defense tightened up, holding Indiana State to a -.031 hitting percentage. Again in the third game, the Sycamores struggled with a hitting percentage of .000 despite having more kills than IU. \nIn the second match, the Hoosiers struggled to maintain momentum against Western Kentucky, splitting the first four games before falling in the fifth and decisive game of the match. Senior outside hitter Rachel Gerling led the way for the Hoosiers, recording a double-double in the match with 19 kills and 14 digs while also chipping in six block assists. \n"Blocking was amazing, which made defense behind really easy," Gerling said. "Passing was awesome and Laura (Holm) did a great job setting -- it made my job easy."\nAlso contributing for the Hoosiers was sophomore Lauren Ditteon, who had five service aces, and Moddrell, who had her second eight-block assist match of the day. \n"My outside hitters did a great job setting it up for me," Moddrell said. "My job was easy, all I had to do was get there." \nIn the first game of the match, both IU and Western Kentucky played virtually identical, with the same hitting percentage, kills, errors and total attacks. The game featured 10 ties and six lead changes, but Western Kentucky tied the game at 28-28 and won the final two points to secure the opening victory. \nIU came out much sharper in the second game of the match, extending its lead to seven points after a block by Short and Moddrell to make the score 26-19. The Hoosiers then held off a comeback attempt to prevail, 30-24. \nAfter falling in the third game, IU rebounded in impressive fashion in the fourth game. The Hoosiers jumped out to a 13-9 lead and then extended the lead even more after back-to-back blocks by the Hoosier frontcourt and a service ace by Ditteon. \nHowever, whatever momentum IU had gained in the fourth game appeared to be lost in the fifth. Despite trading the lead several times early in the final game, IU fell behind 6-5 and lost the lead for good.\n"We competed tonight almost to the end," Weismiller said. "That's a strong team we played over there -- hopefully we walk away and we learned something"