Thunder Invite Tournament Central
INDIANAPOLIS – This Friday, the IUPUI volleyball team begins its 37th season of play when it heads to Huntington, W. Va., to participate in the Thunder Invite hosted by Marshall University.
The Jaguars open the two-day, three-match tournament on Friday, Aug. 24, when it takes on Miami (OH) at 4:30 p.m. in its season opener. The following day, the Jags will meet tournament host Marshall at 12:30 p.m., before closing the season-opening event with a 5:30 p.m. tilt against Wright State.
IUPUI is coming off a 15-16 record last year, and it has nine returners back from last year’s squad that improved its win total by seven from the previous season.
Included in the group of returners are seven upperclassmen, featuring
Bethany Fogler,
Alexis Meeks and
Moriah Fair. Fogler is coming off the finest blocking season in IUPUI history in which she set the program’s single-season block assists, solo blocks and total blocks records en route to leading the Summit League in blocking, while Meeks enters her third season as the starting setter and ranked third in the league in assists a year ago. Fair returns as the Jags kills leader in 2011.
With a large group of upperclassmen merging with four true freshmen, Meeks believes that the team chemistry gained during preseason workouts will help not only in this first tournament, but for the entire season.
“Practice has been challenging from start to finish and we saw some good things in the Alumni Game that should translate over to the regular season,” Meeks said. “We have such a tight knit group of upperclassmen that have been through long seasons, and the freshmen quickly adapted allowing us to become closer as a group. We’re excited to get out there this weekend and get off to a good start.”
The Jaguars have played each of the teams in this year’s Thunder Invite in the past three seasons and have claimed wins over each of the programs. IUPUI is 1-1 all-time against Marshall and Miami (OH), with its lone win against Marshall coming last year at the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational. The Jags have played Wright State nine times and own a 5-4 edge in the all-time series.
