INDIANAPOLIS – The Summit League season couldn't have gotten off to a better start for the IUPUI volleyball team after rallying for a five-set win over Denver Saturday night, but the Jags will have another test Tuesday night when they welcome conference and in-state rival Fort Wayne to The Jungle for a 7 p.m. start.
 
Prior to IUPUI's 3-2 win over Denver Saturday night, which pushed the Jaguars record to 10-5 overall and 1-0 in the conference, the Pioneers earned a win at Fort Wayne on Friday night (Sept. 25) dropping the Mastodons record to 3-13 overall and 0-1 in conference action. Despite Fort Wayne's slow start to the season, matches between IUPUI and Fort Wayne are always intense and competitive.
 
"It's going to be a good match-up – it always is against those guys," head coach Steve Payne said. "For everybody in the conference, you never know what's going to happen when you play each other. Especially with IPFW, it's a good in-state rivalry with us and they've got some pretty good players out there also."
 
One of those good Fort Wayne players Payne was referring to was outside hitter Somer Johnson. Johnson ranks third in the league with 4.05 kps, and her 243 kills has accounted for nearly a third of the team's kills this season. Defensively, Olivia Hahn ranks second in the league in digs with 4.40 dps, and Natasha Medic is fourth in blocking with 0.97 bps.
 
Kaitlyn Hickey remains the Jaguars top attacker averaging 4.27 kps, and her 22 kills on Saturday against Denver solidified her as IUPUI's all-time kills leader passing Sara Sparks' previous record of 1,447 kills. However, the emergence of Kori Waelbroeck over the last four matches has allowed the offense to become more balanced. Since Sept. 18, Waelbroeck is averaging 3.56 kps while hitting at a .352 clip.
 
During roughly the same stretch that Waelbroeck has elevated her level of play, Courtney Halter has done the same defensively, which included a career-high 30 digs in the five-set win over Denver on Saturday. Halter's recent five-match average of 5.65 dps has moved her to the top of the Summit League statistical rankings in dps with 4.61.
 
Fort Wayne leads the all-time series between the two schools, 23-15, but IUPUI has won three in a row and five of the last seven. The Jags have won four straight against the Mastodons in Indianapolis and are 11-6 all-time when playing their in-state rival in the Circle City.