FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team defeated Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) rival Madonna University, 3-1, (25-17, 25-16, 15-25, 29-27) Saturday afternoon on Senior Day inside the Schaefer Center.
Olivia Niekamp had a match-high 13 kills while hitting .360 and adding three blocks.
Allison Cole added 11 kills on .308 hitting while
Madelyn Omo hit .769 with 10 kills.
Havilyn Cummings had nine blocks with six kills while
Genna Karbowski and
Madison Park dished out 25 and 20 assists, respectively.
Madeline MacDonald had 25 digs to round out Tech's leaders.
Tech got out to a blistering start in the match by hitting .351 in the opening set and raced out to a 10-6 lead. The Warriors kept the Crusaders off-balanced and used their solid play to extend their advantage to 21-13. The visitors kept things interesting but not close enough as the hosts took the first set 25-17.
The Orange and Black used a 7-0 run to start off the second set and control the momentum from the beginning. Madonna cut the lead down to 11-7, but an 8-0 spurt from the Warriors, which included three straight kills from Niekamp, powered them ahead to a 19-7 lead. Madonna battled back to make the score respectable with an 8-3 run, but Tech closed out the set on the right end of a 25-16 score to go up 2-0 in the match.
The Crusaders showed their championship pedigree in the third set by hitting .333 and limiting the Warriors to just a .024 hitting clip. A 4-0 spurt from Madonna put them ahead 11-6 before an 8-1 run gave them a 23-14 lead. Madonna took advantage of several Tech errors to send the match to a fourth set with the 25-15 win.
Any rivalry game wouldn't be complete without some extra time involved, as the fourth set was filled with six extra points than a regulation set. Madonna held a slim 14-13 lead midway through, but the Warriors zoomed ahead thanks to a 4-0 spurt to take a 17-14 lead. Tech held a 22-19 advantage, but the Crusaders battled back with three quick points to tie it up at 22-all. After trading the next eight points, Madonna took a 27-26 lead for their first shot at set point to send the match into a fifth set, but the Orange and Black took the next three points to come away with the 29-27 set win to get the 3-1 victory.
Tech (23-7, 11-5 WHAC) returns to action on Wednesday, October 30 as they travel to Siena Heights for a conference matchup. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Siena Heights Fieldhouse.
