Box Score

BROOKINGS, S.D. – Looking for its first win in program history in Frost Arena, the IUPUI volleyball team looked like it would claim that victory with ease dominating the first two sets, but South Dakota State rallied back to claim sets three and four forcing a decisive fifth set. In the race to 15 points, the Jags reclaimed their form from the first two sets and eventually earned their first win in Brookings, S.D., winning the fifth set, 15-11, to pick up the Summit League win Friday evening.

The win not only was IUPUI’s first at Frost Arena in six tries, but it upped IUPUI’s overall record to 9-6 and moved its conference mark to 3-1. South Dakota State fell to 9-4 overall and 2-1 in league play.

“It’s big for us to get a win away from home and we did it in thrilling fashion doing it in five,” said head coach Steve Payne. “Last year, we were up two sets on them here and lost, so I guess you could say we avenged our loss from last year and didn’t let that happen again. Hopefully this will give us a boost heading into tomorrow.”

SDSU’s Kelly Fiegen came into the match averaging 3.19 kps and hitting at a .389 clip, but in the three sets the Jags won, she only recorded three kills. In the two sets the Jackrabbits won, she had 10 kills.

“One of our goals was to try and stop Fiegen and force their other players to get kills,” Payne added. “We did a really good job of serving early which didn’t allow them to get into their offense and when she had opportunities, we got digs on her attempts. She’s a tough player to stop, but I thought our defense on her was probably one of the big keys to the win.”

Everything went right in the opening set for IUPUI as it dominated from start to finish. Kelsey Hoefer got things started with two kills and a block helping the team get out to an early 7-2 lead. The Jackrabbits fought back within four at 12-8, but a five-point response by the Jags re-established a 17-8 lead. Another SDSU run brought its deficit back to five at 18-13, but two kills by Hoefer, a kill from Moriah Fair and a block from Fair and Bethany Fogler moved the lead back to nine, 22-13. Kills by Hoefer and Fogler down the stretch finished off a 25-16 opening-set win.

As a team, IUPUI hit .419 (21-3-43) in the opening set, while Hoefer, Fair and Fogler combined for 18 of those kills and hit .708 (18-1-24). Hoefer led the way with nine kills in the opening stanza.

Hoefer delivered two more kills early in set two helping IUPUI take a 4-2 lead. With Hoefer out of the game, SDSU took a 5-4 lead, but by the time Hoefer returned, the Jags went on a 7-0 run helping IUPUI catapult in front. After Hoefer returned, another kill kept the lead at 16-10, forcing a Jackrabbits timeout, but a four-point surge out of the break by South Dakota State forced Payne to take his first timeout of the set. SDSU continued its rally out of the timeout with a kill to close within one, 16-15, but a service error from the Jackrabbits broke the run and led to a five-point run that placed the Jaguars back in front, 20-15. From that point, the Jags cruised a 25-18 second-set win taking a 2-0 lead.

Playing at home, South Dakota State would not go down without a fight and the Jackrabbits had a few breaks go their way yielding to some early momentum. SDSU held a slight lead early and once that lead grew to four, 14-10, Payne burned a timeout. The Jags deficit was cut to three at 16-13, but a four-point spurt pushed the Jackrabbits advantage to 20-13. IUPUI made a late rally, but it wasn’t enough as the Jackrabbits claimed a 25-19 set-three victory.

IUPUI’s struggles from set three continued in the fourth set as SDSU jumped on the Jags early and took an 8-3 lead, forcing Payne to burn an early timeout. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, things progressively got worse as their deficit swelled to 20-10, forcing Payne to use his final timeout of the set. That margin stuck as an IUPUI serving error handed the Jackrabbits a 25-15 fourth-set win, sending the match to a fifth set.

Falling behind doomed IUPUI in sets three and four, but the Jags got off to a better start in set five forcing SDSU into some mistakes as they took a 6-2 lead forcing the Jackrabbits to use a timeout. The lead widened to 10-4 following a Kelly Wachtel solo block, but a three-point run from South Dakota State cut its deficit in half forcing Payne to call a timeout and regroup his team. The Jackrabbits closed within two points, 13-11, but a huge kill from Hoefer while IUPUI was out of system upped the lead back to three, 14-11, giving the Jags multiple set points. On the next serve from Ellyn Jones, a ball handling error from SDSU cemented the 15-11 win for IUPUI.

The Jaguars had four players in double figures in kills led by Hoefer’s season-high 20 kills.

Three players posted double-doubles for the Jags in Fair (12 kill, 26 digs), Alexis Meeks (35 assists, 11 digs) and Kaitlyn Hickey (14 kills, 12 digs).

Defensively, Fogler tallied nine blocks, while Beth Howard corralled a match-high 27 digs.

“Kelsey was unstoppable in the first set and was doing anything she wanted,” Payne said. “She came through in the fifth set and Bethany continues to be steady for us and as always, she had some big blocks with eight blocks assists. She’s our best blocker, but two of our freshmen stepped up with two big blocks in the fifth set as well.”

The Jags close out their road trip on Saturday, Sept. 22, when they travel to Fargo, N.D., to take on North Dakota State. Tomorrow evening, IUPUI will be in search of its first win in program history over the Bison. The match is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET.