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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Playing the underdog role, the IUPUI volleyball team came out and went toe-to-toe with the No. 4 seed Missouri Tigers in the opening set, but once the Tigers eked out a three-point win in set one, they picked up wins in sets two and three to claim a 3-0 win over the Jaguars Friday evening in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.

"It was a thrill and honor to be here competing in the NCAA tournament. We didn't know what team we were going to get in the draw, so when we saw Missouri, we treated them as just another volleyball team," head coach Steve Payne said. "We played some good teams throughout the year, so we had some experience against some big-sized blockers like they had out there and a pretty explosive offense. When we stepped on that court, we treated it as if it was any other team in our conference. I thought the girls played really hard, especially being down five or six in set three and then tying it back up. I thought our team did a great job out there."

IUPUI (19-14), playing in its first NCAA Tournament match, was led offensively by Kaitlyn Hickey with 10 kills, and Hickey also led the team with a .300 hitting percentage.

"I thought we got off to a good start with our passing so Alexis [Meeks] was able to see and move the ball around. We did attack, we didn't play timid from the start and we were all talking," Hickey said. "From our practices yesterday and earlier today we were really excited going in, so with our confidence high and just wanting to play we got off to a great start."

The Tigers came out and claimed an early 7-4 lead, but IUPUI responded by taking seven of the next eight points, highlighted by two powerful Moriah Fair kills, to seize an 11-8 lead and force Missouri to take a timeout. The IUPUI lead reached four at 13-9 following a Fair ace, but the Tigers fought back and tied the score at 16-16 forcing the Jags to burn their first timeout. Missouri recaptured a three-point lead at 22-19, but a 3-0 Jaguars response that was capped by a block from Logan Walling and Kelly Wachtel knotted the score at 22-22. With IUPUI serving to go in front, a service error gave the Tigers the one-point lead, and two Lisa Henning kills followed giving fourth-ranked Missouri a tough 25-22 opening-set win.

In set two, Missouri jumped out to a 10-2 lead forcing IUPUI to burn both of its timeouts, but the Jags continued to fight and closed within five at 15-10 thanks to two kills from Walling and two back-row kills from Hickey. The Jags remained within five points as late as 18-13, but the Tigers tallied seven of the next nine points to finish off a 25-15 set two win.

The Tigers got off to another strong start in set three by jumping out to an 8-2 cushion, but a pair of kills from Hickey broke the early run and brought the Jags within five, 9-4. Back-to-back kills from Walling and Fair trimmed the Missouri lead to four, 11-7, but the Tigers took the next three to double up the score at 14-7. However, five straight points out of the timeout, including two kills from Hickey, brought the Jags within two and forced a Mizzou timeout. Two more points out of the timeout ensued tying the score at 14-14. The Tigers took the next two points and IUPUI kept the deficit at two as late at 19-17, but Missouri captured six of the next seven points to finish off a 25-18 third-set victory.

Missouri (35-0) finished the regular-season as the top hitting team in the country and they showed their offensive explosiveness with 53 kills while hitting at a .328 clip. However, IUPUI came in with a great defense, including being ranked in the Top 25 nationally in digs. While the Jags only registered 39 digs, Walling and Wachtel stepped up in the front row and combined for 11 block assists.

The Tigers were led offensively by Henning's 15 kills, while Carly Kan added 14. Molly Kreklow, the 2013 SEC Player of the Year, led Missouri with 41 assists and 14 digs.

Three seniors played their final match as Jaguars in Alexis Meeks, Fair and Kortni Wright. Fair tallied seven kills, five digs and an ace in her final match, while Meeks, the 2013 Summit League Tournament MVP and Setter of the Year accumulated 28 assists and 11 digs. Wright came through with three kills and a solo block to close out her career.

"This [NCAA] appearance is great for the future. We won the Summit League [regular-season title] last year and again this year. I think its something incoming athletes expect when they come into the program - to be at the top of the Summit League," Payne said. "We are a very competitive league and I think that is what prepares us to make the NCAA Tournament. Now that we have done it once, I think we will want to do it again."