INDIANAPOLIS – Despite a solid effort against yet another extremely tough opponent, the IUPUI volleyball team (4-8) fell in straight sets (22-25, 25-27, 19-25) Tuesday night (Sep. 13) to undefeated Dayton (11-0). The effort saw IUPUI take the Flyers to brink in a pair of sets, but were unable to finish it off.
The Jags were led once again on offense by the explosive arm of
Kori Waelbroeck, who socked another 16 kills while hitting .289.
Alexis Mapes tossed 26 assists and picked up 14 digs in a double-double effort, adding four block assists.
Logan Walling picked up a solo block and three block assists, while slugging a team-high .429 attack percentage on eight kills.
As a team, the Jaguars were limited to just a .126 team attack percentage, having to defend against a .248 clip from the Flyers. Dayton had four players with at least eight kills each, while the teams tied each other with seven blocks.
The opening set seemed to perfectly paraphrase the remainder of the match, as IUPUI found ways to be competitive and erase multiple deficits, but just couldn't slow down the aggressive Dayton offense. Waelbroeck logged seven of her 16 kills in the opening frame, while the Jag' offense was limited to just a .122 attack percentage. The Jags were able to erase an 8-5 deficit early on a service error and back-to-back kills, but would once again see the Flyers create a lead. Dayton would go on an 8-2 run from that point, establishing a six-point edge. Once again, the Jags fought back, getting as close as two points late on a pair of errors by Dayton to set the score at 22-20. In the end, the Flyers did just enough to close the frame, logging two kills and a block to close the set, 25-22.
Both offenses were mostly stagnant in the second set, with neither team eclipsing the Mendoza line in attack percentage. Despite 10 attack errors by the Flyers, IUPUI couldn't capitalize, hitting just .086 in the frame. While the Jaguars block was more efficient, logging four in the set, the Flyers' offense just seemed to find holes when it mattered, knocking 18 kills. The Jags actually held a very late four-point edge in the set, thanks in part to four-consecutive errors by Dayton, to set the score at 22-18. A well-utilized timeout erased the deficit, as Dayton would actually ignite a 5-0 run to briefly take the lead. A back-and-forth affair would push things to 25-25, but a service error by the Jags and a kill for the Flyers would hand the frame to DU, 27-25.
The Flyers had their most efficient outing in the third set, hitting .361 to .171 for IUPUI. Waelbroeck closed with four more kills in the set, but the back row simply was unable to stop a hard-hitting attack from Dayton. The Flyers would lead by as many as eight points in the frame, eventually cruising to a set and match victory, 25-19.
The Jaguars will be back in action this Friday (Sep. 16) against Cleveland State at 5 p.m. EST in Bloomington, Indiana for the Hoosier Classic Volleyball Invitational. The match will be one of three for the Jags, as they're also slated to take on Indiana (12 p.m.) and Arkansas State (5 p.m.) Saturday (Sep. 17). The matches against Cleveland State and Arkansas State will have live, audio-only play-by-play coverage available for free on IUPUIJags.com. The match against Indiana will have video coverage via BTN Plus, the online subscription based part of the Big 10 Network.
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