YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The IUPUI volleyball team won in dominating fashion with a sweep of Youngstown State (25-11, 25-10, 25-21) in Horizon League action Saturday afternoon.
After falling to Cleveland State Friday evening, the Jaguars returned to winning form against the Penguins pushing their league record to 3-1, and their overall record to 7-10.
"It was good to see us play good ball from start to finish, which started with our blocking and digging early," said head coach Steve Payne. "We controlled the first two sets from the beginning to the end, something we haven't done yet this season."
The Jags' got rolling early in the first set and never let up, taking a 5-2 lead, and later pushing it to 10-4 with a kill by Abby Boatman. Youngstown State fought back with a 5-2 run to cut the lead to 12-6, before IUPUI widened their lead to 17-7 by capitalizing on a trio of Penguin errors.
IUPUI only hit .192 in the opening set, but took advantage of 11 total errors by Youngstown State, gaining the momentum, and ultimately never gave it up.
Seniors Kori Waelbroeck and Gabby Fisher, and junior Abby Boatman led the Jags' attack with a combined 30 kills. Waelbroeck led the way with 11, while Boatman and Fisher added 10 and nine respectively.
"On the offensive end, Boatman had a really strong game going errorless in her 10 attempts," said Payne.
The Jags' were much more effective offensively in the second set, landing .297 percent of their shots, while holding the Penguins to an abysmal .079.
Youngstown State (7-11, 0-4 Horizon) darted out to a 4-2 lead in set two, but IUPUI responded with a 6-2 scoring spree to go up 8-5 thanks to back-to-back kills by Fisher and Boatman.
IUPUI later used a pair of 4-0 runs and a 3-0 run to build a commanding 23-8 lead. The Jags' finished off the Penguins in the late stages of the set with kills from Waelbroeck and Fisher.
The Penguins put together their best play, trailing 2-0 in the decisive third set, but eventually succumbed to the red-hot Jags'.
IUPUI took an early 7-3 lead on an ace by Waelbroeck, but Youngstown State bounced back to tie it at 9-9 after a kill from Marguax Thompson.
Both teams battled back and forth through the middle part of the set, leaving the match tied at 19-19, before the Jags' went on a 6-2 run to capture the match. Fisher had back-to-back kills to make it 22-21, before Boatman finished the Penguins off with three straight kills, all with assists credited to Maggie Gibson.
Gibson led the Jags' with 32 assists. Waelbroeck added seven blocks, while Jessica Helms had 20 kills.
Youngstown State hit .273 in the final set and had three errors, while IUPUI hit .275, and had five errors.
Libbie Darling led the Penguins with 22 assists, while Lauren Blanco added 17 digs, and Sarah Varcolla had nine kills.
IUPUI will look to run their conference record to 4-1 when they return home again Milwaukee Friday evening at 6 p.m. at the Jungle.
