INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy volleyball team (5-3) earned its first victory over a ranked opponent in nearly four years on Saturday night at Ruth Lilly Fitness Center, surviving a five-set thriller to overcome No. 17 Colorado School of Mines.
 
The victory came after suffering a loss in an earlier contest to Upper Iowa, who is receiving votes in the latest AVCA national poll.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. #17 Mines
The Orediggers came out swinging in the opening set in the UIndy Invite finale, hitting .424 as a team on 16 kills compared to the Greyhounds .188 attack percentage.
 
The second frame was a different story. The Hounds jumped out to a 9-3 advantage to force a Mines timeout before edging out the Orediggers, 25-20, that capped by Julia Kruzan's fourth kill of the set.
 
After Mines snuck away with the third game, both offenses were firing on all cylinders before UIndy and its .375 hitting percentage won out. Kruzan and Taylor Jacquay combined for 10 kills in the set win, while Katie Voelz added two of her seven in the fourth.
 
The sun may have been setting by the time the fifth frame rolled around, but the heat stayed inside Ruth Lilly as the Hounds hit a monstrous .500 to dominate in the final game. Emily Ellis had three of her 10 kills in the final set before Kruzan capped it off with her 18th kill of the night.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. Upper Iowa
The Peacocks over Upper Iowa proved to be a tough battle in the afternoon match for the Greyhounds, who were upended in straight sets.
 
Katie Furlong led the Greyhounds with 14 kills, but the team's 18 unforced errors were costly in the sweep. As a team, UIndy attacked at a .179 clip with 36 kills.
 
Kruzan hit .304 in the loss with nine kills, while Voelz added four kills on .571 hitting.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
As mentioned, the win over No. 17 Mines was the first for UIndy against a ranked opponent since November 2, 2014 at No. 23 Truman. Earlier that season, the Greyhounds defeated No. 15 Ferris State in four sets at the Midwest Region Crossover event. The 2014 season was the last time UIndy advanced to the NCAA Midwest regional.
 
The Hounds' 5-3 start is the best the team has begun a season since 2012, the last time UIndy made a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight. That season also started with a win over a ranked opponents, with the Hounds defeating No. 2 Tampa in five sets.
 
Kruzan's 18 kills on .484 hitting against Mines is the first time a Greyhound has hit with such success on at least 16 kills since Hailey Brown on November 22, 2013. It is the most kills the junior has had in a UIndy uniform.  
 
Furlong totaled 28 kills between the two matches on Saturday, and now has 144 in eight matches to begin the 2018 season. That mark is 47.5 percent of the team leader in 2017, when Anna Fehribach reached 303 over the course of the season.
 
Voelz' three solo blocks matches a career high when she stopped three attacks at Cedarville last season. The senior now has four in 2018 and 46 in the Crimson and Grey.
 
HOUND BYTES
Head coach Jason Reed: "We showed a lot of toughness being down 0-1 and 1-2 to Mines. We definitely had to grind it out to win the fourth and fifth sets, but once we settled in you could tell we were in control of the match."
 
"Julia had a great match against Mines. She does so much for our team and it usually goes unnoticed, but tonight she got into a great rhythm and really had us going on offense."

Assistant coach and former all-conference UIndy player, Kourtney Crawford: "Just wow."
 
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds will stop playing doubleheaders and jump into Great Lakes Valley Conference action next weekend at Ruth Lilly Fitness Center.
 
UIndy will battle Quincy, who just visited the Circle City this weekend, on Friday at 7 p.m. The Hawks began the 2018 campaign 5-0, their best start to a season since 2002.
 
On Saturday afternoon, the Hounds welcome in Truman, who has already defeated two ranked opponents in the early going.