IUPUI 3, Stetson 0 – Box Score
IUPUI 3, Marshall 0 – Box Score
Day 1 Photo Gallery

INDIANAPOLIS – Defense was the name of the game on the first day of the 2011 IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational as the IUPUI volleyball team combined for 113 digs and 20 total blocks in a pair of three set wins over Stetson and Marshall Saturday at The Jungle.

“It’s great to get two wins today especially on our home floor in this tournament,” said head coach Steve Payne. “It started out with Stetson where we didn’t make a lot of errors and we just did the basics and it carried over to Marshall. We were great defenders and this was one of the best blocking matches we have had in a long time.”

In IUPUI’s first match of the day against Stetson, both teams found it tough to go on long runs in the opening stages of the first set, but a pair of three-point runs by IUPUI was enough to help it gain a 16-10 lead midway through the first set. The Hatters recaptured the momentum winning seven of the next eight points to knot the score at 17, but four combined kills from Moriah Fair, Kalyse Reimbold, and Lindsey Weber re-established a four-point cushion, 21-17. The Hatters continued to crawl back and closed within two points, 21-19, before a kill by Kortni Wright, a Hatters attack error, and a pair of Shari Bernhardt aces closed out the 25-19 first-set win.

The Jaguars continued their momentum into the second set and used a balanced offensive attack to take a slim 10-8 advantage. IUPUI upped its lead to 13-9 before three Stetson errors aided a seven-point surge that gave the Jags a comfortable 20-9 lead. Down the stretch, two kills apiece by Fair and Wright helped IUPUI cruise to a 25-13 second-set victory.

Out of the 10-minute intermission, the Jags jumped in front early on kills by Reimbold and a defense that forced the Hatters into multiple errors. Another Bernhardt ace and a back row kill from Beth Howard got yet another IUPUI run started, and a book-end ace from Ellyn Jones forced Stetson to use its second timeout of the set as IUPUI found itself in front, 16-6. From that point, the Jags easily took the third set, 25-14, to pick up their first win of the season.

Fair led IUPUI with 11 kills, while Wright connected on seven kills resulting in a .429 hitting percentage. Wright’s totals were career highs. Defensively, Bernhardt paced the squad with 18 digs, while Bethany Fogler was a force at the net with six block assists.

In the nightcap against Marshall, IUPUI got off to a comfortable lead thanks to kills from six different players, but a furious rally by the Thundering Herd reversed the tide and put Marshall in front 19-17, forcing an IUPUI timeout. Out of the timeout, the Jags got a much needed kill from Wright followed by an attack error to quickly even things back up at 19. Another tie ensued at 20, but from that point two Marshall errors, a kill by Kelsey Hoefer, and two big blocks from the tandem of Fogler and Hoefer cemented a 25-20 IUPUI opening-set triumph.

The Jags stormed out to an 8-2 lead in set two and this time IUPUI kept its foot on the pedal and never let Marshall close within three points. With what once was a six-point lead cut in half, the Jaguars methodically built their lead to as many as eight behind the serving of Howard and Ellyn Jones. The biggest lead of the set came during the final point when a kill by Fair put an exclamation point on a 25-16 second-set win.

A see-saw battle occurred out of the locker room as neither side held a lead of more than two points until two a Fogler kill and a Marshall attack error were sandwiched in between a pair of Hoefer kills pushing the Jaguars to a 13-9 cushion. The Thundering Herd continued to try and fight back, but kills down the homestretch by Kalyse Reimbold, Wright, Fair, and Hoefer proved to be too much for Marshall as the Jaguars took the third set, 25-18.

Hoefer registered her first double-figures kills performance as a Jag with 11 kills, while Reimbold finished with 10. Bernhardt again paced the team in digs with 19, while Fogler’s team-best nine block assists are the second-most blocks assists in a single-game in program history and the most in a three-set match.

IUPUI squares off for the 2011 IUPUI Hampton Invitational Championship at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4, against Eastern Michigan, who also defeated Marshall and Stetson in straight sets on Saturday.

“Eastern Michigan is quick and they are very good on defense. We are really going to have to be on top of our game because they don’t make many mistakes and they didn’t make a hitting error in two of their sets today. We are going to have to force them to make hitting errors.”