BROOKINGS, S.D. – IUPUI won their fourth straight match with a 3-0 sweep (25-14, 25-18, 25-10) against South Dakota State, Friday night (Oct. 30). The Jags (18-7, 9-2) had two players in double figure kills and hit .343 as a team. The Jackrabbits (3-24, 2-9) only hit .107 as a team in part because of the Jags out-digging SDSU 56-41.
 
The Jags were led by senior Kaitlyn Hickey who finished with a double-double of 17 kills and 11 digs while hitting .452. Fellow senior Kelly Wachtel also finished with double figure kills at 12.

"Our offense was really on track tonight," said head coach Steve Payne. "It's impressive to only have 10 team errors. I was pretty pleased with our offense. It all started with good passing tonight."
 
Defensively the Jags had three players with double digit digs. To go along with Hickey's 11, Courtney Halter led the team with 13, and junior Alexis Mapes finished with 10.

"Our backcourt defense was great tonight," said Payne. "56 digs and three people in double digits in a three set match is very good. I thought we moved very well as a team behind our blockers."
 
IUPUI also finished the night with nine service aces. Sophomores Ashley Hacker and Gabby Fisher each had three and Hickey added two of her own.
 
After setting a school record in blocks in its last match, IUPUI only had five blocks on the night against the Jackrabbits. Sophomore Abby Horn finished the night with three blocks and Wachtel added two of her own.
 
The Jags controlled the first set hitting .367 while holding the Jackrabbits to a .053 clip. With the score 12-11 in favor of IUPUI, the Jags used a 13-3 run to win the first set 25-14.
 
Set two saw the Jags get out to an early lead going up 11-4 after a Wachtel kill. IUPUI maintained the lead and increased it to 10 twice in the set before winning set number two 25-18.
 
Looking for the sweep, The Jags jumped out to a 14-5 lead thanks to hitting .667 as a team through the first 19 points. IUPUI never had less than an eight point lead the rest of the way as they took set three 25-10.
 
The Jags next game will be against Oral Roberts, a team that beat IUPUI earlier this year when the two teams met in Tulsa, Okla. In the rematch, the Jags will have home court advantage, something they think will benefit them.

"We like to play at home so hopefully that will be an advantage with our fans," said Payne. "We just need to keep the offense going and play the defense we played tonight."

The game against Oral Roberts is at the Jungle and start time is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 1).