At Wright State (Oct. 21 - 4:00 pm): Live Stats 
At Northern Kentucky (Oct. 22 – 2 p.m.) Live Stats | ESPN3

INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI begins the second half of the Horizon League schedule with two road games this weekend. The Jags travel to Wright State on Saturday at 4 p.m., and finish the road trip with a match at Northern Kentucky Sunday at 2 p.m.
 
Head coach Steve Payne's squad enters the second half of the conference season on top of the Horizon League standings tied with Oakland with a 6-2 record. The Jags are continuing a three-game road swing that began with a five-set win over UIC on October 14.

In the match against UIC, IUPUI had a season-high 16 blocks, led by Haley Hoffman with eight and Abby Boatman with seven. The Jags defense has been improving as the season has progressed with IUPUI second in conference play in both blocks per set (2.81) and digs per set (17.00). Since conference play has started, IUPUI has had double-digit blocks in five of its eight matches and has had nine blocks in the other three.

Boatman leads the team with 1.09 blocks per set and Hoffman is second on the team with 1.07 blocks per set. In conference play, Hoffman has increased her blocks per set average and is second in the conference at 1.39. Senior Jessica Helms continues to anchor the back line for the Jags with 4.34 digs per set and Maggie Gibson is second on the squad with 2.99 digs per set.

The offense looks to senior Kori Waelbroeck who leads the team with 3.80 kills per set on the season. Fellow senior Gabby Fisher is second on the team with 2.40 kills per set. Waelbroeck had her second-best offensive match of the season the last time out notching 23 kills while hitting .347. Gibson gets the offense going, averaging 9.99 assists per set and has increased that number to 10.58 in conference play.
 
SCOUTING WRIGHT STATE: Wright State (9-12, 3-5 Horizon) starts its second half of the season with a match against Northern Kentucky on Friday, October 20. The last time the Raiders were on the court was a 3-2 loss to Milwaukee and Wright State has split its last four games. The Raiders are led by Katie Klusman on the offensive side, who is averaging 3.31 kills per set and the Raiders have two players averaging more than two kills per set – Abby Barcus (2.74) and Megan Hopkins (2.41). On defense, Wright State sits right behind IUPUI with 2.31 blocks per set in conference play and is fourth in the conference with 16.51 digs per set.

SCOUTING NORTHERN KENTUCKY: Northern Kentucky (8-9, 4-4 Horizon) sits two games behind IUPUI to start the second half of the season and will play Wright State on Friday, October 20 before hosting the Jags. The Norse have lost two-straight, falling at Cleveland State and at Green Bay. Haley Libs is the top offensive threat for the Norse, averaging 3.38 kills per set, followed by Laura Crawford (2.86) and Drew Hendricks (2.25). On defense, Northern Kentucky sits fifth in digs per set (16.30) and seventh in blocks per set (1.88) in conference play.

LAST TIME OUT-
    vs. WRIGHT STATE – The last time the Jags faced Wright State was on Sept. 22 at The Jungle, and was a 3-2 IUPUI victory. Waelbroeck led IUPUI in the matchup with a career-high 28 kills and a season-high .448 hitting percentage. The Jags used 11 blocks and 73 digs to hold Wright State to a .189 hitting percentage.

vs. NORTHERN KENTUCKY – IUPUI took the first matchup this season against Northern Kentucky, 3-1, on Sept. 24. In the win, the Jags held the Norse to a .072 hitting percentage, the lowest allowed by IUPUI this season.

UP NEXT: IUPUI is back home for two games against Youngstown State Friday, October 27 and Cleveland State Saturday, October 28.