CLEVELAND – The IUPUI volleyball team enters the 2017 Horizon League Volleyball Championship as the No. 3 seed and will take on No. 6 seed Northern Kentucky in the first round. The match is scheduled to tip at 3 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN3.

In its first year in the Horizon League, IUPUI finished with a 12-4 league record, only losing to Cleveland State and Oakland, the teams that finished in first and second. Head Coach Steve Payne's squad went 2-0 against their first-round foe in fairly similar matches.

Both matches with the Norse went four sets with IUPUI taking the first two sets and finishing off Northern Kentucky after dropping set three.

In the first matchup, a home match for the Jags on Sept. 24, IUPUI held Northern Kentucky to a .072 hitting percentage, including three sets under .100. The Jags did using the block, finishing with 12 team blocks, led by Haley Hoffman who had seven. Three other Jags finished the match with at least three blocks. Gabby Fisher led the way on offense with 16 kills and Kori Waelbroeck had 12.

Defense was the catalyst for IUPUI's second win of the season against the Norse when the teams met in Highland Heights, Ky., on Oct. 22. The Jags had 12 blocks with four players notching at least five, including a game-high seven from Abby Boatman. Four Jags also finished with double-digit kills, led by Jessica Helms's 20. Waelbroeck was the offensive leader with 13 kills, Fisher posted 11, and Elizabeth Scott finished with 10.

ALL-LEAGUE HONORS – Waelbroeck and Hoffman were both named to the Horizon League All-League Team for their play this season. The honor marks Waelbroeck's third-straight All-League honor having taken two-straight in the Summit League. Hoffman earned her first career honor.

SCOUTING NORTHERN KENTUCKY – Northern Kentucky struggled at the end of the season, losing three of its last four games and two-straight losses to Cleveland State and Green Bay. Haley Libs is the leader of the Norse offense averaging .356 kills/set. After Libs, Laura Crawford is averaging 2.85 kills/set but only hitting .137 on the season. Defensively, four Norse are averaging over three digs per set. Ashton Terrill leads the team with 3.56, followed by Libs (3.51), Crawford (3.25) and Shelby Olsen (3.17).

UP NEXT – With a win, the Jags would face No. 2 seed Oakland on Saturday at 6 p.m.