No. 20 Hoosiers travel west to Stanford to take on nation's top-ranked teams

Playing against an opponent nationally ranked in the top five is an arduous task for any team, but playing against three of them within a span of 48 hours could strike fear into even the most confident of teams.\nThat is the task for the No. 20 IU water polo team as it travels to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational. While it would be easy to be nervous playing such a brutal stretch of games, the resounding feeling of the team is excitement. \n"Going there is exciting," senior center Melissa Soria said. "It'll be a good test for us." \nThe Hoosiers start their weekend by taking on No. 5 Hawaii and No. 4 California on Saturday. Sunday they face No. 2 UCLA and a fourth team that's determined based on the outcome of the first three games. Head coach Barry King said that the fourth opponent will also likely be ranked in the top 10. \n"It'll show us where we are as a team," senior attacker Kristin Zernicke said. "We're really excited to see how we do coming off the plane for the first time." \nIn addition to the talent that will oppose that the Hoosiers in the pool, there are also other factors that will pose a challenge. This will be the first time the Hoosiers play on the West Coast and in an outdoor pool. However concerns such as these are secondary to the teams they will be playing.\n"The amount of talent and action that (the team) will see this weekend can't be duplicated in practice," King said. "It's a great opportunity for training and fitness."\nWhile excited for the chance to play such highly regarded teams, the Hoosiers also head to California confident in their own abilities.\n Soria said that while the competition is solid, if they can play their game they will be able to compete with anyone. \n"Regardless of the outcome, it's always a good challenge to play teams as talented, well-coached and well-conditioned as these teams," King said. "But we're out there to win as many games as we can"