Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Aurora, Ill – In a match slated to be a heavyweight bout, UIndy swept No. 22 Ferris State 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 31-29) to open Saturday play at the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover Tournament.

The Greyhounds moved to 2-0 at the Crossover behind a complete team performance against the highest-ranked GLIAC team. UIndy (14-8, 8-3 GLVC) had five players finish with at least eight kills, and five with double-digit digs.

The Bulldogs (16-5, 10-1 GLIAC) worked with a narrow margin early in the first set, building a 16-12 lead. From there, the Greyhounds used an 8-1 run to take control and ultimately win the set. The Hounds then took a 2-0 match advantage with a strong effort in set two. UIndy never trailed in the set.

Set three turned into the contest many expected from the two teams. After 17 ties and 12 lead changes, UIndy managed to grind out a 31-29 win. As the set extended the crowd grew larger, with fans and other athletes flocking around the court. Trading punches, the Greyhounds and Bulldogs became the main morning attraction.

Ferris State got to set point four separate times, but each time the Hounds responded. Kenzie Bruggeman recorded crucial kills on two of those occasions.

"I thought we did a nice job of making big swings to push it back to a draw and then I thought that our defensive effort was fantastic," said Coach Jason Reed. "We really forced Ferris State into uncomfortable situations, and we made big plays in the end when we needed to."

Julia Watkins turned in one of her best offensive performances of the season, leading the team with 13 kills and a .524 attack percentage. It was the most kills she's had this season, and fourth highest attack percentage.

"She moved the ball around well," Reed said of Watkins. "I was really impressed with how aggressive she was that entire match."

Meghan Binkerd facilitated the balanced offense with 42 assists. Bruggeman finished with 11 kills, and Brittany Anglemyer, Hailey Brown and Becca Lira each tallied eight. Bruggeman (21 digs) and Brown (20 digs) paced the Hounds defensively. Binkerd, Arielle Knafel and Kimberly Trojan recorded 12 digs each.

The second match for UIndy featured a rematch with Hillsdale College (12-10, 7-4 GLIAC). The Hounds swept the Chargers September 7th at the Concordia-St. Paul Tournament, but fell Saturday 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 14-25, 25-14). The loss dropped UIndy to 2-1 for the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover Tournament.

There were 11 ties and five lead changes through the first two sets, but Hillsdale was able to take a 2-0 advantage and ultimately the match behind an efficient offense. The Chargers hit .324 and .326 in the opening two sets and hit .395 in the fourth set.

"It was a great weekend, we didn't finish how we wanted but we're going to be able to take things away from this weekend that we can build upon," Reed said.
 
Bruggeman recorded 16 kills and 15 digs, finishing with her third double-double in as many games at the tournament. Anglemyer had 14 kills, hitting .440. Brown totaled 10 kills and 14 digs, and Watkins had another efficient game with eight kills on .333 hitting. Trojan (15) and Knafel (14) also had double digit digs.

Binkerd had 53 assists and 15 digs, and also earned All-Tournament honors for her performance over the weekend. She finished with 131 assists, averaging 13.1 per set.

"Meghan did a really nice job running our offense," said Reed. "She really put our hitters in good positions and deserves this award."

For the first time in the Crossover's six-year history, the two conferences tied 24-24 overall. The tiebreaker was determined by the conference that won the most individual sets. The GLVC had a 89-84 set advantage, meaning the Great Lakes Valley Conference won its fourth Crossover in a row.