INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI volleyball split its two matches to close out the 2019 Hampton Inn Invitational on Saturday (Aug. 31). The Jags (1-2) picked up a thrilling five-set win over Murray State to begin the day before dropping a four-set match to Valparaiso to close out the night.
IUPUI senior outside hitter
McKayla Wright was named to the all-tournament team.
IUPUI 3 – Murray State 2
The Jaguars began their day playing in the only five-set match of the whole tournament with a victory over Murray State. The Jags defense held the Racers to a .200 hitting percentage for the match and outblocked Murray State 9-3, led by
Haley Hoffman with five and four apiece from freshmen
Allie Pogue and
Corrissa Remter.
IUPUI's offense was led by
McKayla Wright and
Maddie Dean, both finishing with a career-high 18 kills. Wright and Dean also posted double-doubles as Wright had 14 digs and Dean tallied 13. The offense was guided by
Rebecca Schlechte and freshman Regan Trueblood with 31 and 24 assists, respectively.
The Jags and Racers went back and forth in the first set with neither team being able to gain much of an advantage. After Murray State took a 21-20 lead, IUPUI responded with a kill by Dean to tie the match. Two Murray State attack errors gave the Jags a 23-21 lead and a kill by Remter gave IUPUI set point. Two points later, the Jags would take the set after a kill by Pogue.
Murray State took an early lead in set two and continued to keep the Jags at bay holding an 18-15 lead and looking to tie the match at one. IUPUI responded taking advantage of two Racer errors and tied the set with a kill by Pogue. A block by the duo of Pogue and
Shakana Norfleet put the Jags up front 19-18, capping a 4-0 run.
The Racers would eventually earn two set points both fought off by the Jags and IUPUI had its first set point at 26-25 after a
Kaitlyn Johnson kill but Murray State scored the next point. After another set point for IUPUI was denied, the Jags finally closed out the set with kills by Pogue and Wright to take a 2-0 lead.
The Jags would have to wait for their first win of the season after Murray State came back from the break with at 25-19 win in the third and a 26-24 win in the fourth.
With the momentum in the Racers favor heading to the deciding set, IUPUI had a 5-4 lead and took control of the set scoring the next five points. Dean began the run with a kill and then Remter and Wright combined for back-to-back blocks. The Jags ended the run with kills by Johnson and Wright.
The Jags were two points away from a win after Murray State cut the lead to 13-9 and ended the match with a kill by Pogue and an ace from Wright.
Valparaiso 3 – IUPUI 1
The Jags could not make it two wins in a row as IUPUI fell to Valpo in four sets to close the tournament. Wright was the only Jaguar in double-figure kills, tallying 13.
Hannah Oehlberg, Hoffman and Dean each had seven.
On the defensive end, three Jags finished with double-digit digs, led by
Rhiannon Schuenemann with 13. Oehlberg with 12 and Schlechte with 10. Hoffman again led the Jags at the net with five blocks.
IUPUI dropped the first set 25-22 but rebounded to take set two 25-18. From there, Valpo was too much for a battling IUPUI team as the Crusaders won set three 25-19 and closed out the match with a 25-21 win in set four.
UP NEXT
IUPUI will be on the road at Georgia Tech on Friday (Sept. 6) with matches against Lipscomb and the host Yellow Jackets.
