INDIANAPOLIS -- Leading two-games-to-one and holding a 25-20 advantage in the fourth game, the IUPUI volleyball team could not take the fourth game, eventually falling in five games to Summit League-leader South Dakota State, 2-3, Saturday evening in The Jungle.
IUPUI (8-9, 1-3 Summit) fell in five games for the second time this season, 30-27, 20-38, 30-32, 28-30, 8-15.
Four players set career highs during the match, led by sophomore Hillary Houston, who had a career-best 21 kills while hitting .319. Fellow sophomores Rachel Holmes contributed 22 digs and Danielle Goodnight had 64 assists. Junior Chelsea Bastin chipped in 25 digs.
Without Houston and sophomore Monica Suding's hitting, the Jaguars would have only hit .159 for the match. Instead, Houston's 22 kills and Suding's nine helped the Jags hit .210 for the five-game set.
In game one, IUPUI showed South Dakota State (13-3, 4-0 Summit) that they would be in for a long night, refusing to back down from the league leaders. However, after a 6-2 Jackrabbit run put them on top 18-14, head coach Steve Payne used a timeout to calm the troops. While SDSU continued their run to go up 21-14, the Jaguars slowly crept back, with Houston leading the charge.
Two kills by senior Devika Bellamy and a Goodnight ace caused South Dakota State to burn a timeout. However, the Jackrabbits could not stem the tide, as Houston tallied five kills down the stretch to lead the Jaguars to a 30-27 game one win.
The Jaguars momentum carried into game two, jumping out a 7-4 lead. Even when South Dakota State rebounded to take a 9-7 advantage, IUPUI quickly used a four-point run to regain the lead.
Neither team could pull away, however, as South Dakota State twice rallied to tie the game at 20 and 26. With the game in the balance, the Jaguars received kills from Suding and sophomore Ashley Johnson to close the game and take a two-games-to-none lead.
Coming out of the eight-minute break, the Jaguars were a little flat, falling behind 4-8, before a timeout helped IUPUI gather themselves. Gradually, the pulled themselves back into the game, rallying to make it a 16-18 game and forcing a Jackrabbits timeout.
With the game tied at 21, SDSU used a four-point run to take control and make IUPUI use their last timeout. However, the timeout worked in the Jaguars' favor, as they came out of the one-minute break with their own four-point run to know the game at 25.
South Dakota State took a 29-27 lead to set up game point, but IUPUI battled back to tie the game on a Houston kill, but the Jackrabbits took the final two points when the game was tied at 30 to close their deficit to one game.
Still, it appeared that the Jaguars would close the match out when they came out strong in game four, taking a 15-9 lead to force a South Dakota State timeout. The Jackrabbits slowly closed their deficit, taking six of the next nine points to prompt Payne into taking a timeout.
Still, back-to-back aces from Suding opened up a 25-20 lead and caused SDSU to use their final timeout. Whatever was said in the huddle seemed to work, as the Jackrabbits quickly used a 7-0 run to take a surprising lead. While a Houston kill tied the game at 27, SDSU took the next point and seized control of the game, winning, 30-28.
Taking their momentum from the previous two games, South Dakota State made quick work of game five, jumping out to a 6-1 lead before forcing IUPUI's second timeout by pushing their advantage to 10-4. From there, the Jaguars were not able to get closer than six points, dropping the game, 8-15, and the match, 2-3.
The Jaguars will be back in action on Friday, September 28, when they will travel to Shreveport, La., to take on Centenary College. The match will begin at 7 p.m. CST from the Gold Dome.
