INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team experience a near déjà vu experience on their second day of the 2021 season at the Knight Invitational, sweeping Indiana University East (25-14, 26-24, 25-23) and falling to No. 13-ranked Marian University in three sets (25-19, 25-17, 25-19) inside the Physical Education Center.
Noelle VanOort led the Warriors in their first match with 10 kills and 12 digs, while
Kelsey Schaldenbrand had 24 assists, seven kills and a .583 hitting percentage.
Jacey Blust recorded 14 digs while
Havilyn Cummings had seven kills, a .375 attack percentage and two blocks.
IU East raced out to a 7-2 lead in the opening set, forcing Tech to call a timeout. The Warriors responded to the break with a 6-1 run to go up 8-7 before using 4-0 run to make it a 16-12 set and forcing the Red Wolves to call a timeout of their own. The Orange and Black closed out the set strong with a 7-0 run. IU East had control of the momentum early in the as a 7-0 run put them ahead 12-6 before increasing their advantage to 16-8. The Red Wolves appeared poised to even up the set at 1-1 with a 21-10 lead, but the Orange and Black dug deep with a 16-3 run, including a 12-0 run with IU East on set point to steal the game and go 2-0.
The two teams battled in the third with Tech getting out to an 8-4 lead before IU East took an 11-9 lead following a 6-0 run. With the Red Wolves leading 23-22, the Warriors dug deep once again with a 3-0 run to complete the sweep.
Against Marian VanOort had 11 kills and three aces while
Emma Westra had 10 kills. Schaldenbrand had 19 assists and 12 digs while Blust recorded 13 digs.
Tech got out to a 9-5 lead over the Knights, forcing the national powerhouse to call a timeout and increased their advantage to 17-14. Marian turned up the power then with a 6-0 run to go ahead 20-17 and ended up taking the first 25-19. The Warriors held their own against the Knights for the first part of the second set, trailing 12-11, but a 5-1 run from Marian gave them the momentum as they went up 2-0 with a 25-17 win. The Warriors raced out to a 7-3 lead in the third, but a 10-1 run from the hosts put them up 13-8 and they never looked back as they completed the sweep with a 25-19 win.
Tech (2-2) returns to action on Friday, September 3 as they travel to Bethel University for the Liz Hossler Labor Day Classic, taking on No. 24-ranked Indiana University Kokomo and Grace College at 1 and 5 p.m., respectively, inside Gates Gymnasium at the Wiekamp Athletics Center.
