Mastodons Advance to Summit League Title Game with Sweep of Jackrabbits

Friday, November 19

Fargo, N.D.

6:00 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

21-10

South Dakota State

16-14

South Dakota State

IPFW

Maya Schlindwein picked up a match-high 16 kills for IPFW against South Dakota State

Mastodons Advance to Summit League Title Game with Sweep of Jackrabbits

11/19/2010 9:12:33 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BOX SCORE

Fargo, ND - IPFW swept the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State 25-22, 25-22, and 25-22, in the opening round of the 2010 Summit League Tournament, advancing to the championship match for the third time in the program's four years in the league.

Maya Schlindwein, who a night earlier was named to the All-Summit League First Team, dominated in the match for IPFW (21-10) with a contest-high 16 kills, hitting for a percentage of .359 (16 kills, 2 errors, 39 attempts), while adding three digs and three blocks. Taryn Parker had nine kills for the 'Dons, as Stephanie Lamberti and Alli Hook each had eight.

2010 Summit League Setter of the Year Megan Steenhuysen dished out 33 assists while adding 10 digs for her 16th double-double of the year, tied for the eighth most in program history. Tessa McGill and Parker each had a pair of service aces to lead the team, while Jen Milligan had a match-high 15 digs, with McGill chipping in a dozen. Parker had five blocks for the 'Dons, as Schlindwein, Hook, and Lamberti each had a trio of blocks.

Behind the kill totals, Schlindwein has now accumulated 94 career kills in Summit League Tournament play, the third highest total in Summit League history, behind just the 185 by Ori Zuzic from Oral Roberts and 129 from Patricia Menezes, also from ORU. Schlindwein's 258 total attempts moves her into second place in the Summit League Tourament all-time list.

The win is the 250th at IPFW for head coach Kelley Hartley Hutton, as she now stands 20 ahead of the former career record in the category.

South Dakota State (16-14) jumped ahead early, leading by as many as three at 8-5, before the Mastodons rattled off a 7-1 run, highlighted by four kills by Schlindwein, giving the team a 12-9 lead that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the set.

IPFW increased its lead to five at 18-13 before the squad from Brookings, South Dakota mounted a comeback of its own, eventually tying the match at 20 apiece. After an IPFW timeout, the 'Dons regrouped and scored five of the final seven points of the set to take the opener 25-22.

The second set was a back-and-forth effort that saw 17 ties and five lead changes. The teams were once again tied at 20 in the second set, and again at 22 before a kill from Parker, a Parker service ace, and a combo block from Lamberti and Hook sent the Mastodons into the intermission with a 2-0 lead after topping the 'Jacks 25-22.

The Mastodons jumped out big in the third set, leading by as many as seven at 18-11, before fending off a furious SDSU rally, in which the Jackrabbits scored 11 of the next 17 points to climb to within two at 24-22. The comeback would be for naught, however, as McGill ended the match with a kill from a Steenhuysen assist, giving the set its 25-22 final score.

The identical sweep of SDSU is the first for IPFW since they swept Indianapolis 15-5, 15-5, 15-5 on October 11, 1997.

Ellyce Youngren led South Dakota State with 12 kills, as 2010 Summit League Player of the Year Kelli Fiegen was led to just four kills and a negative attack percentage (4 kills, 6 errors, 19 attempts), and three total blocks.

IPFW improves to 11-3 all-time against South Dakota State, and has won the last seven matches, with the Mastodons' last loss to the Jackrabbits coming in the championship match of the 2007 Summit League tournament.

The IPFW win sets up a rematch of last season's championship match, as North Dakota State topped Southern Utah in the opening round's final game. The series between the two teams is tied at ten wins apiece, as NDSU is 0-2 all-time against IPFW in the league tournament. The Mastodons have won the last four post-season meetings between the two teams, with the last Bison postseason win over IPFW coming on December 5, 1987 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

First serve for the championship match is slated for 8:00 PM EST at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse on the campus of North Dakota State.

~Dons~