IUPUI 3, Robert Morris 0

KENT, Ohio – A week after dropping a tournament championship match to Eastern Michigan, the IUPUI volleyball team had another chance to win a tournament and did so with a three-set sweep over Robert Morris Saturday morning in its final match of the Kent State Mizuno Open.

The tournament championship marks the fourth in program history and is the first since the Jags won the Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational hosted by Bradley University in 2009.

“It’s always great to win a tournament and I was proud of how we continued to block and dig well,” said head coach Steve Payne. “We really had some people step up this weekend and hopefully we can build upon our recent success as we enter Summit League play next week.”

The Jaguars were aggressive from the start using a pair of kills from Moriah Fair, an Alexis Meeks service ace, a kill from Kortni Wright and a block from Wright and Bethany Fogler to break open a tie and take an 11-6 lead. Still holding on to a five-point lead, 19-14, the Jags used three Fair kills, a Wright kill, and took advantage of two Colonials attack errors to win set one, 25-19.

IUPUI jumped out to a 7-2 lead in set two highlighted by consecutive solo blocks from Fogler and two Kalyse Reimbold kills. Robert Morris eventually battled all the way back to knot the score at 22, but a Kelsey Hoefer kill was followed by two RMU miscues resulting in the Jags taking a 25-22 set two win.

The third set was much closer at the start until IUPUI took five of six points midway through the set to seize a 15-11 advantage. The Jags saw their lead dwindle to two points, 20-18, but a five-point Jaguars run that was fittingly capped off by a block from Fogler and Wright finished off the 25-18 win.

Fair led all players with 12 kills, while Reimbold fell just short of double digits with nine kills. Defensively, Fogler and Wright both tallied five blocks and Shari Bernhardt finished with 14 digs.

With the win over Robert Morris, IUPUI enters its opening weekend of Summit League action next weekend on a three-match winning streak and as winners of five of its last six matches. The Jags open conference action at North Dakota State and South Dakota State Sept. 16-17.