IU falls to Illini, Wildcats in weekend trip

The Hoosiers' losing ways continued over the weekend as the team fell to Illinois 3-1 Friday night and Northwestern 3-0 on Saturday night, pushing their losing streak to 17 straight matches with just two more matches left in the season.\nAgainst Illinois on Friday night, the Hoosiers took the first game 30-20 and had control of the momentum early on. Earlier in the week, IU coach Katie Weismiller stressed the importance of not only gaining momentum in a match, but finding a way to hold on to that momentum throughout the contest. The Hoosiers had trouble with the latter, dropping the next three games 30-13, 30-17 and 30-23.\nLeading the Hoosiers offensively against the Fighting Illini was sophomore outside hitter Erica Short with 14 kills, the lone IU player with double digits in that category. The Fighting Illini tallied 62 kills, 21 more than the Hoosiers' 41. Defensively, the Hoosiers were led by Juli Pierce, a sophomore defensive specialist, who had 18 digs. Illinois earned 71 digs. IU had 49. \nOn Saturday night, the Wildcats swept the Hoosiers 30-21, 30-16 and 31-21 as they finished the weekend on another losing note.\nOnce again, Short led the Hoosiers on offense with 12 kills. The Wildcats had 55 kills while IU had 34. Sophomore defensive specialist Jessica Langert had seven digs to lead the Hoosiers. Junior Lauren Ditteon wasn't far behind with six. \nThe Hoosiers are now 10-20 overall and 1-17 in Big Ten play. IU will see its final action of the season when it takes on Wisconsin Friday night and Minnesota Saturday night at the University Gym in Bloomington. Both matches start at 7 p.m.