INDIANAPOLIS -- With The Summit League season nearing an end, the IUPUI volleyball team picked up a much-needed conference win, defeating Oral Roberts, 3-2, Friday night at The Jungle.
IUPUI (10-13, 3-6 Summit) defeated Oral Roberts for the first time since October 16, 2004, closing their gap over the conference leader to four games with the 30-23, 23-30, 21-30, 30-21, 15-13 win. The Jaguars are still within reach of making The Summit League tournament for the 10th consecutive season.
Sophomore Ashley Johnson helped lead the way, matching her career high with 14 kills. Johnson also had one solo block and seven helpers to key an IUPUI defense that had 18 total team blocks.
Seniors Devika Bellamy and Carol Newell led the Jaguar offense with 20 and 16 kills, respectively.
The Jaguars started the match with momentum, picking up a 30-23 win in game one. IUPUI led throughout, allowing Oral Roberts to knot the game on four occasions, the latest coming with the score at 14-14.
From there, IUPUI took three straight points on kills from Johnson, sophomore Hillary Houston and a Golden Eagle error, causing ORU to burn a timeout.
The timeout did not stop the Jaguars' momentum, as they picked up the next six points, using two kills by Bellamy, a kill by Johnson and an ace from sophomore Monica Suding. Following the second ORU timeout, the Jaguars stretched their lead to 10 before cruising to the win.
Oral Roberts (12-10, 7-2 Summit) bounced back in game two, turning a 9-9 game into an 18-13 advantage, forcing IUPUI into two timeouts in the process. Still, IUPUI battled their way back into the game, closing to within 22-19 following an ORU error.
Coming out of the timeout, the Golden Eagles took the next three points to pull away, evening the match at a game apiece.
After the eight-minute break, ORU took control of the match, dominating the third game, 30-21. After the teams exchanged early points, Oral Roberts took four straight to open a 10-6 lead. The closest IUPUI would come the rest of the game would be three points, as the Jaguars hit just .077 in the game.
Trailing two games to one, IUPUI took control of a tight game to pull away and win, 30-21. The teams traded the lead throughout the early going, causing 11 ties and four lead changes.
Oral Roberts held a scant lead after breaking an 8-8 tie, leading IUPUI 15-13 before two straight Jaguar points caused ORU to burn a timeout. After the one-minute break, back-to-back Golden Eagle errors helped IUPUI take their lead. ORU came back to tie the game at 18, but the Jaguars took the next three points to force another Oral Roberts tie.
After the break, the Jags used an ace from sophomore Danielle Goodnight in between four Golden Eagle attack errors to pull away for the win.
IUPUI was 0-2 when playing five-game matches this year, but the Jaguars dug deep to reverse the trend against ORU. Bellamy got the Jags started on the right foot, tallying a kill to put IUPUI ahead, 1-0. Houston broke a 1-1 tie with a kill to keep momentum on IUPUI's side.
Still, Oral Roberts did not back down, taking a 7-6 lead. However, the Jaguars took the next six points on the serve of Goodnight, causing ORU to burn two timeouts.
Leading 12-7, IUPUI allowed Oral Roberts to close within 13-10, taking advantage of an ORU error to move to match point. With the Golden Eagles down a point at 14-13, IUPUI forced an error to take the game and match.
IUPUI will look to keep their momentum alive tomorrow night, October 20, when they will host Summit League rival Western Illinois. The Jaguars will also be hosting Dig for the Cure, raising money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation tomorrow. The match will begin at 7 p.m. from The Jungle.
