'Dons Finish Third at Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational

Saturday, August 31

Fort Wayne, Ind.

11 AM

Purdue Fort Wayne

1-1

South Alabama

0-3

South Alabama

Purdue Fort Wayne

Sydney Boerst

Photo by: Josh Gales

'Dons Finish Third at Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational

8/31/2019 9:40:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 South Alabama Box Score Northern Kentucky Box Score

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - On the final day of the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational Presented by Hyatt Place, the Mastodon women's volleyball team took a four-set win over South Alabama, but fell in the nightcap to Northern Kentucky in three sets.

Tournament Winner: Western Michigan (3-0)
Tournament Runner-Up: Northern Kentucky
All-Tournament MVP: Rachel Bontrager
All-Tournament Team:
Rachel Bontrager - Western Michigan
Kathleen Reilly - Western Michigan
Charley Andrews - Western Michigan
Natalie Hardig- Northern Kentucky
Laura Crawford- Northern Kentucky
Sydney Boerst- Purdue Fort Wayne
Kelley Hartman - South Alabama

GAME 1: Purdue Fort Wayne vs. South Alabama
Purdue Fort Wayne's offense rolled in the morning game against South Alabama. The Mastodons hit .336 in its 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-14, 25-17) win over the Jaguars.

The first set was back-and-forth until three straight points behind kills from Katie Crowe, Sydney Boerst and Madelyn Wurster. The 'Dons never trailed in the opening frame thanks to a match-high .433 hitting percentage. South Alabama took the second set after jumping out to a 10-5 lead, and nursing it the rest of the way.

USA only led in the third set at 1-0. The 'Dons rattled off four straight to go up 15-8 and force a timeout. The Jaguars tried to respond, but the Mastodons pushed back with seven straight points to take the 2-1 lead. The 'Dons hit .360 in the third set.

Purdue Fort Wayne led wire-to-wire in the last set of the morning game, and pushed the lead to as many as nine with an 9-2 run to go up 23-14. Crowe had a serve that trickled off the net and off the back of the Jaguar at the net for an ace to cap off this run.

Freshman Sidney Schiller earned her first double-double in her young career with 12 kills and 12 digs. Madison Gates recorded the second of two doubles in a row with 18 assists and 10 digs. Rachael Crucis earned the starting libero spot and dug 12 Jaguar attacks. Crowe and Wurster helped lead the Mastodon offense with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Sydney Boerst and Elizabeth Fuerst both blocked six attacks.

South Alabama finished the tournament 0-3 after the Mastodons' 3-1 win.

GAME 2: Purdue Fort Wayne vs. Northern Kentucky
In the nightcap against Northern Kentucky, the Mastodons could not get much offense outside of Crowe and Wurster. The 'Dons fell to the Norse 25-15, 25-15, 25-18 Crowe had 12 kills and Wurster had 10.

In the opening set, NKU took a 5-1 run to go up 11-7 and expanded the lead late with four straight at 24-14. The Norse used eight straight points early in set two to go up 10-3. Back-and-forth play resulted in a 20-15 score before NKU ran through the last five points of the set. The Mastodons led 3-0 in the third set, but succumbed to a 15-3 run that put the set out of reach. Crowe had four kills in a 7-2 run that brought the 'Dons within five, but All-Tournament selection Natalie Hardig for NKU had the kill that ended the match.

Madison Gates picked up her third consecutive double-double with 13 assists and 10 digs. Rachael Crucis dug 18 attacks at the libero spot.

Purdue Fort Wayne finished the weekend 1-2, finishing third. NKU took second after going 2-1. Western Michigan won the Invitational with three wins.

The Mastodons take the court again on Septebmer 6 in California at the San Francisco Tournament. They open with Nevada at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.

~ Feel the Rumble ~