GLVC Tournament Central

Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS -- All-Great Lakes Valley Conference First Team outside hitters Kristina Hefferan and Kristina Kerrigan combined for 35 kills and 22 digs to lead No. 21 UIndy volleyball past No. 16 Northern Kentucky, 3-1 (25-21, 31-29, 22-25, 25-20), in the semifinals of the GLVC Tournament on Saturday in front of a season-high crowd of 621 at Ruth Lilly Center.

The Greyhounds (21-7) will now play second-seeded No. 17 Lewis (25-5) in the finals on Sunday at 2 p.m. This is the fifth tournament in a row that UIndy will haved faced the Flyers and the third season in a row that meeting has come in the championship. Lewis won in the championship match against UIndy in 2007 and 2010 and in the semifinal in 2008. The Greyhounds won at Lewis in the championship match in 2009.

Hefferan had 20 kills, 12 digs and hit .372 against the Norse (25-5), while Kerrigan had 15 kills, 10 digs, two aces and two blocks in the tightly contested match that had 31 ties and 10 lead changes.

UIndy was strong at the net with 14 total blocks, led by Courtney Anglemyer with a career-high nine (three solo) and Kourtney Crawford with a season-high six. Anglemyer also hit .333 with eight kills. Julia Watkins added four blocks and hit .500 with six kills, while Amy Oldenburg led the back row with 23 digs.

GLVC Freshman of the Year Meghan Binkerd finished with 51 assists, seven digs and five kills to lead UIndy to a .265 attack percentage with 61 kills.

Northern Kentucky hit .220 with 62 kills and had their problems serving with five aces and 12 errors to two aces and six errors for UIndy. Sarah Drennen had 19 kills and hit .326, while Noelle Peterson hit .281 with 14 kills for Northern Kentucky. Jenna Schreiver posted 43 assists and Kylee Tarantino had 25 digs.

NKU recorded a kill and back-to-back aces to start the match, but UIndy turned things around to take the lead, 10-8, after a solo block by Watkins on Shelby Buschur. The Hounds stayed ahead and went up by five, 19-14, after kills by Hefferan and Binkerd. UIndy remained up five, 24-19, when NKU scored twice in a row, but then missed the serve long on the third set point.

UIndy hit .433 with 17 kills, including seven by Hefferan, in the set and NKU hit .290 with 11 kills and had four aces.

The second set started with UIndy building a seven-point lead, 11-4, after a kill by Hefferan and back-to-back blocks by Anglemyer/Binkerd and Anglemyer/Kerrigan. The Greyhounds continued to lead by seven, 17-10, when the Norse constructed a 10-2 run to take the lead, 20-19. UIndy came back to earn set point, 24-23, after a Courtney Anglemyer kill, but UIndy couldn't close out the Norse as they saved three set points until taking the lead, 27-26.

Kerrigan rallied with back-to-back kills for a fourth UIndy set point, 28-27, but it wouldn't be. Crawford delivered a kill for a fifth set point, but then the teams traded missed serves until Hefferan put the ball away on the sixth set point, 31-29.

UIndy had 18 kills and hit .208, while NKU countered with .222 attacking and 17 kills. Serving was critical with one ace and two errors for UIndy and one ace and five errors for NKU.

Northern Kentucky built a 14-9 lead to force Jody Rogers' first timeout. UIndy was able to close within one point four times, including 21-20, but never tied the match. NKU scored two in a row to build a cushion, 23-20, and extended the match, 25-22, with a Gennie Galfano kill.

The Norse had 22 kills and hit .302 in the third, while UIndy hit .341 with 15 kills.

The Greyhounds took a 4-2 lead, but then NKU came back to take a 10-8 lead when UIndy called timeout. That led to a 6-1 run to put UIndy up three, 14-11, after a solo block by Anglemyer. NKU scored the next two, but UIndy scored the next three to take a four-point advantage, 17-13, after a block by Anglemyer and Hefferan. UIndy held a five-point lead, 21-16, when the Norse staged a 4-1 run to pull within two, 22-20, and UIndy called timeout.

The timeout worked again as Hefferan had back-to-back kills and Crawford solo blocked Peterson on match point, 25-20.

UIndy hit .111 with 11 kills, but held NKU to .051 attacking with 12 kills and 10 errors (five blocks by UIndy). Anglemyer had four blocks in the set, Watkins hit .800 with four kills and Kerrigan hit .444 with four kills.

The Greyhounds will be going for their third GLVC Championship (2003, 2009) against Lewis on Sunday, while the Flyers are going for their league-best ninth title.