MACOMB, Ill. -- Leading two games to one, the IUPUI volleyball team could not close the Western Illinois Westerwinds out, falling in five tense games, 3-2, in their Summit League opener at Waste Management Court at Western Hall Friday night.
IUPUI (7-6, 0-1 Summit) played their first five-game match of the season, setting season highs for digs with 95. Five players posted double-figure digs, with senior Devika Bellamy and sophomores Hillary Houston and Danielle Goodnight each recording double-doubles.
Bellamy had 14 kills and 14 digs while Houston tallied 12 kills and 16 digs. Goodnight chipped in with 57 assists and 19 digs. Junior Chelsea Bastin had 17 digs for the Jaguars, and sophomore Rachel Holmes contributed 18 digs.
The Jaguars started the match slowly, falling in the first game, 19-30. Western Illinois jumped out to a 9-4 lead to force an IUPUI timeout and extended their lead to 14-4 before the Jaguars narrowed the deficit to 16-11. While the Jags were able to come with two points at 16-14, Western Illinois was able to pull away and take the first game of the match.
However, IUPUI dominated the second game, racing out to an 11-2 lead on seven straight points from Holmes's serve. From there, the Westerwinds came no closer than eight points, as the Jaguars took the game, 30-18.
It was more of the same in game three, as IUPUI won, 30-21. Again, the Jaguars took an early 7-1 advantage, fending off Western Illinois rallies. The Westerwinds called a timeout trailing 18-11, but it failed to stop the Jaguar attack, as IUPUI capitalized on WIU attack errors to take the game and move within a game of the match.
Western Illinois (3-7, 1-0 Summit) rallied in game four, holding the Jaguars to a .119 hitting percentage in a game that featured 14 ties and eight lead changes. While IUPUI was able to take a 12-8 lead to force a WIU timeout, they were not able to pull away as they had in the previous two games. Instead, the Westerwinds rallied to knot the game at 17 and force IUPUI into a timeout.
A kill by freshman Lauran Thompson restored the IUPUI lead to 18-17, but Western Illinois continued to trade points with IUPUI, eventually taking three straight points to lead, 25-22.
A Houston kill tied the game at 25, but the Westerwinds won the two next points on kills and held off IUPUI the rest of the way, setting up a deciding game five with a 30-26 win.
In game five, the score was tied seven times and the lead changed hands twice. However, IUPUI only hit .097 in the 15-13 loss, failing to capitalize on all their opportunities.
Again, the Jaguars took an early lead, forcing Western Illinois to take a timeout following a Bastin ace that made it 10-8 in favor of the Jags. Coming out of the break, WIU rallied to tie the game at 11 to force IUPUI into a timeout.
A Westerwind service error with the game tied at 12 appeared to give IUPUI the break they needed to win, but Western Illinois tied the game on a kill and consecutive Jaguar attack errors gave the game and match to Western Illinois.
Still, the Jaguars can salvage a split of their weekend trip tomorrow at UMKC, when they will take on the Kangaroos in Kansas City, Mo.. The match will begin at 8 p.m. from the Swinney Recreation Center.
