Box Score
VERMILLION, S.D. – South Dakota entered Sunday's Summit League match against the IUPUI volleyball team as one of the top blocking teams in the country, and it was the Coyotes block that helped them rally from a two sets to one deficit to beat the Jaguars, 3-2 (25-22, 24-26, 25-20, 19-25, 11-15), Sunday afternoon at the Dakota Dome.
Kaitlyn Hickey led the Jags with 19 kills and
Beth Howard tallied a match-best 23 digs, but USD hit a combined .284 in sets 2, 3 and 5 to move to 11-6 overall and 2-0 in the Summit League. IUPUI fell to 6-11 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
South Dakota's Kendall Kritenbrink came into the match as one of the top attackers in the league, and the Jags keyed in on her early recording a pair of blocks to help them keep pace with the Coyotes. With the score tied at eight, USD rallied off three straight points to take an 11-8 lead and they maintained a lead until kills from
Kortni Wright and
Moriah Fair, and a block from
Logan Walling and
Kelly Wachtel started a Jaguars surge. The run also included an
Alexis Meeks ace, which put the Jags in front, 22-19. Down the stretch, a solo block from Walling and a kill from Wachtel capped off a 25-22 opening-set win for IUPUI.
An early five-point run, featuring two kills and a block from Fair, helped the Jags take a 10-6 cushion in set two, forcing South Dakota to burn an early timeout. Just as IUPUI looked to be in control, the Coyotes put together a run that knotted the score at 17, forcing IUPUI to use its first timeout. The teams alternated the next six points keeping the score tied at 20, but the Coyotes managed to seize three of the following four points to open a 23-21 advantage. A South Dakota block gave the Coyotes three set points, but the Jags spoiled all three thanks to kills from Hickey and Meeks, and a bad set from USD. Unfortunately, the opportunity for IUPUI to take a two sets to none lead was squandered when the Coyotes posted back-to-back blocks to win set two, 26-24.
Out of the break, six of IUPUI's first 10 points came off kills, but the offense was slowed down when a five-point USD run put it in front, 13-10. The Coyotes lead grew to five at 16-11, before IUPUI rallied. Three kills by Hickey and a handful of South Dakota errors put the Jags back in front, 20-19, and an ace from
Meredith Farkas, another Coyotes attack error and another Hickey kill capped off a run that resulted in IUPUI leading, 23-19. The spurt was halted by a Tori Kroll kill, but kills by Hickey and Fair finished a 25-20 third-set win for the Jags.
From the start in set four, South Dakota took control and jumped out to a 12-4 lead. IUPUI chipped away at its deficit and eventually closed within three on a Fair kill, 20-17, but consecutive kills from the Coyotes pushed the cushion back to five, 22-17. From that point, South Dakota took the fourth set, 25-19, to force a fifth set.
Three Jaguars errors and two South Dakota kills put IUPUI in an early 5-1 hole in the race to 15 points. Trailing by as many as six, 11-5, Walling recorded a kill and a solo block during a mini three-point spurt to bring the Jags within three, 11-8, but that would be as close as IUPUI would get as South Dakota came away with the 15-11 fifth-set win.
After 14 straight matches away from home, the Jaguars finally return home next weekend when it welcomes Western Illinois and Omaha to The Jungle Oct. 4-5.
