DEKALB, Ill. – Opening the season against the preseason Mid-American Conference favorite Northern Illinois and No. 14 Northern Iowa is a tough task in itself and the IUPUI volleyball team fought valiantly against both squads, but fell short in its first day of action of the 2011 campaign.

“For the day, we had some high points and low points,” said head coach Steve Payne. “We definitely showed we can play with these teams by taking that set off Northern Illinois and playing pretty well against No. Iowa, but the drawback was we committed too many errors. That made it easier for them to win, but overall, when we had everything in sync we looked good and it’s good to know we can do that.”

IUPUI opened the day taking on tournament host Northern Illinois and stayed close with the Huskies early. With the score tied at seven, a quick five-point spurt from NIU placed the Huskies on top, 12-7. Still trailing by six points, 16-10, IUPUI was able to cut its deficit to three points, 16-13, on a pair of service aces from Kalyse Reimbold and a Huskies attack error, but down the stretch a series of Jaguars miscues helped Northern Illinois take the first set, 25-18.

The same scenario played out in the second set as a mid-set Northern Illinois surge opened up an eight-point lead, 20-12, and from that point the Huskies went on to take the second set, 25-15.

Out of the intermission, Moriah Fair got on a role and three consecutive kills from the sophomore outside hitter helped the Jags take a 10-6 lead early in set three. Another kill by Fair coupled with a trio of NIU errors helped IUPUI widen its lead to 15-10, but NIU rallied to cut its deficit to three points, 19-16.
However, the Jags used a kill from Alexis Meeks and four kills from Fair to close out a 25-19 third-set triumph.

Unfortunately for IUPUI, the momentum did not last long as NIU jumped on the Jags early and eventually cruised to a 25-13 fourth-set victory to close out the 3-1 victory.

Fair led the Jags with 16 kills, while Shari Bernhardt paced the defensive effort with 17 digs.

The Jags didn’t have much time to recuperate as it took on No. 14 Northern Iowa approximately three hours following the completion of their match with Northern Illinois, while the Panthers were playing their first match of the tournament.

UNI looked fresh from the get-go and controlled the first set from start-to-finish en route to a 25-16 win.

However, the Jags got more competitive as the match progressed. Unfortunately for IUPUI, six attack errors in the second set proved to be the difference as Northern Iowa completed a 25-19 triumph, upping its lead to 2-0 heading into the 10-minute intermission.

After trailing early in the third set, the Jags methodically chipped in to the Panthers lead and eventually battled back to knot the score at 21. With the score still tied at 23, kills by Krista DeGeest and 2010 AVCA All-American Bre Payton gave UNI the 25-23 victory.

For the second straight match, Fair led IUPUI’s offense with 12 kills, while Bernhardt registered her first 20-plus dig performance of the season with exactly 20 digs.

The Jags return to the floor on Saturday, Aug. 27, with another pair of tough matches against No. 18 Iowa State and Cincinnati. The Jaguars and Cyclones are set to meet at 11 a.m. ET, before IUPUI and UC meet at 6 p.m. ET.

“Tomorrow we need to hold down our errors, become more aggressive offensively, and we need to use our speed on the court to combat the size of Iowa State and Cincinnati,” Payne said.