In the 1986 movie Hoosiers, the team from Hickory raised its game to the next level with the help of its star, Jimmy Chitwood. For the Indiana volleyball team this weekend, Chitwood came in the form of outside hitter Amanda Welter.
The MVP of the Duke Classic torched the Blue Devils (3-2) with 15 kills, hitting an amazing .652 percentage in the championship match Saturday, as Indiana (6-0) defeated Duke 15-10, 15-11, 15-5.
"We did some really nice things in that match, especially in the first two games," Duke coach Jolene Nagel said. "We couldn't finish the point. Instead, we would make some sort of error, and that's what we have to eliminate.
"Indiana is always a competitive team in a top conference. They are solid all the way around and do not have many weaknesses."
In all three games of the match, the Blue Devils fell behind early to the guests from Bloomington. Indiana opened up a 9-3 lead in the first game before Duke rallied to tie the contest at 10-10. But the Hoosiers regrouped and won the next five points to take the game.
The second game looked like an instant replay of the opener, as Indiana jumped out to a 7-3 advantage. The Blue Devils rallied again to knot the score at seven apiece until unforced errors broke Duke's momentum.
A service error and two mis-hit passes turned a tie game into a 9-7 deficit for Duke. The Blue Devils refocused to grab an 11-10 edge, but that was the only lead they would hold against Indiana, as the Hoosiers scored the final five points once again to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Game three appeared as if it would replicate the earlier action, with Indiana vaulting to a 10-3 advantage, only this time Duke had no answer. The Hoosiers poured it on to close the match with a 15-5 win.
"We just have to concentrate on our fundamentals throughout the game," sophomore Pamela Gottfred said. "We just ride too much on our emotion. We go up and down instead of being consistent.
"Our intensity didn't stay up. We had a real roller coaster of a game.... They were a good team, but I think we really backed off from them. We should have stepped up to the challenge."
The key to the Indiana victory was consistency. The Hoosiers rarely committed unforced errors and passed the ball solidly throughout the match. They also were able to dig nearly everything the Blue Devils threw at them.
This digging efficiency forced Duke to take more chances, which ultimately led to 15 errors on kills. In comparison, Indiana only mis-hit on seven kills.
"I was disappointed we did not play Indiana tougher, especially in that third game," Nagel said. "But we did some really great things that we can build on this week, and we know what we need to work on."
The Blue Devils earned a berth in the championship match with a three-game sweep of Mercer (0-6). The Bears were never able to get anything started, as Duke opened the match scoring the first 13 points before Mercer got on the board.
Senior Jami Ediger earned all-tournament honors for the Blue Devils, as she tallied 20 kills and 12 digs overall. Freshman Jill Sonne also kept up her solid play this weekend, notching nine kills in each of the two matches.
Duke returns to the court this weekend, when it travels to Muncie, Ind., for the Ball State-Nike Challenge.
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