Mastodons Sweep Regular Season Series with Bison

Saturday, October 16

Fort Wayne, Ind.

7:00 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

14-8, 9-2Summit

North Dakota State

11-9, 8-3Summit

North Dakota State

IPFW

The IPFW Mastodons sweep the North Dakota State Bison for the first time since 2005

Mastodons Sweep Regular Season Series with Bison

10/16/2010 9:11:42 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BOX SCORE

Fort Wayne, IN - The IPFW Mastodons evened the all-time series with the North Dakota State with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-16) victory over the Bison on Saturday night, on Breast Cancer Awareness Night, improving the Mastodons to 14-8 overall, and 9-2 in league play, and remaining in a tie for first place in the League.

The win thins out the top of The Summit League, as three teams came into the day tied for the top spot. Southern Utah, the third team, won tonight in three sets over Western Illinois, and now are tied with just IPFW at the top of the League.

IPFW hit a blistering .314 for the match (42 kills, 10 errors, 102 attempts), the third best hitting percentage for the team this season, while also out-blocking the Bison 5-3.

The Bison and Mastodons are now 10-10 all-time in the series, and IPFW has won the last three meetings between the two teams, including a win in the Summit League Championship game in Fargo a season ago.

Maya Schlindwein reached double-figure kills for her 13th consecutive match, the eighth longest such streak in IPFW volleyball history. Tessa McGill reached double-figure kills for the second straight contest, hitting .381 for the match. Megan Steenhuysen dished out 34 assists, with Stephanie Lamberti picking up a match-high 16 digs while adding eight kills and two service aces.

McGill had her second consecutive double-double by adding 13 digs, with Schlindwein chipping in 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season, and added two aces. Alli Hook hit a perfect 1.000 (six kills in six attempts), while blocking three kill attempts, tops in the match.

The teams battled back-and-forth to the tune of 11 ties and three lead changes in the match's first set. The Bison led 14-13 when the visitors served out of order, knotting the score at 14, before being caught out of rotation four points later, giving IPFW a 17-15 lead. NDSU head coach Erich Hinterstocker called a timeout to recover, however, the two free points to the Mastodons deflated the Bison, as IPFW scored six of the final 10 points to take the opening set 25-21.

The Mastodons dominated the second set, hitting .343 for the frame (14 kills, two errors, 35 attempts), and trailed only after a set-opening service error. IPFW quickly responded with three straight points to capture a 3-1 lead. The teams went back-and-forth, with NDSU tying the set at eight apiece, before the Mastodon offense erupted with a quick 3-0 run to lead 11-8.

The Bison cut the lead to one at 13-12 before IPFW ended the set on a tear, scoring 12 of the final 13 points of the frame, including the last seven, sending the Mastodons into the intermission ahead 2-0.

North Dakota State again jumped ahead to start the set at 1-0, and led 2-1 before IPFW scored three of the next four points to take a 4-2 lead they would not give up for the remainder of the match. IPFW held an 8-6 lead before rattling off seven consecutive points to turn a close match into a route at 15-6. The Bison would get no closer than seven the rest of the way, as McGill ended the match with a kill off of a Steenhuysen assist, giving IPFW its first sweep of the Bison since 2005.

The Bison were led by two-time Summit League Player of the Year Chrissy Knuth who had 15 kills, with reigning League Offensive Player of the Week Megan Lambertson adding eight. Jordan Kissman had 28 assists, with Brynn Joki serving up a pair of aces.

The Mastodons also improve to 7-0 in the month of October this year, the best stretch in the month since the 2000 squad went 10-0 in the calendar month.

The Mastodons close their season-long five-match home stretch when the squad hosts Wright State University (8-14) in the final non-conference match of the season for the Mastodons. First serve is slated for 7:00 PM at the Hilliard Gates Sports Center.

~Dons~