NEW ORLEANS – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team kicked off action at the Big Easy Blastoff with a 1-1 record, defeating Florida Memorial University, 3-1, before falling to host Xavier University of Louisiana, 3-1, inside the Convocation Center.
The Warriors kicked off the first set with a 25-18 win over Florida Memorial and raced out to a 6-2 lead. The Lions roared back with five straight points to tie it up at 7-7 and eventually took an 11-8 lead. A kill from
Havilyn Cummings sparked an 8-2 run for Tech while they ended the set on a 4-0 run to take the 1-0 lead.
FMU got out to a 5-2 lead in the second, but a 4-0 run from Tech sparked what would become a 12-7 lead. The Lions came right back with a 4-0 run to come within a point and took a 15-13 lead behind a back-to-back blocks. The two teams battled back and forth before Florida Memorial tied the match up at 1-1 with the 25-23 win.
The Warriors came out swinging in the third set as they hit .320 as a team with 11 kills and just three errors in 25 attempts. Trailing 19-17 though, a kill from
Erika Foy sparked an 8-1 run for Tech as Foy clinched the set with a kill while Cummings had a pair of blocks in the run as the Warriors won 25-20.
The Orange and Black raced out to a 5-1 lead to start the fourth with three straight kills from
Calista Helinski while she added a block for her fourth consecutive point. The Warriors lead grew to 8-4, but four straight points from FMU tied the set back up. The Lions held a 22-20 lead and appeared poised to send the game into a fifth set, but Tech battled back to take a 23-22 advantage and rallied back from set point thanks to back-to-back kills from
Olivia Niekamp to clinch the match with a 26-24 set win.
Niekamp led the way with 11 kills, six blocks and a .320 hitting percentage while
Jordan Aylward added nine kills and four blocks.
Madison Park dished out 23 assists and
Madeline MacDonald had 29 digs.
The Warriors continue their strong play against a tough Xavier squad as they used a 7-1 run to begin the first set. The Gold Nuggets would come back to tie the set up at 8-8 and eventually took a 12-11 lead, but Tech responded with a 6-0 lead to take a 17-12 advantage. Xavier responded with a 9-3 run to take a 1-0 lead with the 25-22 set win though.
The second set would play along the same verse as the first, with back-and-forth action in a tight contest. Tech started off the set with an 8-4 run only to see the lead evaporate into a 9-8 deficit. The Gold Nuggets would go on to take a 17-13 lead, but the Warriors battled back to go ahead 19-18. The hosts would come back to take the set, 25-23, and go up 2-0 in the match.
The Orange and Black found themselves trailing 13-6 in the third set before using a 5-0 run to tie the set up at 16-all. Xavier would go on a 4-0 spurt to hold on to the lead, but a 9-3 run from Tech would give them the 25-23 win and cut the match deficit to 2-1.
Xavier went on to take another big lead in the fourth as they held a 14-8 advantage following a 5-2 run, but a 6-2 run from Tech brought the deficit to within a point at 17-16. The Gold Nuggets went up 21-17 though and closed out the match with a 4-1 run to cap the set at 25-20 and hand the Warriors their first loss of the year.
Niekamp added 11 kills, seven digs and two blocks to her totals while Helinski had 10 kills and three blocks. Park tacked on 20 assists and 11 digs while MacDonald added 22 digs of her own.
Tech (5-1) concludes play at the Big Easy Blastoff on Saturday against the University of Mobile and Point University at 11 a.m. ET and 5 p.m. ET, respectively, from the Convocation Center.
