AURORA, Ill. – The UIndy volleyball team dropped a pair of matches to strong GLIAC opponents Friday in the first day of the eighth annual Mizuno Midwest Region Crossover Tournament

UIndy (8-13), the GLVC's #9 seed, first fell in three to Ashland (GLIAC #4) by socres of 25-16, 25-17 and 25-21. The Greyhounds finished the day with a hard-fought defeat against 23rd-ranked Grand Valley State (GLIAC #5), 3-2 (15-25, 25-16, 25-23, 21-25, 16-14).

MATCH ONE
In the opening match the UIndy faced a very familiar opponent. The Eagles – who received votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll – improved to a perfect 3-0 in the teams' three meetings this season.

The GLIAC's 4-seed controlled most of the match, and ran away with both of the opening sets (25-16, 25-17) to take a solid 2-0 lead. The Eagles never trailed in either set, and held the Hounds to a .051 attack percentage in those two frames combined.

UIndy rallied to make the third set a fight, staying neck-and-neck with the Eagles from start to finish. After pulling within one point at 22-21, UIndy couldn't manage the comeback as the Eagles claimed three points in a row.

Ashland finished with a .358 hitting percentage, its second-highest mark of the season, and was led by Alli Cudworth's 14 kills.

On the other side of the net, UIndy hit just .112 after committing 16 attack errors on 89 attempts, with 26 kills. Junior Becca Lira finished with a team-high six kills, and freshman Katie Voelz hit .444 on four kills, zero errors and nine swings.

Senior Hailey Brown led the team with nine digs, and freshman Maggie Gibson totaled 19 assists.

MATCH TWO
The Greyhounds had little time to dwell on the Ashland loss with a match against No. 23 GVSU just hours later.

After the offense stalled in Friday's early match, the Greyhounds came out with a scorching attack against the Lakers. UIndy hit .387 in the opening set, helped in part by freshman Maggie Gibson's 11 assists. The Hounds also racked up six team blocks in the first set – more than they totaled in eight matches this season.

GVSU rebounded with a convincing 25-16 win in set two, using a 9-2 run midway through the frame to open up an insurmountable lead. UIndy then appeared to have the third set in the bag, leading 21-16 late, but the Lakers reeled off another 9-2 stretch to steal the set and take a 2-1 match lead.

In the fourth, it was the Greyhounds who manufactured a come-from-behind run. The Lakers built a 16-11 lead before UIndy Head Coach Jason Reed needed a timeout, and of the break the Hounds sparked an impressive 14-5 tear to force a fifth set. Junior Shelby Ruffner totaled three kills and a block assist in the run.

In the decisive fifth frame the Hounds jumped out to a quick 3-0 start and held an 8-7 lead as the teams switched courts, but a short 3-0 burst from the Lakers gave them a 10-8 edge and forced a UIndy timeout. The two squads battled back and forth, but GVSU eventually secured a 16-14 win to take the match.

Ruffner matched a career-high with 18 kills, hitting .515 (18-1-33) to lead the attack. Freshman Kate Bontrager finished with 13 kills, followed by Lira's 12 and sophomore Kacee Salyers' 10. Gibson racked up 50 assists, just one shy of her career mark.

Gibson also led the way with a career-high 21 digs, followed by Brown's 19 and freshman Bri Heffernan's 15. Lira totaled six blocks in the loss, Ruffner had five and Voelz four as the team totaled 12.

The Greyhounds meet their GLIAC counterpart Saturday to finish the tournament. Tiffin, the GLIAC's #9 seed, went 0-2 Friday and faces UIndy tomorrow at 2 p.m.  

NOTES
- UIndy fell to 7-21 all-time against Ashland, and hasn't beaten the Eagles since 2002.
- The last non-GLVC team UIndy faced three times in a season was Hillsdale in 2011. The Greyhounds also went 0-3 against the Chargers that season.
- The Greyhounds are 0-9 all-time against GVSU.
- UIndy is 14-9 all-time at the Crossover Tournament.
- Ruffner last totaled 18 kills against Wheeling Jesuit (Sept. 10).