Box Score

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Playing its final regular-season road match of the season, the IUPUI volleyball team used a career-high 20 kills from Kaitlyn Hickey and a career-high tying 10 blocks from Bethany Fogler to defeat Eastern Illinois, 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-12, 29-27), Tuesday evening in non-conference action.

Fogler’s 10 blocks tied a career-high and an IUPUI single-match record, while Hickey reached 20 kills for the first time in her career and managed to do so while hitting .390 helping the Jaguars move to 18-9 on the season.

Additionally, the win was IUPUI’s third straight in series history and the Jags now trail the all-time series 4-3 against the Panthers.

A six-point surge early in the first set featuring a pair of block assists from Moriah Fair and Fogler, kills from Kelsey Hoefer and an Ellyn Jones ace reversed a two-point deficit into a four-point lead, 8-4. The Jags maintained that advantage until EIU rallied to tie the score at 22 forcing a Jaguars timeout. Side-outs were exchanged out of the timeout, before Kelly Wachtel put down a kill to give IUPUI set-point at 24-23. The Jaguars took advantage of that set point as Hickey recorded a kill of her own to finish off a tough 25-23 first-set win for the Jags.

Similar to the first set, both teams were jockeying for the lead until a five-point Panthers run pushed a one-point lead into a six-point advantage, 15-9. The EIU lead grew to as many as eight points, 20-12, before the Jags cut the deficit to one point courtesy of two kills and a solo block from Fair, a block assist from Wachtel and Fogler, two Panthers attack errors and a Fogler kill. Unfortunately, a late four-point surge by Eastern Illinois finished off a 25-20 Panthers win in set two, knotting the match at a set apiece.

Out of the break, IUPUI flexed its muscle and used five combined kills from Fair and Hickey to help double up Eastern Illinois, 10-5. With its lead at six, 17-11, a six-point Jags run that included a kill from Hickey, a Fair ace and two Fogler blocks, expanded the Jaguars cushion to 12 points, 23-11. From that point, a Hickey kill and a Panthers attack error ended a 25-12 third-set win for IUPUI.

The Jags took a two-point lead in the beginning stages of the fourth set only to watch that lead quickly evaporate and turn into a four-point EIU lead, 15-11, at the mid-way point. Four times, the Jaguars trimmed their lead to one point only to see the Panthers take the next point each time as they refused to relinquish the lead. Trailing 23-20, IUPUI finally was able to even the score at 23 following a kill by Hickey, a block by Fogler and a Panthers attack error. Five ties ensued, but another EIU attack error was followed by a match-clinching kill by Fair that completed a 29-27 come-from-behind fourth-set win for IUPUI.

Fair and Hoefer joined Hickey in double figures in kills with 17 and 14, respectively, while Beth Howard led the team with 23 digs. Offensively, Alexis Meeks distributed a team-high 29 assists, and Jones tacked on 23 assists and 10 digs.

IUPUI finishes its 2012 regular-season with a three-match homestand beginning on Saturday, Nov. 3, against Western Illinois. The match is set to begin at 5 p.m. ET.