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INDIANAPOLIS - Looking for its second straight Summit League Tournament Championship, the IUPUI volleyball team came up short in its repeat bid falling to Denver, 3-0, Sunday afternoon at The Jungle.

Two of the three sets went to extra points and the Jags had a set point in each of those sets, but the Pioneers made big plays down the stretch to earn their first Summit League Tournament championship.

Meredith Farkas led IUPUI with 14 kills in her final match as a Jaguar, and Kaitlyn Hickey tacked on 10 kills and 13 digs. Beth Howard finished with 22 digs in her final match as a Jag, which put her over 2,000 digs for her career making her just the third Jag in program history to eclipse that milestone. Both Howard and Hickey were named to the Summit League All-Tournament Team for their play throughout the weekend.

In a match pitting the league's top two teams, fans couldn't of asked for a more entertaining opening set. Farkas had eight kills in the opening set to lead all players, but 10 attack errors compared to seven for Denver proved to be costly. The Pioneers looked to have the first set in control leading 24-21, but a kill from Farkas, a Gabby Fisher ace, and a Pioneers attack error evened things up at 24-24. Denver had four more set points, before consecutive Denver attack errors gave the Jags their first opportunity to steal the set at 29-28. Two more set points ensued for the Pioneers before a Ruth Okoye block gave them a 32-30 hard-fought set-one win.

Errors continued to plague the Jags in the early stages of the second set as three attack errors helped Denver seize an 8-4 lead, forcing the Jaguars to burn a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Pioneers extended their lead to 11-4, before the Jags chipped away at their deficit and closed within three at 13-10. However, another four-point response from Denver pushed their lead to 17-10. IUPUI continued to keep things interesting as a kill and two aces from Hickey and a kill from Farkas inched IUPUI within three, 17-14. However, another Denver spurt put them in front, 21-14, and from that point it took set two, 25-19.

Out of the intermission, Denver took the first two points only to have IUPUI reel off seven straight behind the serving of Fisher to take a 7-2 lead. With the Jags cushion at 9-3, four straight Pioneers points put them right back in the set forcing a Jags timeout. Denver fought back to tie things up at 15-15, but IUPUI seized five of the next six points to recapture a four-point lead, 20-16. Denver closed within one at 23-22, but the Jags had a pair of set points after capturing the next point. Unfortunately, the Pioneers closed the match out by winning the final four points to secure the 26-24 win.