INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI volleyball cruised past Oakland in three sets to earn back-to-back wins to start conference play on Saturday (Sept. 28). The Jags once again used a strong defensive effort and a great service game to take down the Golden Grizzlies.

IUPUI (6-9, 2-0 Horizon) finished the match with 14 team blocks one game after having 15 against Cleveland State. It is the first time IUPUI has finished with back-to-back games with double-digit blocks since Nov. 11 & 17, 2017, when the Jags also finished with 29 blocks in the two matches.

"[Assistant coach] Morgan [Salow] and [head coach] Lindsey [Froehlich] are great front row coaches," said Wright. "We have changed the way we block and watch the other team and those changes are really working right now."

With the win over Oakland (7-7, 0-2) the Jags start the Horizon League schedule with two wins, matching the start IUPUI had in 2017.

"It feels great to start out 2-0," said Wright. "Oakland is a great team and it is nice to start out strong after such a tough non-conference schedule."

IUPUI finished the game with nine service aces with freshman Regan Trueblood collecting five and McKayla Wright adding two. Combined with the 10 services aces the Jaguars had against Cleveland State on Friday (Sept. 27), IUPUI's 19 aces are the most in two matches since collecting 19 combined on Oct. 15 and 16 of 2010.

"We know that Oakland and Cleveland State are really good passing teams and we knew we really needed to step up our serving game and have worked on it a lot in practice," said Wright.

Wright led the way for the Jags on offense with 11 kills and added five blocks and eight digs. Corrissa Remter finished the match second on the team with nine kills and was tied with Hoffman for the team lead with seven blocks. Hoffman was efficient on the offensive end finishing with five kills but hitting .385 and not committing an attacking error.

The first set was tight with the teams trading runs until IUPUI earned a 16-11 lead after four-straight points, highlighted by a kill and block by Hoffman. With the Jags up 22-16, Oakland went on a tear, scoring seven-straight points to take the lead. At 24-24, IUPUI earned a kill by Maddie Dean and the Jags got a block by the duo of Remter and Wright to win the set 26-24.

Set two was back and forth with Oakland using a 4-0 run to tie the set at 18. After a service error by the Golden Grizzlies, Wright added a kill and teamed with Hoffman for a block to put the Jags up three. After a point by Oakland the Jags ripped off three-straight points to earn set point. Oakland fought off two set points but Wright finished the set off with a kill.

IUPUI went on a tear to start the third. An 8-0 run that featured four service aces by Trueblood and two kills by Wright was ended by a Jaguar error, but IUPUI added another three points to take an 11-1 lead. From there the Jags cruised to a 25-13 set win to earn the three-set victory.

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IUPUI will hit the road next weekend for games at Wright State (Oct. 5) and Northern Kentucky (Oct. 6).