Purdue Fort Wayne
UMKC
`Dons Topple UMKC 3-1
10/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 11, 2008
Kansas City, MO – IPFW evened their record at 9-9 on the season while sweeping the season series from the Kangaroos of UMKC after a 3-1 (17-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23) victory. The ‘Dons also improve to 5-2, taking a firm grip of third place in the Summit League, while UMKC falls to 3-5 within league play.
Rebekah Roehm tallied a career-high 25 kills in the winning effort, in addition to 10 digs for her second straight kill/dig double-double, and her eighth of the season. Fort Wayne natives Jessica Miller and Ashley Dillon had 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Junior setter Shannon Reuter, making her first start since September 22, 2007, filled in admirably for usual starter Jessica Dominiak with 43 assists and 13 digs, both marking season highs. Jamie Schwartz dug up a team-best 17 kill attempts, with Dillon and Taryn Parker each totaling a trio of blocks.
IPFW started the match slowly, as the Kangaroos led wire-to-wire in the opening frame, jumping out to a 3-0 lead, and using another run of 6-0 to help the hosts led by as many as 11, with the latest such advantage coming at 21-10. The ‘Dons fought back, scoring seven of the final 11 points, but it was too little too late, as the ‘Roos cruised to the 25-17 first-set win.
For as much as the first set was lopsided, the second was a nip-and-tuck battle, as the largest lead by either team throughout the frame was three. The two teams traded points and sideouts throughout, as neither team allowed their counterpart any chance at a significant run. Each team had a solitary 3-0 run in the second set, and although there were 14 ties throughout, there was only a pair of lead changes, the first coming when UMKC took a 2-1 lead early in the stanza, the second and final time coming when IPFW claimed a 12-11 advantage following a combo block by Parker and Dillon. The ‘Dons closed the door on the set when Miller pounded home a kill off of an assist by Parker.
IPFW made quick work of the ‘Roos to start the third set, jumping ahead 6-1 and 9-3, before the hosts rattled off a run of their own, eventually tying the set at 11 points apiece. The set remained close, as the ‘Dons led by a solitary point at 18-17 before IPFW scored five straight points to put in some breathing room in the frame, cruising to the 25-19 victory.
The fourth and eventual final set of the match was a mirror image of the second, as there were 13 ties, and unlike the second set that saw a pair of lead changes, the fourth frame saw the lead changed hands five times throughout. IPFW took advantage of a pair of 3-0 runs, with UMKC using one, as the teams found themselves tied at 20 before the ‘Dons used their third and final 3-0 run of the set to jump ahead 23-20, forcing UMKC to used their first timeout of the frame. Following the timeout the teams traded points, putting the score at 24-21, forcing the ‘Roos to use their final timeout of the stanza, of which the hosts regrouped and scored two straight points to cut the deficit to 24-23. The one-point deficit would be short lived; however, as Dillon ended the match with a kill from a Reuter assist.
Jamie Hagerman led the Kangaroos with 14 kills on 33 attempts, with Christiana McQuin chipping in 13. Alexandra Miller finished with a match-high 19 digs, with teammates Erin Wellwood and Danni Sperry each joining Miller with double figures in the statistic with 11. Sperry and Wellwood, co-setters in the “6-2” offense, had 23 and 22 assists, respectively, as Brittany Fossier finished with a match-high four blocks.
The ‘Dons host Xavier University on Tuesday, October 14 starting at 7:00 PM before the team goes on a four-game, seven-day road swing, starting with a weekend series at Western Illinois on Friday the 17th and at IUPUI on Saturday, the 18th. A trip to Muncie to face off against the Cardinals of Ball State University follows on October 21, before the team travels north to Oakland University to cap the swing on the 24th.
~Dons~
