Box Score

FARGO, N.D. – The IUPUI volleyball fell short of its goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament Saturday evening as in-state rival Fort Wayne defeated the Jaguars, 3-0 (15-25, 12-25, 20-25), to win the Summit League Tournament and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

IUPUI and IPFW met a week ago in Indianapolis with the Jags winning in five sets over the Mastodons to claim the Summit League regular-season title, but Fort Wayne overcame that loss and dropped the Jags to 22-10 overall on the season.

“We’re obviously disappointed with our performance tonight, but you have to give credit to IPFW. They were more aggressive and did what they had to do to win,” said head coach Steve Payne. “We had a great season setting a new Division I school record for wins and we did something we had never done before in winning the regular season championship outright. Hopefully we can learn from this experience and build from it.”

The Jags received kills from four different players early to take a 7-5 lead, but a five-point Mastodons surge placed them on top, 10-7. A kill by Moriah Fair, an IPFW attack error, and a solo block from Fair knotted the score at 10-10, but another lengthy Fort Wayne run opened up a 17-10 lead, placing the Jags in a deep hole. A Bethany Fogler kill brought the Jaguars within six at 21-15, but four consecutive points from the Mastodons gave them a 25-15 first-set win.

The momentum continued for IPFW in the second set as it scored the first four points, but the Jags could not put together a run to get back into the set. The Mastodons put together a four-point run, and a pair of five-point runs to open a 23-10 advantage. From that point, Fort Wayne managed to win set two, 25-12.

Out of the break, the Jags managed to stay within striking distance of the Mastodons until IPFW used consecutive kills to go in front, 16-12. The Jags deficit reached five at 20-15, but a Kaitlyn Hickey kill followed by a Fort Wayne error gave the Jags one last hope closing with three at 20-17. IUPUI remained with three at 22-19, but IPFW took three of the next four points to finish off the 25-20 win.

Hickey led the Jaguars with eight kills, while Beth Howard led the team with 14 digs.

For their efforts during the Summit League Tournament, both Hickey and Fogler were named to the Summit League All-Tournament Team.