GREEN BAY, Wisc. - The IU Indianapolis volleyball team snapped its three-game skid on Saturday (Oct. 24) with an impressive road reverse sweep at Green Bay to win 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-10). Freshman
Bailey Sinish finished with 21 kills and sophomore
Jillian Tippmann chimed in with 18.
Senior setter
Grace Purichia delivered 52 assists and 13 digs while sophomore
Laura Roeder finished with 30 digs from her libero spot.
Green Bay (14-7, 7-3 HL) hit .302 for the match, but cooled as the day went on while the Jaguars warmed up over the final three sets to finish at .261 for the day.
The first set saw Green Bay go wire-to-wire, building a quick 9-3 lead and staving off the Jaguars late. IU Indy cut the lead back to two on multiple occasions, only to see the Phoenix escape with a 25-22 victory. Kayla Birmingham led Green Bay with four kills in the opening set while Sinish had five in set one for the Jags.
The Jags led the bulk of the second set before finally succumbing the advantage at 17-16 after Green Bay scored three straight. The stanza was tied at 19, 20 and 21 all before back-to-back Alexa Hernandez kills gave the hosts the lead for good on way to a 25-23 victory. Sinish put down six kills in the second set while Kirsten Fish had five for Green Bay.
The Jaguars dominated the third set, coasting to a 20-11 lead that allowed them to digest a late 5-0 Green Bay run that cut the advantage back to 22-17. Senior
Ninah Miranda helped seal the set and finished with a team-high four kills while sophomore
Amanda Stephens stepped up with a pair of critical kills.
Sinish and Tippmann helped control the fourth set, which was nip-and-tuck throughout. IU Indy led by three early and three late, marking the largest margins of the set. Tippmann provided a key kill at 23-22 to get the Jaguars to set point and Stephens followed with the punctuation mark to send the match to a fifth set. Sinish and Tippmann had six kills apiece and neither made an error, combining to hit .480 for the set.
Green Bay seized an early lead in the fifth set at 5-2, but essentially got stuck on six as the Jaguars went in front 7-6. Tippmann had an attack go just wide of the line at 8-8, leading to an unsuccessful challenge. On the next point, an angry Tippmann rifled home a kill, sparking a 4-0 run with
Elle Patterson on the service line. The Jags put the set away with
Lauren White on the service line, thanks to kills from Sinish and
Chloe Macias.
Miranda finished with 10 kills and Macias added eight.
The Jaguars will return to action on Thursday, Oct. 29 when they host Northern Kentucky inside James T. Morris Arena at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
