OXFORD, Ohio - IUPUI battled but came away empty handed in its two matches to start the Bobcat Invitational on Friday (Sept. 7). IUPUI dropped its opening match of the tournament in four sets to Virginia Tech before falling in a five set match to Samford.

Senior Maggie Gibson posted her third triple-double of the season against Samford, finishing with 12 kills, 13 assists and 12 digs. Elizabeth Scott finished second on the team with nine kills and freshman Hannah Oehlberg tallied eight kills and a career-high 11 digs. 

IUPUI (2-7) played its first five set match of the season against Samford. In the fifth set, the Jags pulled within one at 3-2 after a kill by Gibson but the wheels fell off for IUPUI, allowing Samford to score the next eight points to jump to an 11-2 lead. After a kill by Haley Hoffman, Samford closed out the match scoring the next four points. 

Rebecca Schlechte posted a double-double with 23 assists and 12 digs and Rachel Hickey led the Jags with 21 digs, reaching 20 digs in her last four matches. 

The Jags separated themselves from the Bulldogs in the first set using a 5-1 run that featured a kill by Maddie Dean and block by Gibson and Shakana Norfleet. Samford would pull within three later in the set but IUPUI stayed ahead and closed out the set with a block by Hoffman and Oehlberg and a kill by Scott. 

IUPUI did not fare as well in the second set, falling 25-10 and hitting -.148.

After the break, the Jags took the match lead with a tough back-and-forth set that IUPUI won 26-24. The Jags fell behind by three early but four-straight points that included a kill and service ace from Gibson and a kill by Oehlberg gave IUPUI the one point lead. Neither team would lead by more than two for the rest of the set and Samford found themselves with set point at 24-23 before an error by the Bulldogs gave IUPUI new life. The Jags would not let it slip as Gibson picked up a kill and a Samford error gave IUPUI the set win. 

The offense struggled again in the fourth set, hitting .000 as Samford forced the deciding set with a 25-15 win.

The first game of the day featured IUPUI taking on Virginia Tech. The Jags struggled to get much offense against the Hokies, hitting .132 as a team in the four set loss. The offense struggled in particular in the the second and fourth sets, hitting -.032 and -.111 respectively, while losing those sets 25-11 and 25-13.

Maggie Gibson led the way for the Jags on offense finishing with 15 kills. Gibson also posted a double-double with 10 assists. Maddie Dean was second on the team with seven kills and Elizabeth Scott finished with six. Rebecca Schlechte had 25 assists to lead all IUPUI players. On the defensive end, two Jags finished with double-digit kills, led by Rachel Hickey's 23. Rhiannon Schuenemann added 10, while Gibson and Schlechte each collected six. Shakana Norfleet led all Jags with with four blocks.

Virginia Tech took an early 7-2 lead in set one and IUPUI never really got back in to the set, pulling within three at 22-19 after ratting off four-straight points with a kill by Gibson, block by Gibson and Norfleet and a kill by Hickey. The Hokies would stop the run and close out the set a few points later. 

IUPUI managed to play its best volleyball of the match in the third set with their backs against the wall. The Jags hit .366 in the third frame and after falling behind 7-3 battled back, scoring seven of the next nine points to take a one point lead. Two kills by Hannah Oehlberg pushed the IUPUI lead to 14-11. Virginia Tech managed to take a late 21-20 lead but kills by Scott, Schlechte and Gibson put the Jags up 23-21. After a point by the Hokies, Gibson put together two-straight kills to give the Jags the set win.

IUPUI will finish up its time in Oxford with a match against the host Ohio Bobcats on Saturday (Sept. 7) at 2 p.m. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.