Mastodons Clinch Tournament Berth with Sweep of Leathernecks

Friday, November 5

Fort Wayne, Ind.

7:00 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

18-9, 12-3Summit

Western Illinois

8-18, 3-13Summit

Western Illinois

IPFW

Maya Schlindwein had a match-high 11 kills as IPFW swept Western Illinois at the Gates Center

Mastodons Clinch Tournament Berth with Sweep of Leathernecks

11/5/2010 8:36:36 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BOX SCORE

Fort Wayne, IN - IPFW clinched its fourth consecutive berth into the Summit League tournament on Friday night with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-9) victory over the Leathernecks of Western Illinois University.

The Mastodons, now 18-9 on the season and 12-3 in Summit League play, avenged an earlier loss to the Leathernecks in Macomb, Illinois by hitting a blistering .425 (41 kills, 7 errors, 80 attempts), the first time IPFW has hit over .420 since October 18, 2003 against Oakland. It stands as the 16th best three-match hitting percentage in school history.

The win also moves IPFW back into a two-way tie for the top spot in the league standings with North Dakota State, a team that the 'Dons swept in two matches this season.

Senior Maya Schlindwein continued her stretch of double-figure kill matches, as her match-high 11 kills ran her streak to 18 consecutive matches, tying with Laura Douglas for the fourth longest such streak in program history.

Alli Hook knocked down seven kills on just nine attempts for an attack percentage of .778, while Stephanie Lamberti also had seven kills in the win. All totaled, seven players for IPFW had at least three kills in the lopsided win.

Megan Steenhuysen dished out 36 assists, while Tessa McGill had a match-high 12 digs, with Jen Milligan and Lamberti close behind with nine, and eight, respectively. Hook and Jade Cunningham, who saw her first action of the 2010 season, each had three blocks, with Cunningham adding four kills on eight swings.

IPFW jumped ahead 3-0 in the opening set, and never trailed again in the set. The Leathernecks fought back to tie the set at three, but a series of small runs pushed IPFW ahead again, as the hosts cruised to the 25-19 opening-set win.

Western Illinois jumped out quickly in the second set, leading 2-0, their first and last lead of the match, as IPFW scored 13 of the next 15 points, including a 7-0 run, to take a 13-4 lead. The lead grew to as many as 11, and won the set by 10 at 25-15.

The Mastodons scored the first five points of the second set, and ran off streaks of 5-0, 3-0, 5-0, and 4-0 to run away with the third set 25-9, the first time this season the Mastodons have held an opponent to single digits for a set, and the first time in any set other than the fifth since November 1 2008 when IPFW held Centenary to just nine points in the third set of a sweep.

The Mastodons led the match in kills (41-24), service aces (5-4), digs (40-30) and blocks (8-2), as there were just two tie scores over the three sets of the match.
Brooke Stittleburg had a team-best nine kills in the loss, with Heather Smith dishing out 15 assists, and Ellen Miller picking up 10 digs.

The 'Dons return to action on Saturday night when the team hosts in-state rival IUPUI on senior night at the Gates Center, as the athletic department will honor the three seniors on this season's squad, Schlindwein, Lamberti, and Taryn Parker. First serve for the match is slated for 7:00 PM.

~Dons~