Box Score (html) |
Box Score (.pdf) |
Steve Payne Postgame Interview INDIANAPOLIS – Despite a slow start,
Kaitlyn Hickey's 20 kills and
Beth Howard's 20 digs led the IUPUI volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Oral Roberts Sunday afternoon in Summit League action.
The win marked the sixth straight for the Jags, who improved to 14-11 overall and 8-2 in The Summit League, while ORU fell to 11-12 overall and evened its league mark at 5-5.
The Jags were in search of evening the season series after the Golden Eagles were the last team to hand IUPUI a loss back on Oct. 5, in Tulsa, Okla. The Jags rallied to win the final three sets after dropping the opening set on Sunday, which also gave them their fourth win all-time against Oral Roberts in 35 tries.
"I think we're starting to earn our points and we're not relying on other teams to make mistakes," head coach
Steve Payne said following the win. "Our last 10 to 15 points are starting to be earned by us and not the other team making errors, so we are passing the ball well and that makes our offense go well and that kind of feeds our defense."
Oral Roberts took command early in the opening set thanks to its serving and blocking. ORU served up three aces and rejected a trio of Jaguars attacks helping it take a 14-9 advantage, forcing the Jags to burn its first of two timeouts. IUPUI closed within four on three occasions before a back-row attack error finally inched it within three, 20-17, forcing the Golden Eagles to use their first timeout. Out of the break, kills by Hickey and
Gabby Fisher brought IUPUI within one, 20-19. On the next point, the Jags appeared to have tied the score, but a dig from Sara Pope went over the net and past the IUPUI defense falling just inside the baseline to end the rally. The Jaguars closed within a point one more time, but ORU pulled away for the 25-22 opening-set victory.
The Jaguars came out sharper in the second set and two kills and two block assists from
Logan Walling led them to a 10-5 cushion. IUPUI's lead methodically grew to nine points, 21-12, thanks in part to three kills from Hickey and a pair from
Kelly Wachtel and from that point the Jags cruised to a 25-14 second-set win to even the score at one set apiece. After siding out just 54 percent of the time in the opening set, IUPUI's side out percentage grew to 86 percent in set two helping it earn the 11-point win.
Similar to set two, IUPUI was the aggressor from the outset and took a 9-4 lead early on. The Jags margin grew to six at 17-11 off a transition kill from Hickey forcing the Golden Eagles to burn a timeout. The Jaguars continued to keep the pressure on as three kills and an ace from Hickey coupled with an ace from
Alexis Mapes and a kill from Fisher upped the advantage to 22-15. Three consecutive ORU attack errors finished off another 25-15 victory for IUPUI.
ORU seized a 6-4 advantage to start the fourth set, but a seven-point IUPUI surge catapulted it in front, 11-6. The lead remained at five as late as 17-12, but a Ross kill, an IUPUI attack error, a Golden Eagles block and an ORU ace made things interesting at 17-16. The Jags lead fluctuated between one and three until Oral Roberts put down a pair of kills off free balls to even the score at 21-21. Kills from Hickey, Wachtel and Fisher offset an ORU kill giving IUPUI match point at 24-22, and the Jaguars tandem of Walling and Wachtel delivered a match-clinching block to finish off a 25-22 win.
Wachtel joined Hickey in double-figures in kills with 12, while Hickey and Mapes added 10 digs apiece to join Howard with double-figure digs.
Hickey also spearheaded a strong effort behind the service line posting four of IUPUI's 10 aces.
With its three-match homestand now over, IUPUI will return to the road next weekend when it heads to Brookings, S.D., on Halloween night to take on South Dakota State. Friday's match is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET.
