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INDIANAPOLIS – A balanced offensive attack and a great collective effort defensively led the IUPUI volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21) victory Friday evening in the first of its two Dig Pink matches this weekend.

The win improved IUPUI to 15-8 overall and 8-3 in the Summit League, while NDSU dipped to 9-13 overall and 5-5 in the league. The win also marked the first win over the Bison at home, and also gave the Jags the regular-season sweep against North Dakota State for the first time in program history.

“It’s always good to get a win against a good team like North Dakota State, especially after being on the road for three weeks,” said head coach Steve Payne. “Our defense was reading the ball really well and to have three players reach 20 digs in a match was great.”

Four Jags players reached double figures in kills with Moriah Fair leading the way with 19. Defensively, three players accumulated 20 digs led by Kaitlyn Hickey’s career-high 26-dig performance. Beth Howard added 24 and Fair tacked on another 20 digs.

Fair and Bethany Fogler teamed up to score six of IUPUI’s first seven points as the team sprinted out to a 7-2 advantage in the opening set. NDSU crept back into the set closing within two points at 12-10, but two Bison errors and a block from Kelsey Hoefer and Kortni Wright widened the Jags lead back to five, 15-10, forcing a North Dakota State timeout. For the remainder of the set, the Jaguars cushion never dipped below four points and kills from Hoefer and Fair at the end finished off a 25-19 opening-set win.

Set two was much closer early on until a pair of Bison miscues preceded a Fair kill helping IUPUI swell a two-point lead into five, 17-12, at the midway point. The lead reached as many as seven coming off a Hickey kill, 22-15, and kills by Hickey, Fair and Hoefer closed out another 25-19 win, placing the Jags on top 2-0 heading into the intermission.

The Bison came out of the 10-minute break with more intensity and energy, and looked to be in control late leading 23-19. A kill by Hoefer and two from Fair brought the crowd to its feet and the Jags within one, but an exchange of side outs resulted in the Bison capturing set three, 25-23, sending the match to a fourth set.

The Jags were efficient offensively in the fourth set with 10 of their first 14 points coming from kills as it held a 14-11 advantage. The lead fluctuated between two and three points several times until kills by Fair and Fogler pushed IUPUI in front, 21-17, resulting in NDSU burning its final timeout of the set. With IUPUI having match point at 24-21, Kelly Wachtel delivered the match-ending kill finishing off a 25-21 victory for IUPUI.

As a team, the Jags managed to hit .276 thanks in part to Fogler’s .450 hitting percentage (11-2-20).

IUPUI continues its Dig Pink Weekend on Saturday, Oct. 20, when it takes on South Dakota State at 5 p.m.