Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
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Western Michigan
Hoosiers Fall to Western Michigan, 3-1
9/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 18, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana University volleyball team (9-3) dropped their opening match of the T.I.S. College Bookstore Invitational Friday night, falling 3-1 to Western Michigan (5-7). Indiana plays two more matches on Saturday, scheduled for 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. starts.
Libero Caitlin Cox followed up her Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award from last week with a 26-dig performance to lead all players. Kelsey Hall paced IU with 19 kills while Ashley Benson collected 15 put-aways and hit at a blistering .464 pace. Jordan Haverly provided 19.5 points to the Hoosier cause, totaling 15 kills, four aces and a block assist.
Indiana came out red-hot in the opening set, blasting six kills on their first 10 swings. Cox was all over in the first set, digging up seven balls. It was a true see-saw battle as the score was tied on 13 different occasions. Western Michigan snagged the points when it mattered most down the stretch, however, winning 25-22.
Leading 7-5 in set number two, Indiana watched the Broncos roll to a 10-1 run and the 15-8 advantage. The Hoosiers then responded with a huge run of their own to knot the score at 15-15. Indiana's seven-point run was fueled by Haverly and her four consecutive aces. The Hoosiers eventually grabbed a three-point advantage at 19-16. Western Michigan burned a timeout at that point and reacted by taking 10 of the following 15 points for a 26-24 win and a two-sets-to-none edge heading into the locker room.
Head Coach Sherry Dunbar's Hoosiers were a fired-up bunch in the third frame, specifically one Ashley Benson. Benson swatted seven kills on 10 errorless swings for a .700 hitting efficiency. As a team, Indiana hit .405 (18-3-37) en route to a gut-check, 25-19 victory. Setters Mary Chaudoin and Whitney Granado split the setting duties with a combined 15 assists in the set.
Despite Hall's seven kills in the fourth set, the Hoosiers came up short in Western Michigan's 25-23 clincher.
Indiana will hit the court two more times on Saturday, taking on Alabama A&M at 10 a.m. and North Carolina A&T in a 7 p.m. showdown.
