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Photo Gallery INDIANAPOLIS – The two previous meetings this season went to five sets, but on Saturday night in the Summit League semifinals the IUPUI volleyball team was clicking on all cylinders and downed South Dakota, 3-0, in front of its home crowd to advance to Sunday's Summit League Championship match against Denver.
The Pioneers won the earlier semifinal over North Dakota State in three sets, and with the Jags claiming a three-set win of their own it sets up a rematch of the Summit League Championship from last season.
In order to advance to the conference championship match, the Jaguars needed to get past the Coyotes and 14 kills from
Kaitlyn Hickey, 12 kills from
Meredith Farkas and nine from
Kelly Wachtel helped them do just that.
Alexis Mapes dished out 37 assists in the win and added 10 digs for a double-double, joining Hickey who added 15 digs to her match-high kills output.
Beth Howard, the two-time Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, led all players with 18 digs.
The Jags couldn't have asked for a better start as four kills from Farkas and three kills from Wachtel propelled them to a 12-5 lead in the opening set, forcing the Coyotes to use an early timeout. Following an exchange of side outs, IUPUI scored three straight points on kills from
Logan Walling to up its lead to 19-11. Down the stretch, four kills from Hickey and a block from Hickey and
Gabby Fisher closed out a 25-15 first-set win.
Led by Hickey's eight kills in set one, the Jaguars tallied 19 kills and hit at a .472 clip.
IUPUI jumped out to a 12-9 advantage in set two, only to have the Coyotes battle back and take a 13-12 advantage. With the score tied at 15-15, a kill from Wachtel, a USD attack error, and a kill from Mapes reestablished a three-point lead at 18-15. South Dakota took the lead at 22-21, but a tip kill from the back row from Farkas preceded a Hickey ace that catapulted IUPUI back in front, 23-22. After a Melissa Firtko kill evened things back up at 23-23, a Coyotes attack error gave the Jags set point, and Fisher delivered an ace that clipped the 10-foot line to secure the 25-23 victory and put them on top two sets to none.
South Dakota came out of the break and held two small leads early, but a six-point run highlighted by a solo block and a kill from Wachtel and an ace from Mapes placed the Jags on top 15-9. The lead grew to eight at 21-13, and from that point the Jags finished off the 25-16 win.
The Jaguars and Pioneers are set to compete for the Summit League Tournament crown and a NCAA Tournament berth beginning at 4 p.m. on Sunday at The Jungle. The first 100 IUPUI students at the match will receive a t-shirt and pizza while supplies last.
