Box scores
UIndy 4, Southern Indiana 2
Northern Kentucky 3, UIndy 1

EAST PEORIA, Ill.-  Senior Megan Russell led the Greyhounds to a 4-2 win over Southern Indiana in the opening round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament.  The Hounds, however, fell 3-1 to Northern Kentucky in game two Friday to drop down to the elimination bracket Saturday.

Russell, named the league's back-to-back "Player of the Year" just a day ago, delivered a two-run single for the big hit in a 4-2 win.  The hit backed a solid pitching performance by the senior as she went the distance, allowing just a pair of runs on five hits with 14 strikeouts.  Russell struck-out the side on two different occasions and set down 14 consecutive batters at one point en route to her 20th pitching victory of the season (20-7).

Both Carmen Martinez and Jennifer DeMotte had three hits in the opening win.

The bats were quieted in the second game, however as April Ehlers struck-out 10 and allowed just one run in a 3-1 Norse win.  The lone UIndy run came on an Audrey Ernst solo homer, the first of her career, in the bottom on the second inning.

That homer came after Gretchen Lorenz took advantage of a Greyhound error and deposited a two-run shot over the left-field fence.  NKU would add an insurance run in the seventh inning on a Jamie Raabe homer in windy conditions with the wind blowing swiftly out.

DeMotte got the nod in the circle in game two and took the hard-luck loss, despite squandering just six hits in seven innings with one earned run and seven Ks. 

UIndy (35-14) will play Missouri S&T in the first game Saturday at noon Eastern time.  The Hounds will now have to win three straight games Saturday to advance to Sunday's championship round.