MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois volleyball team
led for the majority of the first and second sets but was held to 35 kills in a
3-0 loss (22-25, 23-25, 20-25) to IUPUI Saturday night (Oct. 8) inside Brophy
Hall. The loss drops the Fighting Leathernecks' record to 9-9 overall and 2-6 in
Summit League play.
IUPUI (9-10, 4-4 Summit League) used late runs in all three sets on its way to the sweep. Western Illinois ran out to a 10-3 lead in the first set and was up 22-17 before IUPUI went on an 8-0 run to win the opening frame.
The Fighting Leathernecks then led 16-14 in the second set and later knotted the score at 22-22 with a 4-0 run. The Jaguars captured three out of the final four points and led 2-0 going into the intermission. The third set featured three lead changes but the Jaguars put down six more kills than the Leathernecks in the final frame on their way to securing the road victory.
"IUPUI was very consistent at the end of all three sets tonight," Western Illinois head coach Kym McKay
said. "They are a veteran team that does not make a lot of mistakes. We
are a younger team and we are going to be more up and down. We are
going to learn through time how to balance that out. We need to be
patient with it and work hard to fix that."
Junior Bridget Murphy compiled 23 digs for her
seventh straight 20-plus dig performance and tenth overall this season. Murphy,
who is averaging 5.90 digs per set this season, collected nine digs in the first set.
Senior Cait Egan shared the team lead with eight
kills on 21 attempts (.333 attack percentage). Egan, who put down four kills on eight attempts in the third set, now
owns 967 career kills and needs 33 more kills to become the ninth player in
program history with 1,000 career kills.
Junior Katie Hosteng had eight kills and also collected
two solo blocks. Sophomore Sarah Fetter collected her third consecutive
double-double with 28 assists and 10 digs. She ranks second on the squad with
five double-doubles this season.
Freshman Samantha Fournier had five kills in the first
set on just 12 attempts and finished with seven. Fellow freshman Mallory Gibson
collected two blocks to raise her season total to 36 total blocks. She has
started the last seven matches and is averaging a team-high 1.12 blocks per set
this season.
Western Illinois returns to action Monday (Oct. 10) with a 7
p.m. contest against IPFW inside Western Hall. The Fighting Leathernecks look to
make it two straight home wins over the Mastodons after last season's 3-1
victory on Sept. 17, 2010 inside Brophy Hall.
