Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS – The IUPUI volleyball team hit .333 for the match and sent seniors Lauran Thompson, Dana Gardner, and Jessica Phelps away with a victory in their final match as Jaguars as IUPUI downed Western Illinois, 3-0 (25-9, 25-21, 30-28), Saturday evening at The Jungle.

Gardner put down nine kills and hit .421, Phelps added eight kills and hit .333, and Thompson posted two kills and five digs in their final appearance in front of the home crowd on Senior Night.

Moriah Fair led all players with 16 kills.

Fair kicked off the match with a service ace and the Jaguars never looked back in the opening set. Leading 7-3, IUPUI rallied off 11 consecutive points behind the serving of Kalyse Reimbold pushing its lead to 15 points, 18-3. During the rally, Bethany Fogler, Gardner, and Fair each picked up a pair of kills. The game was never in doubt and it was fitting that a Reimbold kill handed the Jaguars the 25-9 first-set win.

The second set got off to a more traditional start as the teams jockeyed for position until a Leathernecks attack error followed by kills from Fair and Phelps and an ace from Thompson put the Jaguars on top, 17-13. Western Illinois closed its deficit to two points on three separate occasions, with the last at 23-21, but a block by Phelps and Alexis Meeks precluded a kill from Phelps that closed out a 25-21 second-set triumph for IUPUI.

Out of the break, IUPUI took a six-point lead at 11-5, but WIU responded by taking nine of the next 10 points reversing a six-point deficit into a two-point lead, 14-12. From that point, 10 more ties ensued with the last at 28-28, before Gardner capped off her career with a kill and teamed up with Fogler for a block to give the Jags the 30-28 victory.

In addition to her 16 kills, Fair added 13 digs, while Shari Bernhardt collected a match-high 14 digs. With the 14 digs, Bernhardt surpassed 1,500 digs in her career.