INDIANAPOLIS — Senior Tahnee Reed and sophomore Natalie Walseth each set career highs in kills, but the South Dakota volleyball team’s rally fell short against Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis Saturday as the Coyotes fell, 26-24, 25-20, 20-25, 19-25, 15-11 in Summit League action in Indianapolis, Ind. The Coyotes, who were playing their sixth straight five-set match, fall to 13-14 overall and 6-8 in the Summit League with the loss, while IUPUI improved to 13-14 overall and 7-8 in league play.
The loss was tough for the Coyotes, who were down 2-0 in the match but won the third and fourth sets to force a deciding fifth set.
“When you are consistently going to five-set matches, anything can happen,” South Dakota head coach Matt Houk said. “We aren’t controlling our destiny good enough by putting people away when we have the chance. We need to figure out how to put people away.”
Reed and Walseth combined for 38 kills on the night. Reed set a career-high with 21 kills and hit .356 in the match, and also had seven total blocks (one solo, six assists), while Walseth had a career-high 17 kills, hitting .368 for the match. She also had six block assists.
“Our middles were awesome tonight,” Houk said. “Every time they got the ball, they did something positive with it.”
Sophomore setter Tori Kroll tied a career-high with 59 set assists. Freshman Kendall Kritenbrink) added 15 kills, while sophomore Amber Aschoff added 12. Senior Carol Logato added 33 digs, while junior Bailey Lupardus and freshman Riley Haug each had three service aces.
The Coyotes had won the fourth set, 25-19 and had the momentum going into the fifth and final set. However, IUPUI took an early 4-2 lead before the Coyotes came back to tie the set at 5-5 after a kill by Aschoff. The Jaguars, however, responded with three straight points to take an 8-5 lead, one they never relinquished. The Coyotes were as close as 11-10 after a Kritenbrink kill but got no closer. They were within 13-11 but the Jaguars scored the final two points to wrap up a 15-11 win.
The Coyotes got off to a promising start in the first set, and looked well on their way to a win. They built a 21-13 lead and were in control. However, IUPUI chipped away at the Coyote lead, and closed the gap to 23-18. A Kritenbrink kill but the Coyotes up 24-18, giving them set point — but they wouldn’t score again as IUPUI scored the final seven points of the set to earn a 26-24 win.
“The first set was a big deciding factor in the outcome,” Houk said. “We had them down — we didn’t finish. We stopped doing all the little things we had done to build the lead; we gave them their points down the stretch.”
In the second set, the Coyotes took a 12-10 lead after a service aces by Kroll, but IUPUI scored the next four points to build a 14-12 advantage. The Coyotes were within 17-16 after Aschoff put down a kill but IUPUI pulled away from there in recording a 25-20 win.
In the third set, the Coyotes recaptured some of the momentum they had early in the first set. After trailing 4-3 early, they went on a 7-2 spurt — sparked by kills from Kritenbrink, junior Lindsay Sathre and Walseth — to build a 10-6 advantage.
IUPUI cut the lead to 20-19, but a kill from Walseth, followed by a block from Walseth and Kritenbrink and another Kritenbrink kill — pushed the Coyote lead to 23-19. South Dakota finished off the 25-20 win with back-to-back kills from Walseth.
South Dakota faced a 6-3 deficit in the fourth set but scored seven straight points to take a 10-6 lead. Haug served six straight points, while Reed and Kritenbrink had two kills each. IUPUI was as close as 14-13 but the Coyotes scored seven of the next eight points to build a 21-14 lead, one their way to a 25-19 win — setting up the fifth set.
Kroll added 15 digs for the Coyotes, while Haug had 14 and Kritenbrink 12. Kroll also had five block assists. South Dakota outhit IUPUI, .191-.185.
“We did some really good things,” Houk said. “We outhit them, our block number was really good again. And I thought we won the serve-pass game again.”
South Dakota begins its final homestand of 2011 Tuesday against nonconference foe North Dakota. The match begins at 7 p.m. at the DakotaDome in Vermillion.
“That’s our big word — we’ve got to become consistent,” Houk said. “We’re leaving the outcomes of games up to fate. We’ve got to consistently control what we can control. We’ve got to be better at that.”
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment