INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI volleyball team rolled past Western Illinois 3-1 (25-12, 22-25, 25-15, 25-18) on "Dig Pink" Night in the Jungle on Friday night (Oct. 23) as three Jaguar attackers reached double-digit kills. Senior
Kaitlyn Hickey led the way with 15 kills and 13 digs and
Kori Waelbroeck turned in 13 kills and hit .462 for the match. Junior middle
Logan Walling contributed 10 kills in the win.
"We set up that block well. It's an easy point when you can block that ball straight down," said head coach
Steve Payne. "We were solid on the block. 15 is a good number and it shows that we can be a good blocking team."
IUPUI (16-7, 7-2 Summit) put up a season-high 15 blocks in the victory, holding Western Illinois (3-21, 1-8 Summit) to just .081 hitting for the match. No WIU attacker managed more than six kills in the defeat while the Jaguars improved to 8-1 in the Jungle this season.
The first set saw back and forth action until, with the score at 10-7 in favor of IUPUI, the Jags won 11 of the next 13 points to take a 21-9 lead. From there the Jags would close out the set with a 25-12 win.
Walling hit a perfect 1.000 on five attempts in the first set while the Jags hit .464 as a team and IUPUI had 4 aces.
After only two attacking errors in the first set, IUPUI struggled in the second set with 8 team errors only hitting .135. Early in the set Western Illinois jumped out to a 13-5 lead but the Jags fought back getting to within two points twice. However, it was not enough as Western Illinois took set two 25-22 to tie the match at one.
The Jags threw a block party in the third set with 8 blocks. With IUPUI leading 10-9, the Jags won 10 of the next 11 points including four blocks, all of which involved #Walling#. IUPUI would use that run to win the third set 25-15 and took a 2-1 lead.
Set four went back and forth until IUPUI went on a 5-0 run with the score tied at 13 to take an 18-13 lead. From there, the Jags would finish off set four 25-18 and win the match 3-1.
IUPUI will be back in action on Saturday (Oct. 24) when the Jaguars head north to take on Fort Wayne (6-18, 3-5 Summit) inside Gates Sports Center beginning at 7:00 p.m.. The Jaguars won the prior meeting between the two schools by a 3-0 score back on Sept. 29 in The Jungle.
