MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois volleyball team rebounded from a first set defeat to go up 2-1 but could not put away IPFW in a 3-2 loss (19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 12-15) Monday night (Oct. 10) inside Western Hall.

Up 2-1 in the match, Western Illinois (9-10, 2-7 Summit League) led 21-20 in the fourth set following a kill from Ann Miller. IPFW (14-6, 7-2 Summit League) would go on to capture the next four points on its way to the set victory.

The Fighting Leathernecks held an 11-10 lead in the decisive fifth set following a combination block by Cait Egan and Sarah Fetter. The Mastodons again recorded four straight points and secured the match win with a kill from Megan Wiler.

"Overall we had a great performance tonight," said Western Illinois head coach Kym McKay. "We played very aggressively and had a lot of energy. Each set came down to smaller details. IPFW is a great program and is atop the Summit League for a reason."

Brooke Stittleburg led the Western Illinois offensive attack with a season-high 17 kills on 46 attempts (.261 attack percentage). Stittleburg had five kills on 13 attempts in the second set victory. Her 17 kills ties Katie Hosteng (Oct. 2 at South Dakota) for the most kills in a match this season.  

Fetter notched her fourth consecutive double-double with 49 assists and a season-high 21 digs. Fetter, who also collected two total blocks, owns six double-doubles overall this season.

Hosteng put down 13 kills on 34 attempts for her fourth double-digit effort of Summit League play. She leads all Leathernecks with 95 kills (2.88 kills per set) during conference action.

Egan had 11 kills to raise her career total to 978 kills. She is 22 kills away from becoming the ninth player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. Egan also collected three total blocks to move into a tie with Laura Olson (1988-92) for fourth place all-time in program history with 327 career total blocks.

Bridget Murphy compiled a team-high 22 digs for her eighth straight 20-plus dig performance. Murphy, who owns 11 20-plus dig efforts this season, is three digs away (1,064 career digs) from moving into ninth place in program history.

Molly Murphy had 15 digs and two service aces to raise her conference-leading total to 32 aces. Miller recorded nine kills and 13 digs while Mallory Gibson picked up three solo blocks.

Western Illinois continues the season-high five-match homestand this weekend when South Dakota State (Oct. 14) and North Dakota State (Oct. 15) visit Brophy Hall. First serve is set for 7 p.m. for both matches.