ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team extends their conference record to 3-0 after pushing past Rochester tonight 3-1.
The first set was a back-and-forth battle from the start with Rochester gaining the first lead 3-1 before Tech tied it up 3-3. The two teams traded points, tying the set up five more times before the Orange and Black went on a 5-0 run to take a 14-10 lead, forcing Rochester into a timeout. The Red and Black scored the point out of the timeout, but then Tech took back momentum to score three more points and extend their lead to six (17-11). The back-and-forth action began again, but Rochester was unable to regain the lead and Tech won the first set 25-20.
Rochester scored the first point of the second set before the Orange and Black tied it up. The Red and Black kept extending their lead by scoring two points and then only allowing Tech one until Rochester led 8-4. A kill by
Emma Westra and another by
Katrina Reynolds led to Tech getting within two (8-6) before the Orange and Black went on a 3-0 run to tie the set at 9-9. The two teams traded points with two more ties before Rochester went on a 3-0 run to lead 15-12.
Westra struck again for Tech to stop the momentum and send the Orange and Black on a 3-0 run themselves to tie the set once again at 16-16. The set was tied two more times before Rochester scored three in a row to take a 21-19 lead and force Indiana Tech into a timeout. The Red and Black scored the first point out of the timeout only to be answered by three-straight from Tech to tie the set at 22-22 and force Rochester to take a timeout. The set was tied four more times before Rochester scored two in a row to win the set 28-26 and tie the match at 1-1.
Tech came out in set three ready to play and scored the first six points to force Rochester into a timeout just minutes into play. Rochester answered with a 7-0 run to take a 7-6 lead before Tech could catch a break and tie the match at 7-7. The Red and Black then took a 9-7 lead only to have Tech tie it up at 9-9. The Orange and Black tied the set up again at 10-10 at the start of their 8-0 run to give them a 17-11 lead. Rochester answered and got within one (18-17) before Tech gained momentum against and extended their lead to three (20-17) and then four (22-18). Rochester started to comeback with three-straight to get within one (22-21) before Tech finished the set 25-22 to lead 2-1.
The fourth set started similarly to the first two before Tech went on three back-to-back-to-back 3-0 runs to lead 11-4. Rochester continued to battle and got within six (14-8) before Tech scored two in a row to lead 16-8 and force the Red and Black into a timeout. Rochester scored the first point out of the timeout only to be met with four straight points from Tech to extend their lead to 11 (20-9). Tech did not let up and won the fourth set 25-12 and the match 3-1 to remain undefeated in conference play.
Indiana Tech was led by
Westra with 17 kills while
Olivia Niekamp added 13 and
Havilyn Cummings had 10.
Andrea Schriver recorded her first career double-double with 19 assists and 10 digs while
Genna Karbowski led the team with 20 assists while adding nine digs and three kills.
Jacey Blust led the Orange and Black with 25 digs with
Reynolds recording 16 and
Madsyn Cardinal earning 13.
The Orange and Black return home on Saturday, October 17
th when they host Rochester at 1 p.m. and then host Saint Francis (Ill.) at 6 p.m.
