Box Score

MACOMB, Ill. – Coming off a three-set loss to Oakland on Tuesday, the IUPUI volleyball team bounced back in a big way capturing a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-22) road sweep at Western Illinois Saturday evening.

The win upped IUPUI’s record to 12-7 overall and 6-2 in the Summit League, while Western Illinois dropped to 8-10 overall and 2-5 in the league.

Moriah Fair continued her torrid hitting as of late connecting on a match-high 17 kills, while hitting .333, her third consecutive match hitting over .300. At the other antenna, Kaitlyn Hickey contributed 14 kills and a team-best 19 digs.

“Moriah and Kaitlyn really did a great job for us offensively, but this was a team win,” head coach Steve Payne said. “When those two weren’t getting kills, other players stepped up and got kills, blocks and key digs, and it was great to see us respond the way we did.”

The first set was a see-saw affair early until a pair of kills from Fair, kills from Kortni Wright and Alexis Meeks, and a Leathernecks attack error turned a one-point Jags deficit into a four-point lead, 16-12. Following a side-out, another five-point IUPUI run, featuring three kills from Fair, opened up a 21-13 Jaguar cushion. WIU closed within four points at 24-20, but another Fair kill closed out a 25-20 opening-set IUPUI victory.

Coming off the first-set win, the Jags took an early three-point cushion, but their lead fluctuated between one and three until an IUPUI error and a Western Illinois ace gave the Leathernecks an 18-17 lead, its first of the set. Three ties ensued, but a pair of kills by Hickey and a Fair kill gave IUPUI a 24-21 lead. After one set point was spoiled, Bethany Fogler put down a kill securing a 25-22 second-set win, sending IUPUI into the break leading 2-0.

Looking to close out the Leathernecks, IUPUI took six of seven points in the beginning stages of set three to open an 11-6 lead thanks in part to three blocks from Fogler. The IUPUI lead was trimmed to one point three times, with the last at 20-19, before a kill by Wright and three straight kills by Hickey pushed the lead back to five at 24-19. Three match points were spoiled, forcing Payne to burn a timeout, but out of the timeout, Meeks finished off WIU with a kill cementing a 25-22 third-set win.

As a team, IUPUI finished with 12.0 blocks, seven of which were solo, compared to just 7.0 for WIU.

The Jags have a quick turnaround and play Chicago State on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 3 p.m. ET in Chicago.