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INDIANAPOLIS - In a back-and-forth grueling match, the IUPUI team made enough plays down the stretch to win a thrilling five-set match over the IPFW Mastodons Saturday evening in the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament . With the win in front of the sell-out home crowd at The Jungle, the Jaguars advanced to the Summit League Championship match where they will play the No. 2 seed Denver Pioneers on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 2 p.m.

Coming into the match, IUPUI had won 11 of its last 12 matches against league opponents, but its lone loss during that stretch came against the Mastodons in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Nov. 9. The Jags were not only able to avenge that defeat, but they were able to avenge the loss the Mastodons handed the Jaguars in last year's Summit League Championship match.

"The energy was great tonight. I have to thank the fans for their support, especially the student section - that really helps the girls play a lot better," head coach Steve Payne said. "It's always a battle against IPFW. It was just two good teams going back-and-forth with each other tonight."

IUPUI was led offensively by Kaitlyn Hickey's 23 kills, while Moriah Fair tacked on another 20. Kelly Wachtel also reached double figures in kills with 11, while Kortni Wright led the defense with a match-high eight blocks.

"(Moriah and Kaitlyn) were pretty strong and they are the go-to people on our team right now," Payne said. "Alexis knows who's hot and who isn't right now, and when we need a kill to get us going they're going to be the ones doing it for us.

"Kortni - we don't really tell her a lot of where to go. She reads well and she's just so quick to get up there and set the block. She does a great job out there as a senior - all three seniors out there just stepped up when we needed it in crunch time," Payne added.

Last week's Summit League Player of the Week, Fair, got the Jaguars out to an early lead over the Mastodons with a kill on an over-pass on the first point. The lead wouldn't last however and IPFW quickly took charge. Tied 3-3, the Mastodons went on a 6-1 run. Fair, Logan Walling and Beth Howard each committed attacking errors and the Mastodons capitalized on their mistakes with back-to-back kills to gain a 10-4 lead. The Jaguars slowly recovered, pulling within one point at 23-22 and 24-23 after an IPFW attack error and Fair kill respectively, but IPFW closed out the set 25-23 with an Emily Spencer kill. Fair finished the set with eight kills.

The second set got off to a similar start with IUPUI leading 2-0 and IPFW fighting back to take a 4-3 lead. This time, IUPUI answered with a 5-1 run to take the lead for good. Meredith Farkas served an ace and assisted Wright on the next point. The teams traded service errors before Farkas got a kill for the 8-5 lead. IUPUI really opened up the set with a 7-1 run a few points later. Kaitlyn Hickey recorded two kills during the run, but it was attack errors from IPFW's Emily Spencer and Sarah Heckman that forced two IPFW timeouts. The set went back-and-forth before IUPUI closed it out off four-straight points, including kills from Hickey and Wachtel.

The Jaguars fell behind 5-0 early in the third. They fought back to tie it at 12 and the teams traded points to 16-16, but the Jaguars never managed to gain the lead. IPFW seemed to have the set in hand up 24-21, but the Jaguars had other ideas. Hickey and Fair recorded kills from Meeks and Farkas and forced an IPFW timeout, but they still trailed 24-23. Hickey served an ace out of the break to tie it up and Wright and Fair teamed up for a block to give the Jaguars their first lead of the set and a set point. Hickey served up her second ace on the next point and the Jaguars took the set 26-24.

IUPUI jumped out to a 9-5 lead early in set four with hopes of closing out the match. Hickey had three kills in the stretch leading to an IPFW timeout. IPFW went on a run of their own and took a 13-11 lead after an Este Stoffel ace and Hailie Ripley kill. The teams went back-and-forth, tying 14 times throughout the set, but eventually IPFW took a 24-21 lead for the second time in as many sets. IUPUI managed to tie it up again after three-straight errors from IPFW. The Jaguars looked poised to finish off the match the same way they finished the third set, but IPFW didn't back down. The teams exchanged points tying the score at 25, 26 and 27, but eventually IPFW pulled out the set, 29-27.

The match had been a see-saw affair through four sets and the fifth and deciding set would be no different. Neither team held a lead of more than two points. With the score tied at 13, Wright tipped the ball over the net for a kill, giving IUPUI match point. Wright then teamed up with Meeks on the final point for a block to put the match away.

Needing just three assists to become IUPUI's all-time assists leader, Meeks easily took care of that record by posting 58 assists on the evening. Meeks passed former Summit League Setter of the Year Danielle Goodnight as the program's all-time assists leader and she now has 3,985 assists for her career.

The Jags will now make their second straight conference championship match on Sunday when they take on the Pioneers, who will be making their first appearance in the championship match in their inaugural season. The teams each won on their home floors during the regular-season, and both teams won in five sets in the semifinals with Denver defeating South Dakota.

Brian Bosma and Scott Beringer will call the championship match on IUPUIJags.com via IUPUI Live!, beginning a little after 2 p.m.