Purdue Fort Wayne
Missouri State
Mastodons Win Another Five-Set Thriller
10/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 25, 2009
Fort Wayne, IN – Eighteen hours after a thrilling five-set victory over conference foe Oral Roberts, the IPFW Mastodons again added a notch to their big-win belt, winning in five sets over Missouri State University 25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 18-25, 16-14, a team that was receiving votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll.
The five-set win is the sixth of the season for IPFW, as the Blue and White are 6-2 this year when matches go the full distance; having previously beaten Western Michigan, Wright State, Oakland, IUPUI, and Oral Roberts in five.
The win is the third straight for the Mastodons (15-9), who avenged a loss to the Bears early last season in Springfield, Missouri. Rebekah Roehm led IPFW with 20 kills, as Maya Schlindwein had 17 and Stephanie Lamberti 11, including the last two of the match for the victors.
Freshman Megan Steenhuysen dished out a career-best 50 assists, as Jamie Schwartz led the team with 21 digs. Schlindwein added 18, Roehm 16, and Steenhuysen 14, as the trio each capped a double-double effort with their dig totals, with Tessa McGill also reaching double figures in the category with 13. Ali Hook led the ‘Dons with four blocks, as Schlindwein and Roehm each added three. Roehm's double-double was the 33rd of her career, as Schlindwein's was her sixth, and second in as many matches, and Steenhuysen's third.
IPFW jumped out quickly in the match, leading 8-3 before Missouri State (15-7) used their first timeout. The break proved fruitful for the visitors, as the Bears proceeded to run off four straight points, closing the gap to one at 8-7, forcing IPFW head coach Kelley Hartley Hutton to use her first timeout.
The Mastodons quickly answered, as the teams proceeded to go back-and-forth with sideout volleyball, before the ‘Dons used a quick run to lead 16-12. IPFW led by four at 19-15, before five straight points, on kills by Roehm and Schlindwein, two attack errors and a Steenhuysen ace, gave the hosts a 24-16 lead, and the set ended with Roehm’s fourth kill of the set.
The hosts used a 6-0 run early in the second set to turn a 6-5 deficit into an 11-6 lead, but the strong Missouri State team proceeded to score six of the next seven points to tie the set at 12 apiece. With the Bears trailing 18-17 late in the set, the visitors from Springfield, Missouri out-scored IPFW 7-2 over the remainder of the frame to even the match at one set apiece with the 25-20 victory.
IPFW made quick work of Missouri State in the third set, hitting a blistering .545 (18 kills, 0 errors, 33 attempts), jumping ahead 4-1 early, and never trailing, cruising to the easy 25-16 third-set win.
As was the story for every set in the match, the Mastodons led early in the fourth set, and led 5-4 early, before an 11-4 run gave the visitors a commanding 15-9 lead, as the teams traded sideouts for the remainder of the set, with Missouri State forcing the match into a fifth set with a 25-18 victory.
In the fifth and deciding set, IPFW jumped ahead 4-2 after the second of two straight Schlindwein kills, as the two-point lead would tie the largest margin by either squad in the frame. There were 11 ties and four lead changes in the deciding set, as IPFW turned a 12-12 tie into a 14-12 lead, and served for set point.
Missouri State would not go down easily, as the visitors ran off back-to-back points, the first on a Sara Staubach kill, and the second on a Shayla Patrick and Staubach combo block, knotting the match again at 14, setting the stage for Lamberti’s back-to-back kills to send the Mastodons to 6-2 on the season in five-set matches.
Missouri State was led by Calli Norman who had a match-high 23 kills, with Patrick also reaching double figures with 10. Cara Hackmann totaled a match-high 24 digs, with Melissa Gmur digging up 21 to add to her match-high 54 assists. Patrick had six kills to lead the team in the loss.
The Mastodons return to action for a one-match weekend against Oakland University on October 30, with first-serve in the crucial Summit League match-up slated for 7:00 PM. Currently Oakland is in second place in the league standings, one spot ahead of the Mastodons, who are one game ahead of current fourth-place squad IUPUI.
~Dons~
