Box Score

KANSAS CITY – Looking to close its five-match road trip with its fourth straight win, the IUPUI volleyball team had an opportunity late to send the match to a fifth-set, but the Jags could not pull through falling to Kansas City, 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-27), Sunday afternoon in Summit League play.

IUPUI entered the match a game ahead of UMKC in the conference standings, but the loss pulled the teams into a tie for second place at 7-3.

The Jaguars, who entered the match as the top hitting team in the Summit League, struggled offensively with 24 attack errors en route to a .141 hitting percentage. Meanwhile, UMKC overcame its 28 attack errors by picking up 23 kills from Emily Lucas.

Defensively, IUPUI was led by Bethany Fogler’s 10 blocks, tying a school record for most blocks in a match, but UMKC used six blocks in the final set to win the blocking battle between the schools, 13.0 to 12.0.

Behind its home crowd, UMKC took the early lead in set one jumping out to a 10-5 lead. The Jags blocking slowed down the Kangaroos momentum and brought them within two at 15-13, but a quick four-point surge by UMKC opened up a 19-13 lead. That six-point cushion held as Kansas City took the opening set, 25-19.

Six ties ensued in the beginning stages of set two until a pair of kills from Kaitlyn Hickey, kills from Moriah Fair and Kelsey Hoefer, and a UMKC service error pushed the Jags on top, 13-10. With the lead trimmed to two points, 18-16, another Kansas City service miscue coupled with a Kortni Wright kill, and a Wright and Fair block widened the advantage back to five, 21-16. After a pair of IUPUI set points were spoiled, it was Fogler that stepped up with a solo block to finish off a 25-21 second-set win for the Jags, knotting the match at one set apiece.

Just when it looked like IUPUI had seized all the momentum, Kansas City came out of the intermission and grabbed a 6-0 lead, forcing the Jags to burn a timeout. IUPUI closed to within four points at 9-5, but the Kangaroos retaliated by capturing seven of the next eight points to bring its lead to double-digits at 16-6. Despite its large deficit, IUPUI was able to chip away and close with four at 22-18, but Lucas delivered two kills down the stretch to give UMKC a 25-19 third-set win.

Two block assists and a series of kills from Hickey, Hoefer, Fogler, Fair and Alexis Meeks helped IUPUI take a 13-8 lead out of the blocks in set four. With a four-point lead still intact at 16-12, UMKC rallied with an eight-point run, aided by a trio IUPUI attack errors, and IUPUI saw its lead quickly evaporate and switch into a four-point deficit, 20-16. The Jaguars managed to come back and tie the score twice at 22 and 23, before a UMKC attack error gave IUPUI set point at 24-23. That opportunity slipped away on a Lucas kill, but an error by Lucas during the next point evened things back at 25. Unfortunately, Lucas and Taryn Miller put down back-to-back kills closing out the 27-25 UMKC win.

Fair led IUPUI with 15 kills, while Hickey and Beth Howard each tallied 20 digs for IUPUI.

The Jaguars will return home next weekend for its only two home matches in the month of October. IUPUI opens its weekend against North Dakota State at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, before hosting South Dakota State at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20.

The entire weekend will serve as the volleyball program’s Dig Pink Weekend, where the team will be raising money and awareness for breast cancer research. On Friday night, former Jaguar Jen (Mertz) Will, who started the foundation Ribbon Chicks in October of 2011 after being diagnosed with breast cancer on April 29, 2011, will be in attendance and serve as the team’s honorary captain. Twenty-five percent of the monies raised by the volleyball team will go to Ribbon Chicks.