Box Score | Steve Payne Postgame Interview | Highlights

INDIANAPOLIS – After Western Illinois hit .277 in the opening set to take a 1-0 lead, the IUPUI volleyball team used its defense to win three straight sets and defeat the Leathernecks, 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-11, 25-12), Saturday evening at The Jungle.

The win upped the Jags record to 19-9 overall and 11-3 in the Summit League, while WIU fell to 10-15 overall and 4-10 in the conference. With South Dakota State and UMKC losing Friday night and IUPUI defeating the Leathernecks, the Jaguars secured no worse than the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Summit League Tournament.

“I thought we started out a little sluggish and Western Illinois came out really strong and energetic,” head coach Steve Payne said. “We collected ourselves in the second set and in the third and fourth sets our defense really excelled and our offense – with no hitting errors in the fourth set – showed what we can do. This prepared us well for the next couple of weekends.”

After the first set, IUPUI held Western Illinois to a -.007 hitting percentage thanks in part to recording 10.5 blocks over the last three sets. Additionally, on the offensive end the Jaguars managed to hit .263, including .353 in the final set, to secure the victory.

Following a tough 25-21 opening set loss, the Leathernecks jumped out to a 13-11 lead in the second set, before a handful of WIU errors and kills from Kaitlyn Hickey and Moriah Fair gave the Jags a two-point lead, 15-13, forcing the Leathernecks to burn a timeout. Following a Western Illinois side out, another Fair kill, a pair of IUPUI blocks and another Leathernecks miscue widened the gap to 19-14. Down the stretch, the Jags lead never dipped below two and a kill from Hickey closed out a 25-21 second-set win, knotting the match at a set apiece.

Out of the break, a pair of aces from Alexis Meeks spurred the Jags on a 7-0 run to start the third set. After the lead had been trimmed to four at 10-6, a kill from Fair, back-to-back kills from Bethany Fogler and two Leathernecks attack errors widened the Jaguars lead to nine, 15-6. With a double-digit lead, 20-10, the Jags took five of the next six points to finish off a 25-11 third-set win.

Similar to the third set, the Jags jumped out to a commanding 10-3 lead behind Hickey’s serving and never looked back. The lead grew to as many as 11 points, 20-9, and the Jags final five points came on four Fair kills and a match-ending block from Fogler and Kelly Wachtel, finishing off a 25-12 fourth-set win.

Fair led IUPUI with 18 kills and added 21 digs, while Hickey posted 14 kills and 14 digs. Beth Howard led all players with 24 digs.

The Jags close out their three-match homestand Nov. 9-10 when it hosts Oakland and Fort Wayne, respectively. Saturday’s match against Fort Wayne will be senior day as three seniors – Fogler, Kelsey Hoefer and Lindsey Weber - will be playing their final home match at The Jungle. Friday’s match against the Golden Grizzlies will start at 7 p.m., while Saturday’s match against the Mastodons will begin at 5 p.m.