Box Score
MACOMB, Ill. — The Western Illinois volleyball team ended its season in heartbreaking fashion with a five-set loss to IUPUI on senior night, Saturday, Nov. 14 at Brophy Hall.
The Fighting Leathernecks led 2-1 after three sets, but couldn't hold off the Jaguars in the final two. Western fell by scores of 25-22, 20-25, 26-24, 20-25 and 11-15. With the win, IUPUI clinched the second seed in The Summit League Tournament Nov. 20-21 in Fargo, N.D.
Western finished the season at 10-20 overall and 5-13 in the Summit League while IUPUI improved to 20-9 overall and 12-6 in the conference.
“IUPUI finished second in our league and we finished ninth. For us to battle them to five with the scores that we had and the level of play that we had shows you there is not a big difference from No. 2 to No. 9 in our league,” said Western Illinois coach Kym McKay.
Before the match, Western Illinois seniors Elise Crnjak, Erin Frick, Emily Harrison and Lindsay Muehlbauer were recognized for their contributions to the Leatherneck volleyball program during the past four years.
Once the match started, the two teams battled back-and-forth throughout the night with neither team taking more than a five-point lead at any point. McKay said tough defense on both sides of the net gave the hitters on both teams fits.
“Both teams had a lot of great touches. IUPUI's libero was frustrating because she was touching everything,” McKay said. “Both teams were getting frustrating that everything was getting dug.”
The Jaguars finished with 119 blocks while Western had 122 led by three players with 20 or more digs. Freshman libero Bridget Murphy had a career-best 29 digs while junior Ellen Miller had 24 digs and sophomore Brooke Stittleburg chipped in 21.
The tough defenses led to a plethora of hitting errors on both sides of the net. Western finished the night with 40 hitting errors while IUPUI had 33.
“When you are a hitter and you are using your best swings and smart shots and they don't fall, you start to go for something else, and sometimes you try too much,” McKay said.
Despite the errors, Western finished the night with a 61-58 advantage in kills led by four players in double-figures. Sohpomore middle hitter Cait Egan led the Leathernecks with 18 kills while Krissy Bergquist had 15 kills and Katie Hosteng and Stittleburg both chipped in 10. Miller dished up 52 assists for her third match of the season with 50 assists or more.
McKay said, although the Leathernecks weren't able to end the season with a win, the loss to IUPUI wasn't a negative way to close out the year.
“When you are going five sets, you are playing hard. For us to go five, we put our best options out there to get a victory,” McKay said. “I think we need to take this match and this season and look for what we've learned — the goods and the bads and everything in between.”
