North Dakota State 3, UMKC 0 (25-17, 25-9, 25-17)
FARGO, N.D.--North Dakota State clinched the Summit League women's volleyball regular-season championship with a 25-17, 25-9, 25-17 sweep of UMKC on Friday, Oct. 30, before a crowd of 1,108 at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.
It was the 17th straight home win and 33rd straight Summit League win for North Dakota State, which improved to 18-3 overall and 14-0 in the league.
NDSU clinched because second-place Oakland lost in three sets at IPFW earlier Friday. The Golden Grizzlies fell to five matches back with four left to play.
Middle hitter Chrissy Knuth hit .385 with 12 kills and right-side hitter Brynn Joki hit .625 with 10 kills and no errors in 16 attacks to lead the Bison attack. Joki had two of NDSU's six service aces.
North Dakota State outhit UMKC by a .279 to .028 margin and outblocked the Kangaroos 11-4. NDSU middle hitter Janna Deyle had a match-high six blocks and Knuth added four.
Six different NDSU players had at least six digs. Setter Jennifer Lopez led the Bison with seven digs while dishing out 27 assists.
Outside hitter Lauren McLaughlin had six of her nine kills in the first set victory, and libero Kelly Lopez served 10 straight points in the second set to open up a 21-7 lead. NDSU hit .412 with only one error in the second set.
For complete results, please visit www.gobison.com and www.umkckangaroos.com
IPFW 3, Oakland 0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-17)
Fort Wayne, IN - The IPFW Mastodons moved into second place in the Summit League standings with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-17) victory over the Grizzlies of Oakland University. IPFW and Oakland now have identical 9-5 league marks; however, with the win tonight the Mastodons sweep the season series against the visitors from Rochester, Michigan, and hold the tiebreaker.
Rebekah Roehm had 16 kills, while Maya Schlindwein added 10 and Stephanie Lamberti and Taryn Parker had eight apiece. Jamie Schwartz had a match-high 18 digs, while Roehm had 14 for the double-double, the 34th of her career. Tessa McGill also added 11 digs, while Megan Steenhuysen dished out 41 of the team's 46 assists in the sweep. Parker and Steenhuysen led the 'Dons with three blocks apiece.
The two teams went to battle early in the first set, as the teams found themselves tied at eight, before the Mastodons used three separate 3-0 runs to gradually pull ahead, never trailing in the 25-18 opening-set win.
IPFW jumped ahead quickly, leading 6-2 forcing the Grizzlies into their first timeout of the set. The visitors fought back, eventually tying the match, and taking their first and only leads of the entire match at 12-11 and 13-12. Trailing by one, IPFW scored three straight to open a 10-2 run, as the Mastodons pulled away for the 25-19 second-set win.
The Mastodons wasted no time in jumping ahead 8-2 to open the third and eventual final set, and never looked back. Oakland, trailing by eight at 21-13 ran of five straight points to close the gap to five at 21-16, but three straight IPFW points put them ahead 24-16, and a Roehm kill closed the door on the Grizzlies.
Oakland, playing without their season kills leader in Adrienne Leone, was led in kills by Meghan Bray, who had 11, with Jenna Lange and Allison Bell each adding six. Alli Kirk had a team-best 15 digs, with Lange blocking three IPFW attempts at the net.
For complete results, please visit www.gomastodons.com and www.ougrizzlies.com
IUPUI 3, Centenary 0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-23)
SHREVEPORT-The Centenary women's volleyball team fell in three straight sets to Summit League foe, IUPUI on Friday night in league play.
The Ladies (4-19, 0-12 Summit) weren't able to garner their first league victory, dropping set one 25-14, set two 25-17, and set three 25-23.
Centenary trailed most of set one as IUPUI went on an early 6-0 run to go ahead, 12-3. Midway through the set, the Ladies showed some spark, tallying four consecutive points on kills by freshmen Shelby Singleton and Mackenzie Hubbard to make it 17-10.
Though, behind early, Centenary wasn't able to recover, dropping set one.
In set two, the Ladies took the early lead and held on by one at 8-7 until the Jaguars tied the set on a Centenary attack error. It was back and forth until an IUPUI kill made it 11-10, allowing the Jaguars to go up and never look back.
Centenary rallied for a 3-0 run near the end, pulling within three at 20-17, but a 5-0 finish for the Jaguars gave them the second set win.
The third and final set was a battle from the beginning as the lead changed eight times. Down 18-13, the Ladies rallied their way to a tied 18-18 set on kills by sophomore Brianna Kern and freshman Blair Claypoole along with several errors by the Jaguars.
But four IUPUI kills near the end put the Jaguars up 23-19. Despite two kills by Singleton in the final possessions, Centenary wasn't able to push a set four.
The Ladies tallied 33 kills led by Hubbard with nine and Singleton with eight, while IUPUI had 42 kills on the match. Sophomore Jaclyn Lopez and freshman Christina Fellows each had 17 and 15 assists respectively.
Defensively, Centenary garnered 54 digs as junior libero Bethany Kern had a match-high 15, followed by Brianna Kern's 13.
For complete results, please visit www.iupuijags.com and www.gocentenary.com
Oral Roberts 3, Western Illinois 0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-18)
TULSA - Juliane Vieira posted a double-double to lead the Oral Roberts University volleyball team to a 3-0 win (25-14, 25-19, 25-18) over Western Illinois on Friday night at the ORU Aerobics Center. The Golden Eagles evened their conference record to 6-6, while the Leathernecks dropped to 4-10 in league play.
Vieira paced the Golden Eagles with 28 assists, while also leading ORU with 15 digs.
Freshman Olivia Ophus (Tulsa, Okla.) led ORU with eight kills, while Brittney Rush (Riverside, Calif.) chipped in seven kills to go with four total blocks on defense. Serena Cate (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Jocelyn Swier (Ripon, Calif.) also made an impact, recording six and five kills, respectively.
Cassidy Holmes (Tulsa, Okla.) registered 13 digs in the win for a team-leading 306 on the season.
For complete results, please visit www.orugoldeneagles.com and www.goleathernecks.com
South Dakota State 3, Southern Utah 1 (25-17, 25-17, 24-26, 25-21)
South Dakota State ran away with the first two sets on Friday against Southern Utah, but the Thunderbirds fought back to force a fourth set before the Jackrabbits could put the win away with a late surge for the 3-1 win.
The win boosts the Jacks record to 8-15 overall and an even 7-7 in the Summit League. Southern Utah falls to 7-17 overall in its first year of competition and 4-9 in league play.
Fiona Jones led the Jackrabbits with 16 kills, hitting .371 in the process (6-3-35).
Ellyce Youngren finished with 11 kills and hit .304 for the match (11-4-23). Kelly Herrmann hit .385 for the match, with 10 kills on 26 swings with no errors.
Jazmine Ma'afala and Analaine Pelaez both tallied a match-high 21 kills for the Thunderbirds in the loss.
After winning the first two sets by the same 25-17 score, the Jacks led 24-20 with the serve for match point in the third set, but the thunderbirds rattled off the next six points to win the set 26-24 to force a fourth set.
Down by as many as five points at 11-6 in the fourth set, the Jacks fought back to eventually tie the set at 13. The teams went back and forth with the teams exchanging points up to 20.
A Herrmann kills broke the 20-all tie, and the Jacks never looked back, winning the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.
For complete results, please visit www.gojacks.com and www.suutbirds.com
Courtesy: The Summit League
