Box Score | Highlights | Steve Payne Postgame Interview
 
INDIANAPOLIS – Five different players posted 10 or more digs and defense was the highlight of the night as the IUPUI volleyball team opened its 2012 home schedule with a dominating 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-15) win over Indiana State Tuesday evening inside The Jungle.

Moriah Fair led all players with 13 digs, while Beth Howard posted 12, Ellyn Jones added 11, and Alexis Meeks and Kaitlyn Hickey tacked on 10 digs apiece for the Jaguars as they out-dug the Sycamores 59-35 in the impressive victory.

“Tonight was some of the best numbers I’ve seen on a stat sheet and our defense just did a great job,” head coach Steve Payne said. “Our blockers did a great job setting up our block, and if it wasn’t getting blocked, the ball was being dug up by our back row. To have five players in double-digits (digs) in a three-set match is great.”

“Our back row played really well. They got the ball up high enough that we were able to run a lot of transition that really opened up opportunities for every hitter,” said senior middle hitter Bethany Fogler. “Tonight, we passed well, our setters did a great job of deciding where to go and (the hitters) put the ball down.”

Hickey and Fair led the Jags out of the gates posting five kills as IUPUI raced out to a 10-3 lead in the opening set. The lead was trimmed to six points as late as 20-14, but Indiana State could not draw any closer and Fair’s fourth kill of the set coupled with a Sycamores service error sent IUPUI to a 25-19 set one win.

IUPUI refused to take its foot off the pedal in the second set using a five-point run mid-way through the second set to open up a 14-8 lead. With its six-point advantage still intact, 19-13, two kills by Fair and a pair of attacking errors were bookended by a pair of Fogler Kills that capped off a six-point surge and closed out a 25-13 second-set win.

Out of the 10-minute break, IUPUI seized control early and never looked back. Behind Howard’s early serving, the Jags took a three-point lead, and methodically built a nine-point lead, 19-10. Down the stretch, four different Jags players hammered kills past the Sycamores helping IUPUI down Indiana State 25-15 in the third set.

Collectively, IUPUI hit .351, led by Fogler’s .727 clip (8-0-11), which is the fifth-best hitting percentage in a match in school history. Kelsey Hoefer wasn’t far off connecting on nine kills in 14 attempts without making an error resulting in a .643 hitting percentage.

IUPUI returns to action this weekend when it hosts the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational at The Jungle. The tournament will feature North Texas, Ball State and Georgia State in addition to the Jaguars, and action begins at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31, between the Cardinals and the Panthers. IUPUI’s first match takes place at 7 p.m. on Friday against North Texas.

The tournament resumes with four matches (10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m.) on Saturday, Sept. 1.

“We got off to a great start here at home tonight and hopefully it will jump start us here for a tough Hampton Inn Invitational this weekend.”