Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS -- The IUPUI volleyball team was poised to take a 2-1 lead over North Dakota State on Saturday night at The Jungle, seemingly putting themselves in position to snap the Bison's 31-match Summit League winning streak.  However, NDSU put an end to those aspirations by rallying for the third set win before taking a 3-1 win over the Jaguars, 24-26, 25-17, 25-23, 25-18.

IUPUI (15-9, 7-6 Summit) was ready to strike at North Dakota State (17-3, 13-0 Summit) in the third set, leading throughout the set.  While the Jaguars never led by more than five points (11-6), they built a 22-19 lead on the strength of kills from Monica Suding, Lauran Thompson and Kalyse Reimbold.  However, the Bison came storming back with three straight points, including a block by Chrissy Knuth and Jennifer Lopez on a Reimbold attack to knot the set at 22.

After Steve Payne used his second timeout, Reimbold came right back with a kill to the center of the court on a feed from Danielle Goodnight, but NDSU responded with the next three points of the set to seize the momentum and control of the match, 25-23.

"We had our chances throughout the match," Payne said post-game.  "We just had some mental errors at the wrong time that kept us from potentially winning tonight."

Those errors bit IUPUI in the fourth set; after overcoming an early 6-1 deficit with an 8-2 run, the Jaguars found themselves leading 12-10 after a Thompson kill.  The Bison took the sideout on a Brooke VandenBergh kill, which put NDSU back on the rotation in which they have built their early lead.

Once again, the rotation hurt the Jaguars, as North Dakota State reeled off six straight points to assume control of the set, 17-12.  IUPUI had a chance to potentially sideout Lopez's serve at 12-13, but an over ball by Abbey Perez fell in the open court, handing the Bison an easy point and helping them continue on Lopez's service.  The Jags came no closer than four points the rest of the set as North Dakota State took the match with the 25-18 win.

Early, the Jaguars showed their tenacity, striking an opening blow by claiming the first set.  Lindsey Weber had six kills in the set to lead IUPUI, as they traded points with the Bison; no team led by more than three points in the set. 

Trailing 21-19, IUPUI rallied behind Ashley Johnson, whose kill and block on back-to-back points pulled the Jaguars into a tie with NDSU; a Goodnight kill on the next point put the Jags in front to stay.  Weber followed up with a kill to give IUPUI a two-point lead, but the Bison staved off two set-point opportunities for the Jaguars to knot the set at 24.

On Chrissy Knuth's serve, Suding swung out for a slide from Goodnight and buried the kill, giving IUPUI their third set-point chance of the night.  Riembold capitalized on the chance to put the Jaguars out front early.

As had been their pattern recently on the road, North Dakota State responded in the second set, building an early five-point lead and extending it to six midway through the set.  Though the Jaguars closed to within four on a Weber kill to make it 16-12, the Bison again dug deep and built their lead back to eight, evening the match at a set apiece and setting the stage for the pivotal third set.

Reimbold had 19 kills in the match while hitting .289 on the night; Weber joined her in double figures with 12 kills.

Defensively, the Jaguars turned in 91 digs in the four-set match, led by Shari Bernhardt's 27.  Rachel Holmes chipped in 17, while Reimbold and Goodnight had 13 and 11, respectively, to post double-doubles.

Goodnight had 44 assists on IUPUI's 56 kills.

The Jaguars will hit the road for two key conference matches, beginning with an 8 p.m. ET match versus Centenary on Friday, Oct. 30, at the Gold Dome.  IUPUI and Oral Roberts will meet on Halloween at 8 p.m. ET from the Cooper Aerobics Center.