Mastodons Fall to Conference Co-Leader in Five

Thursday, September 29

Tulsa, Okla.

8:00 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

9-6 (3-2Summit)

Oral Roberts

12-4 (5-1Summit)

IPFW

Oral Roberts

Emily Spencer had a career-high 21 kills to go with a match-high 16 kills against Oral Roberts

Photo by: Lucas Carter

Mastodons Fall to Conference Co-Leader in Five

9/29/2011 8:56:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BOX SCORE

Tulsa, OK - Facing its third conference leader or co-leader in as many matches, the IPFW Mastodons fell for the first time in those matches, falling in five to the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts on Thursday evening 3-2 (18-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-8).

Freshman Emily Spencer finished with a match-high 16 kills, and a career-high 21 digs, while Alli Hook and Jessie Manwaring each had 11 kills in the loss. Tessa McGill had 23 digs, leading four players in double-figures in the category. Megan Wiler had eight total blocks, a new career-high, as Spencer, Manwaring and Megan Steenhuysen each had three blocks. Steenhuysen finished with a match-high 52 assists.

In the opening set, the Mastodons (9-6, 3-2 Summit League) led for all but the first two points of the match, jumping ahead by as many as eight at 14-6, and was never threatened in the opening frame, taking the first set 25-18.

The second set saw the Golden Eagles (12-4, 5-1 Summit) jump ahead early, and lead for the majority of the contest, including by three at 18-15 before the Mastodon offense and defense came alive, outscoring Oral Roberts 10-2 the rest of the way for the 25-20 second-set win.

In the third set Oral Roberts jumped out to an early lead, leading by seven at 11-4, and the Mastodons could not recover from the early deficit, despite a furious late rally that saw the 'Dons cut a 10-point deficit to six in the 25-19 ORU win.

The fourth set saw a series of runs by each team, opening with a 4-0 Oral Roberts streak to open the set. After a pair of sideouts, IPFW ran of its own four-point run, tying the set at five points apiece.

The teams proceeded to go back-and-forth, before IPFW ran off four straight points to lead 14-10. Again using a run, the Golden Eagles ran off five straight points to tie the set at 16 apiece, before scoring five of the last six points to send the match into a fifth set with a 25-21 fourth-set win.

Oral Roberts ran off three consecutive 2-0 runs to lead 6-2, and after an IPFW sideout scored three in a row to lead by six at 9-3. The Mastodons fought back with a 4-0 run, cutting the deficit to just two at 9-7; however, the Golden Eagles scored six of the match's final seven points to claim the 15-8 fifth-set, match-deciding victory.

Olivia Ophus had a team-best 13 kills for the Golden Eagles, as Elizabeth McVicker had 10 kills and a match-high 11 blocks.

The Mastodons return to action on Saturday evening at 9:00 PM EST when the squad takes on the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah University in Cedar City Utah.

~Dons~