IUPUI vs. Oral Roberts – Live Stats | Live Video
IUPUI vs. Southern Utah – Live Stats | Live Video

INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI completes its brief three-match homestand this weekend when the Jaguars welcome Oral Roberts and Southern Utah to The Jungle for a pair of Summit League match-ups on Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday, Sept. 24, respectively. Both matches are slated to begin at 7 p.m.

“After a tough start in conference, this is an important weekend for us,” said head coach Steve Payne. “We have played well at times against three teams expected to finish in the top half of the conference, and now we have to learn how to finish matches”

LAST TIME OUT

For the third time in as many matches, the Jags held a late lead that ultimately slipped away as IPFW rallied to win the fourth and fifth sets handing IUPUI its third consecutive five-set defeat to begin Summit League Play.

 

 The Jaguars used a balanced offensive attack and capitalized on nine Mastodons errors in the opening set to win 25-11, but IPFW regrouped and knocked IUPUI on its heels winning set two, 25-14, to even the match at one set apiece.

 

The Jags came out of the 10-minute intermission re-energized and returned the favor with a 25-14 third-set win to take a two-sets-to-one advantage. For the first time in the match, the fourth set was tight from start to finish. However with the score tied at 20, IPFW closed the set winning five of the next six points to secure a 25-21 win, sending the match to the decisive fifth set.

 

The momentum gained from the fourth set benefited the Mastodons as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead, only to have IUPUI battle back within two points, 7-5. From that point, a five-point IPFW run opened a 12-5 lead proving to be the difference as it completed the comeback winning set five 15-8.

 

Moriah Fair led IUPUI with 14 kills, while Kelsey Hoefer emerged as the most effective offensive option putting down 13 kills while hitting at a .385 clip.

 

 

 

Oral Roberts enters the second weekend of conference play with a 9-4 overall record and a 2-1 Summit League record bouncing back from a conference-opening loss to South Dakota by winning back-to-back matches over UMKC and Southern Utah.

Offensively, the Golden Eagles possess a balanced offensive attack with four players averaging over 2.00 kills per set led by Elizabeth McVicker’s 2.56 kps. Defensively, Bruna Silva anchors the back row defense averaging 4.56 digs per set, while McVicker leads the team in blocking averaging 0.88 blocks per set.

Southern Utah owns a 3-10 overall mark and 1-2 SL record heading into this weekend’s action and the Thunderbirds boast the third-ranked player in the conference in kills per set in Analaine Mailoto and her 3.79 kps.

While the Thunderbirds rank in the lower half of the league in several statistical categories, their strength lies in their blocking averaging 2.22 bps to rank second in the conference.

The Jags are 3-28 all-time against the Golden Eagles and 2-2 in series history against the Thunderbirds.

·         Kalyse Reimbold needs just 18 kills to pass Tracy Bailey for third on IUPUI’s all-time kills chart.

·         Shari Bernhardt needs two aces to reach 100 for her career.

·         Bethany Fogler needs four solo blocks to move into the Top 10 on the IUPUI single-season solo blocks chart.

·         The Jaguars recently announced that their annual Dig Pink game will be on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. in The Jungle against South Dakota State. This year, the Dig Pink has extra meaning for the IUPUI volleyball family as former player Jen (Mertz) Will was diagnosed with breast cancer in April, 2011 (read story here).

 

The volleyball team has teamed up with the Side Out Foundation in efforts to help reach their fundraising goal for the event. Fans looking to help the Jaguars reach their donation goal can do so by clicking here.