INDIANAPOLIS – In a rematch with GLVC foe Wisconsin-Parkside on Friday evening from Ruth Lilly Fitness Center, the UIndy volleyball team rallied back from 2-1 to win another thriller with the Rangers to improve to 12-10 on the season and 7-3 in conference action. The win snaps a three-match losing streak in which the Greyhounds suffered at the Midwest Region Crossover this past weekend in Aurora, Ill.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Greyhounds jumped out to a 5-0 lead to force a Ranger timeout immediately in the opening frame. The visitors hung in there, hitting .286 with 17 kills to force pressure on UIndy. Wisconsin-Parkside took advantage of six overpasses from UIndy, despite having four service errors in the set, to win, 25-23.
 
UIndy was the one taking advantage of errors in the second set. The Greyhound defense forced eight attacking errors and caused a .061 hitting percentage from the opponents. Rachel Irbe led the team with four kills and hit .429 to lead UIndy easily, 25-14.
 
Trading points was the name of the third set as it had a match-high 13 tie scores and seven lead changes. The Greyhounds went on a 6-0 run to gain the 23-21 advantage on the back of Julia Kruzan's five kills, but the Rangers forced extra points and won the set, 28-26.
 
The fourth frame came down to the wire, much like the opener. Wisconsin-Parkside hit .306 as a team, but committed four service errors. Meanwhile, the Greyhounds attacked at a .406 clip, with Irbe and Kruzan each recording four kills. Irbe added three solo stops in the set, pacing the UIndy defense to a 25-23 victory.
 
As entertaining as the first four sets were, the Greyhounds cruised to a 15-5 win in the finale. The visitors surrendered 10 attacking errors to UIndy, which led to the five-set win.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Three Greyhounds tallied double-digit kills in the win, including Irbe (14), Kruzan (12), and Anna Fehribach (11). Fehribach has now recorded double-digit kills in eight of the past 10 matches.
 
Olivia Martin had 21 digs on the night to increase her season total to 426. The freshman is nine away from being third all-time in program history for most digs in a season by a rookie.
 
Kruzan hit .458 on the evening, her second-highest percentage of the season, and best mark since .588 at the UIndy Invite against Stonehill.

HOUND BYTES
Head coach Jason Reed: "I'm really proud of how we battled tonight. We had to work our butts and showed a lot of guts. Obviously we were still working on some consistency, but we're figuring it out. This match was huge for the rest of the season."

"Our blocking really changed the face of the game. Julia and Rachel had some incredible solo blocks and forced their hitters to start making some mistakes."

"Offensively we had a large group of hitters contributing in a very positive manner. That is when we are at our best, when we can get three or four hitters in double-digit [kills], we become a pretty tough team to stop. The only way we get all of our hitters going is when we have good passing and our centers are making food decisions. It really is a group effort for us to be successgful."

"We all know how successful we could be. As we continue to put it all together, build confidence, and gain some momentum, I think this group is going to very scary to play against. Our accountability is improving and we need to continue to get better every day. We're looking forward to the next challenge tomorrow against Southern Indiana."
 
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds look to ride the momentum into tomorrow afternoon against Southern Indiana. The Screaming Eagles were swept by Bellarmine earlier tonight in Louisville.