INDIANAPOLIS -- Down 24-20 and trailing two games to one, it would have been easy for the IUPUI volleyball team to pack it in and call it a season. However, the Jaguars battled back to force a fifth game before falling, 3-2, on senior night at The Jungle.
Senior Devika Bellamy matched her season high with 21 kills, while fellow senior Carol Newell had a season-best 21 kills.
The two seniors helped IUPUI battle The Summit League Tournament-bound Mastodons throughout the match. The two teams combined for 189 digs, a testament to the strong defenses on both sides of the court.
IUPUI (13-17, 6-10 Summit) jumped on top of the Mastodons early, taking leads of 9-6 and 14-10 to force IPFW timeouts. Coming out of the second timeout, IPFW used a 4-0 run to close within 15-14. The Mastodons continued their run to move to a 17-15 lead before the Jaguars battled back to tie the game.
The two teams traded rallies until IUPUI took four of five points to go ahead 27-23 on a kill by Newell. Leading 28-24, the Jaguars withstood a small IPFW rally to win the first game, 30-28.
IPFW (19-10, 12-4 Summit) did not fold, taking the next two games from the Jaguars, 30-24 and 30-23. In both games, the Mastodons jumped out to quick leads and held off IUPUI down the stretch.Tied at 9-9 in the second game, IPFW used a 12-3 run to take a 20-12 lead. While the Jaguars were able to close within five points, they could not complete the comeback in game two.
The Mastodons took a 7-2 lead in the third game to force a quick IUPUI timeout. IPFW was able to stretch their advantage from there, moving to a 23-14 margin. The two teams traded points the rest of the way, leading the Mastodons to a two games to one lead.
Trailing 24-20 in the fourth game, the Jaguars rallied to tie the game at 24 following two kills from Bellamy and a block by sophomores Danielle Goodnight and Ashley Johnson. Another block by Johnson and freshman Lauran Thompson provided the Jaguars with a 25-24 lead.
Tied at 26, the Jags capitalized on an IPFW service error to take a 29-26 lead, which they turned into a game-tying 30-27 win.
Despite the fact the Jaguars lost the fifth game, it does not take away from the accomplishments of Bellamy and Newell. Bellamy served as a co-captain this season along with Newell. Throughout her career, Bellamy proved to be one of the program’s most versatile players, serving as a setter for two years before expanding her role the last two years. Bellamy tallied 10 triple-doubles during her career at IUPUI, including three this season.
Bellamy worked her way into the Jaguar record books in several spots -- she currently ranks third in assists, fifth in overall blocking and block assists and is seventh in kills with 1.012 in her career.
Newell served as a co-captain along with Bellamy for the 2007 campaign, helped the Jaguars to just their third win over Oral Roberts in the program’s history. Newell has anchored the Jaguars’s outside attack since moving into the starting lineup in 2005. As a reult, Newell ranks fifth in kills with 1,052 and fourth in attempts with 3,159. Newell has topped 300 kills for the third straight season, and has been an irreplaceable member of the Jaguars’s front line, ranking seventh in solo blocks for her career. Carol also holds the school record with nine service aces in a match, doing so her junior year against Centenary.
