Hoosiers fall on road; streak extends to 8

The IU volleyball team extended its losing streak to eight matches this weekend with road losses at the hands of the Illinois Fighting Illini and the No. 18 Purdue Boilermakers. The Hoosiers have lost 15 of their last 16 matches and finish winless on the road in conference play.\nThe pair of losses drops IU's record to 2-16 in Big Ten play this weekend and 9-21 overall with two matches left in the season.\n"Our team is so vulnerable and the momentum swayed on us," IU coach Katie Weismiller said. "There were definitely some bright spots, though. We definitely competed."\nThe weekend began with a trip to Champaign-Urbana, Ill., to visit Illinois with hopes of earning a season sweep on the Fighting Illini. \nHowever, Illinois defeated the Hoosiers in straight sets (30-27, 30-23, 30-24) behind an offense that hit at a .297 clip for the match.\nThe first game, which featured 16 ties, saw the two teams tied at 26-26 before the Illini took four of the last five points to capture the victory and a 1-0 match lead.\nIn the second game the Hoosiers dug themselves an early hole only to tie the match at 9-9. From there, the Illini would take seven of the next eight points to extend a lead they would never look back from on their way to winning the game 30-23. \nIllinois took the last game with its best offensive performance of the match with a .333 hitting percentage. IU on the other hand managed only a .098 hitting percentage of its own.\nAfter the loss to Illinois, the Hoosiers traveled to Purdue for the Monon Spike match against the Boilermakers. IU has not won the Spike -- the traveling trophy between the teams -- since 2002.\nAgain, IU was unable to recapture the Spike, losing the match in straight sets (30-25, 30-26, 30-17). \nThe Hoosiers were unable to muster much offense, hitting .066 for the match and not hitting above .179 in any of the three games.\n"We stepped up this past weekend with constantly competing with the other team throughout the entire match," sophomore Annie Moddrell said. "Hopefully we can step up next weekend."\nFreshman outside hitter Erica Short set the single-season freshman kill record in the loss to Purdue. She passed former Hoosier Christina Archibald who previously held the record with 364 kills. Short has 373 kills so far this season.\nWith two matches left in the season, the Hoosiers will look to end their season on a positive note next weekend in Bloomington.\n"All of us are going to go out and compete, if everyone steps it up at the beginning of the game things will work out," Short said. "It's important to go out and get two wins"