ST. PAUL, Minn. - The University of Indianapolis volleyball team dropped its first two matches of the season today, losing to No. 20 Wayne State (25-14, 25-21, 25-23) and No. 21 Wingate (25-17, 21-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-12) at the Concordia University Tournament.
 
Wayne State (Neb.) controlled much of the early match on its way to a victory over the Greyhounds, 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-23), Friday morning at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.
 
The No. 20 Wildcats led off the match with stellar attacking, hitting .607 in the first set. UIndy fell behind 9-1 early, and was unable to climb back while hitting .267. Game two held more promise for the Greyhounds, building their largest lead of the day, 16-10. Following a kill by Wildcat freshman Alyssa Frauendorfer, however, the wheels fell off for UIndy. Seven errors facilitated a 15-6 run by the Wildcats to seal the set, 25-21, taking a 2-0 match lead.
 
The third and most competitive set saw seven ties and five lead changes before Wayne State finished the 25-23 victory on Cori Hobbs' ninth kill of the match. UIndy held leads at 8-5, 11-8 and 21-19, but the Wildcats quickly closed the gaps in response.
 
The Wildcats had a higher hitting percentage in all three sets, and topped the Greyhounds in kills (42 to 34), digs (55 to 43) and assists (39 to 33).
 
Senior Brittany Anglemyer posted the highest hitting percentage for UIndy at .389, but the Hounds hit just .107 as a team, compared to .257 for the Wildcats. Arielle Knafel led the team with 10 kills, while Anglemyer finished with nine and Hailey Brown seven. Meghan Binkerd had a match-high 28 assists, along with three kills and three aces.

Coach Jason Reed thought the offense struggled when the team wasn't focused on the small details.

"We need to find a way to succeed when we're grinding," he said. "When our ball control improved, it made a big difference. When we weren't in control we put too much pressure on our outside hitters and our offense became predictable."
 
The second match of the day proved to be an even contest until Wingate finished a strong fifth set.
After the first game got off to a 7-7 tie, Wingate went on a 14-6 run to build a lead and open up the set, 21-15. UIndy scored twice, 21-17, but the Bulldogs finished off the first set with the final four points, taking a 1-0 match lead on a 25-17 set win.
 
UIndy responded early in set two, taking a 5-1 lead out of the gate. The Bulldogs kept the set even, until four straight Greyhound points gave UIndy its largest lead of the match, 16-8. Wingate worked back into the set, bringing it as close as 23-20, but UIndy never surrendered the lead en route to a 25-21 second set win.
 
The third set started in similar fashion with the Greyhounds taking an early 6-2 lead. The Bulldogs responded with a 5-0 run to take the lead, 7-5, behind three UIndy errors. From there, the set became a back-and-forth affair. With UIndy leading  18-15, the Bulldogs went on a 10-3 run to tilt the match in their favor, 2-1.
 
Set four started in UIndy's favor, as the Greyhounds built a 13-7 lead before Wingate elected to call timeout. By the next Bulldog timeout, the Greyhounds had a commanding 21-13 lead. The set ended on Hailey Brown's 12^th kill of the match, as UIndy controlled set four, 25-16.

The decisive fifth set featured seven ties, but Wingate charged late with six consecutive points to close the set and match, 15-12.

"The girls were in a good spot after the fourth set," Reed said. "We got pressed a little and got tentative, and it cost us the match."
 
Anglemyer led the Greyhounds and tied the match high with 16 kills, while Hailey Brown, Watkins, and Knafel also posted double-digit kills. Kimberly Trojan finished with 22 digs. Kenzie Bruggeman provided solid support with 10 digs off the bench. As a team, UIndy finished with 63 kills, 59 assists, 25 errors, 66 digs, and a .235 hitting percentage.

UIndy continues to compete the Concordia University Tournament tomorrow.

"The season is not won or lost in a day," said Reed. "To take some losses early to learn about our team and to improve is fine by me."

The Greyhounds continue action tomorrow, facing Hillsdale at 2 p.m. and No. 1 Concordia-St.Paul at 8 p.m.