EVANSTON, Ill. – Alexis Meeks distributed 46 assists and led the IUPUI volleyball team to a .289 team hitting percentage helping the Jaguars rally past Miami (OH), 3-1 (23-25, 25-22,, 25-17, 25-22), in the first match of the Wildcat Classic hosted by Northwestern University.

The trio of Kaitlyn Hickey, Kelly Wachtel and Moriah Fair combined for 47 of IUPUI's 58 kills, but the Jags only committed 14 attack errors in 152 attempts to lead them to the win and snap their four-game losing skid. With the win, IUPUI improved to 5-8, while Miami fell to 8-2.

"I am really proud of the way our team fought today and pushed through when things weren't going our way," head coach Steve Payne said. "We have lost some tough matches this season, but this was a great win because our team gave a great effort and continued to fight."

Hickey finished with a match-high 16 kills, but Wachtel wasn't far behind with a career-high 15 kills and the sophomore right-side hitter did not make an error in 29 attempts resulting in a career-best hitting percentage of .517.

"Alexis did a great job finding our open hitters. We did a good job of limiting errors by keeping the ball in play when we needed to, but then putting aggressive swings on the ball when the opportunity was there," Payne added.

In their first 24 attempts of the opening set, the Jaguars did not make an error and picked up three kills from Wachtel and two kills apiece from Fair and Hickey to help them take an 11-10 edge over the RedHawks. However, back-to-back errors ensued for IUPUI capping a four-point Miami run that saw it jump in front, 12-11, forcing an IUPUI timeout. The RedHawks lead grew to three at 19-16, but the Jaguars rallied and tied the score three times in the 20's, with the last at 23-23. Unfortunately, consecutive kills from Annie Reiswig gave Miami the 25-23 opening-set win. Both teams were efficient offensively in the opening set, but 20 of the RedHawks' 25 points came off kills.

Kills from four different players, a solo block from Hickey and a Meredith Farkas ace pushed IUPUI to a 7-3 lead in the early stages of set two. Three Jags attack errors helped the RedHawks catapult in front, 11-10, but just as Miami made a surge, kills by Fair and Hickey coupled with two blocks - a solo block from Logan Walling and a block from Walling and Wachtel - re-established a 14-11 lead for IUPUI forcing the RedHawks to use a timeout. The lead grew to seven points at 21-14 following a Meeks kill, but Miami took seven of the next eight points to close within one point, 22-21. Following a timeout, back-to-back errors kept IUPUI in front, 23-22, before a kill from Wachtel and a block from Walling and Hickey closed out an eventful 25-22 second-set win for the Jags.

With the score tied at five in set three, Kortni Wright delivered four of the next five IUPUI points on three kills and a block before back-to-back Beth Howard aces widened the Jaguars advantage to 12-7. The impressive play continued as three kills from its outside hitters, a kill from Wachtel and a Wright solo block expanded the IUPUI lead to 18-11. From that point, the Jags cruised to a 25-17 third-set win.

Looking to close out the match in set four, IUPUI got off to the start it wanted taking the first five points, but Miami retaliated by capturing seven of the next nine points to tie the score and force a Jaguars timeout. The RedHawks continued its run out of the timeout scoring five more points to take a 12-7 lead, resulting in Payne having to burn his final timeout of the set. The Miami lead grew to as many as six, 16-10, before the Jags slowly chipped away and eventually tied the set at 22 following a Howard ace. A RedHawks timeout ensued, but Fair delivered three straight kills to complete the 25-22 come-from-behind win.

Defensively, Walling tallied a career-best six total blocks, and Wright posted a career-high three solo blocks helping the Jags outblock the RedHawks, 10.0 to 8.0. Miami entered the match averaging 2.44 bps.

IUPUI continues the Wildcat Classic later this evening in Evanston, Ill., against USF. The match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.