Live Stats I
Live Video
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Coming off a successful trip to Florida, the IUPUI volleyball team will have a quick turnaround on Tuesday night (Aug. 29) when the Jaguars face Fort Wayne at 7:00 p.m.. Head Coach Steve Payne's squad defeated both Georgia Southern and Florida International before falling to Florida Gulf Coast in the championship match of the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Invitational.
IUPUI (2-1) showed resilience in the season-opening event, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to knock off FIU and playing FGCU to two tight sets before ultimately falling in three.
"We played FGCU very tough for the first two sets with very good passing. We were tight the whole way and just made a few small mistakes that hopefully we can correct here in the future," Payne said. "Kori had a good offensive weekend to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
"We're excited to continue the in-state series with Fort Wayne, even though we're in different leagues now. It's always a good match when we play them and it's always good to play other teams from across the state."
Senior
Kori Waelbroeck was the Jaguars' star of stars offensively, knocking down 4.58 kills/set while hitting at a .292 clip. The rest of the offense was a collective effort as
Abby Boatman finished the tournament with 23 kills and
McKayla Wright put away 20 kills. As a team, IUPUI hit .221 over three matches while holding foes to .199.
Junior
Maggie Gibson asserted herself well at the setter position, recording 10.50 assists per set.
Defensively, senior
Jessica Helms had a team-high 5.75 digs/set, paced by her career-high 36 digs in the five-set win over FIU. Gibson and Boatman did the bulk of the blocking, combining on 35 of the team's 58 blocks for the tournament.
Fort Wayne (2-1) opened the year with wins over Quinnipiac and Toledo while falling to SIUE at their season-opening tournament.
Katie Crowe (3.62 kills/set) and Nicole Rightnowar (3.15 kills/set) lead the Fort Wayne attack while Julia Wayer (3.62 digs/set) had a team-high 47 digs in the opening three matches of the season. Sydney Boerst had a team-high 19 blocks last weekend. Rightnowar and junior setter Victoria Mills (9.38 assists/set) were named to the All-Tournament Team.
IUPUI is just 18-24 all-time against Fort Wayne, but has won eight of the past 11 meetings. IUPUI won six straight from November 2013 through October 2016. The two sides split last year's home-and-home series with each side winning on their home floors.
A full recap and results will be posted to IUPUIJags.com immediately following Tuesday's match.
