INDIANAPOLIS - On the heels of a 3-0 week, the IUPUI volleyball team concludes its brief three-match homestand this week when it welcomes in-state foe Fort Wayne and Oral Roberts to The Jungle for a pair of crucial Summit League contests.
Friday's match against the Mastodons will be the second meeting between the two schools in the past 10 days, with the Jags claiming a 3-1 victory over IPFW a week ago in Fort Wayne. On Sunday, the Jaguars will look to avenge a five-set loss to the Golden Eagles that occurred back on Oct. 5.
"It doesn't happen that often in our league that you play a team twice in a short amount of time," head coach
Steve Payne said. "We have two tough opponents this week and we have played both teams in the last three weeks so both teams are familiar with what the other team wants to do."
IUPUI enters the second half of the conference season with a 6-2 conference record, and it sits a game back of both Denver and South Dakota for the top spot. Both Oral Roberts and Fort Wayne sit in a three-way tie for fourth place at 4-4.
A big reason for the Jaguars recent success during its three-match win streak has been its block. Entering its match at Fort Wayne on Oct. 14, IUPUI ranked last in the conference with 1.38 bps. Since that time, the Jags are averaging 2.60 bps led by
Gabby Fisher's 1.10 bps.
Offensively,
Kaitlyn Hickey and
Kelly Wachtel continue to lead the way with 3.46 kps and 2.88 kps, respectively, which rank fifth and 11th in the league. Additionally, in league play the Jags are third in aces averaging 1.39 sa/s thanks to
Meredith Farkas' 0.45 sa/s average, which is second in the conference.
Fort Wayne is led by Emily Spencer, who leads the league in kills with 4.68 kps in league-only matches, but just 10 days ago it was Somer Johnson who gave the Jaguars problems with a team-high 17 kills. Defensively, the Mastodons lead the conference in blocks with 2.45 bps.
Oral Roberts has won two of its last three matches to even its league record, and it is led on the offensive end by Laura Milos' and her 4.31 kps. While the Jags rank third in the league in aces, the Golden Eagles' 108 aces on the season are second in the conference.
