SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team defeated reigning WHAC Champions Lawrence Tech 3-1 earlier today to advance their conference record to 2-0.
The Blue Devils scored the first point of the match which only motivated the Warriors to go on a 6-0 run. Lawrence Tech answered with four points before the two teams started trading points. The Blue Devils were the next to go on a run with five straight to take an 11-9 lead. The Orange and Black answered with five points themselves to take a 14-11 lead. The back-and-forth action began again with Tech keeping a two-point lead until the Blue Devils scored three in a row for a one-point lead (16-15). The Warriors then tied the match up three separate time before scoring two to take a 19-18 lead and force the Blue Devils into a timeout. Two more points for the Orange and Black before Lawrence Tech responded. The Warriors took a 22-19 and a 23-20 lead before the Blue Devils took momentum and scored two in a row to get within one (23-220) forcing Tech to take a timeout.
Andrea Schriver assisted the final two points for the Warriors with
Calista Helinski and
Emma Westra claiming the final two kills of set one to win 25-23.
The second set started similarly to the first with Lawrence Tech scoring the first and then the Warriors scoring four-straight to take a 4-1 lead early. The back-and-forth action began before Tech took control and scored three to take a 10-5 lead. After only allowing the Blue Devils one point, the Warriors scored two more and forced Lawrence Tech to take a timeout down six. The Orange and Black scored two more after the timeout to extend their lead to eight (14-6) before the Blue Devils scored three to get within five (14-9). Neither team could score more than two in a row before Tech scored three to take a nine-point lead (21-12). Lawrence Tech attempted a comeback at the end, scoring three to make the score 24-18, but the Warriors made the defensive stop and won 25-18 with a kill by
Helinski.
The Warriors scored the first two points of the third set while Lawrence Tech answered to take a 3-2 lead. The set was then tied up twice before the Blue Devils went on a 3-0 run followed by another 3-0 run forcing the Warriors to take a timeout down 10-5. Tech came out of the timeout to score three points to lessen the Blue Devils lead to two (10-8) and then went on another 3-0 run to tie the set at 11 apiece. Lawrence Tech quickly responded with two points and then three more and took a 16-13 lead. The two teams traded points until
Helinski and then
Westra combined for four kills in a row to give the Warriors a 20-19 advantage and forced Lawrence Tech to take a timeout. The Blue Devils came out of the timeout and tied the set at 20 before Tech took a quick 21-20 lead followed by a strong comeback effort from Lawrence Tech. They scored four points in a row to lead 24-21 and ultimately won the set 25-22 sending the match into a fourth.
The fourth set started off with six ties before the Warriors secured a lead with a 3-0 run to lead 11-8. Lawrence Tech stayed within four until the Orange and Black rallied for three straight points to lead 16-11 and force the Blue Devils to take a timeout. Lawrence Tech came out of their timeout to score four points and get within one of the Warriors (16-15). The Warriors scored three and then began trading points with the Blue Devils before finally being able to finish the set with a 4-0 run and win 25-18.
Both
Olivia Niekamp and
Westra tallied 12 kills to lead Tech while
Schriver set a career high 23 assists and
Genna Karbowski added 18.
Jacey Blust led with 26 digs and
Havilyn Cummings contributed five block assists and one solo block.
The Warriors are back on the road on Wednesday, October 14
th at Rochester for a 7 p.m. conference match up.
