INDIANAPOLIS – Needing a win to stay in the hunt for a first round bye in the Summit League tournament, the Jags used a strong offensive performance, especially from senior Skylar Wright, to beat South Dakota 3-2.
 
"It was a battle back and forth," said head coach Steve Payne. "South Dakota had good offense tonight but we did too. We were quicker tonight. Really good on the block and a lot of digs. Could have gone either way."
 
Wright led the Jags (20-9, 11-4) with a career high 22 kills on a night when four Jags had double-figure kills. Wright also finished with 10 digs and three blocks while hitting .326. Senior Kaitlyn Hickey finished with 18, junior Logan Walling had 15, and sophomore Kori Waelbroeck added 10.
 
"That was [Skylar's] best night ever," said Payne. "She just did a tremendous job keeping the ball in play and finding all of the holes."
 
Offensively the Jags hit .349 as a team, led by Walling who hit .591. The .349 clip is the highest hitting percentage in school history in a five set match. It was an impressive number to reach when the Jags hit .260 and .217 in the fourth and fifth set.
 
"I think our passing wasn't as crisp as it was [in the first three sets]," said Payne. "South Dakota started to get their blockers over, knowing where we were going to hit it a little bit. But hitting over .200 wasn't too bad."
 
Defensively, the Jags finished with 11 blocks and held South Dakota (13-15, 7-8) to a .244 clip on the night.
 
The Jags took the first four points of the first set but South Dakota battled back to tie the set at five. IUPUI won the next point and would take control of the set, eventually taking a 15-11 lead. The Jags could not maintain the momentum and South Dakota climbed back in the set, taking its first set lead at 20-19. The Coyotes would win the next point and both teams would trade points until South Dakota took the first set 25-23.
 
IUPUI fell behind early in the second set 6-3 but came back to even the match at 10. The Jags first lead came on the next point and was part of a 5-0 run to give IUPUI the lead at 13-10.  The Jags held a four-point lead at 20-16 but South Dakota got back within one at 20-19. From there Wright had three kills as the Jags went on a 5-0 run to win the second set 25-19 and tie the match heading in to the break. In the set, the Jags hit .485.
 
The offense continued to shine in the third set for the Jags as they hit .400 in the third set. IUPUI jumped out to a 10-3 and never led by less than six on their way to a 25-17 set three victory to take a 2-1 match lead.
 
The Jags and Coyotes battled back and forth in the beginning of the fourth set, but the Coyotes opened up a 14-9 lead. The Jags battled back with a 6-2 run to get within one at 21-20 and forced a South Dakota timeout. After the timeout the Coyotes won the next two points but again IUPUI battled and tied the set at 24. Unfortunately for the Jags, two errors gave South Dakota the set and sent the match to a fifth set.
 
The fifth set was back and forth action after IUPUI jumped out to a 3-1 lead. After South Dakota took a 4-3 lead, the teams traded points until South Dakota won two straight to take an 11-9 lead. A timeout taken by IUPUI spurred the Jags and IUPUI would go on a 6-1 run to end the match with a 15-12 fifth set victory.
 
Up next for the Jags is an important match against Omaha. The Mavericks are a game ahead of IUPUI for second place in the Summit League and a first round bye in the Summit League tournament next week. With a win the Jags would tie Omaha for second place but take the tie-break having beaten Omaha earlier this year.
 
"We have to do what we did tonight. We have to have our quick offense working for us," said Payne. "We have to have our good blocking because they are a pretty physical team out there and they play good defense."
 
The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Jungle. Before the match there will be a Senior Day ceremony where IUPUI will recognize the four seniors playing in their last home match.