Volleyball finishes first in tournament

The Indiana State University's women volleyball won their first tournament of the season when they traveled to Durham, New Hampshire to compete in the Holly Young Invitational tournament.

Day One

The Sycamores started the Holly Young Invitational at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Friday against UNH.  The Sycamore swept the Wild Cats (25-22, 25-18, 25-19) setting them in the right direction for the tournament. 

"First away tournament, first away game of the season, so we were all just willing to go out and make it our home," said junior outside hitter and right side Morgan Dall.  "We were really pumped up and really excited to get on the road."  

ISU started the first set behind 5-2.  The Sycamores turned things around with a six-point rally.  The rally consisted of two aces by senior defensive specialist Kiya James, one kill from Dall, and a great block by senior middle blocker Stacy Qualizza and by senior setter Loni Mackinson.  The Wild Cats came within one, (23-22), but that did not slow the Sycamores down. Senior setter Shelbi Fouty set Dall up for two kills ending the set 25-22, ISU. 

After a slow start to the second set, the Sycamores finally took the lead at 9-7.  ISU hung in there, bringing their score to 24 and the Wild Cats trailing behind with 16. The Sycamores ended set two 25-19 with a kill by sophomore outside hitter Monique Morris.

ISU started the third set out with a 5-2 lead, consisting of two aces by Morris and a kill by freshman middle blocker Kyla Thomas.  The score became tied at 8 but ISU then went on a 6-0 run bringing the score to 14-8.  The Wild Cats came back to tie the score at 16, but the Sycamores took the Wild Cats down, outscoring them 9-3 to end the set 25-19.

In the first game, Dall lead the team with 13 kills and Fouty lead with 15 assists and 14 digs. 

Day Two

ISU started day two with a 3-0 win over Connecticut (UCONN).  The final scores for the sets were 25-17, 25-19, and 25-18.

"The team was very confident going into the 2nd match on Saturday," said Traci Dahl, head coach.

The first set started out close, bringing the score to a tie at 8.  Then ISU hit two kills in a row to put them in the lead 10-8.  Mackinson and freshman middle blocker Samantha Kersting were in charge of the kills.  ISU kept ahead and brought their score to 13-8 with another kill by Mackinson.  The Huskies scored 4 straight points putting the score within one at 13-12. Dall had a kill starting the ISU 7-0 run over UCONN.  The game kept going until the score reached 24-17 and Morris ended the first set with a service ace finalizing the first set at 25-17.

In the second set, the Sycamores never lost the lead.  Teams tied twice but, ISU pulled away after the second tie at 6 with 6 straight points.  The Sycamores remained in the lead for the rest of the set bringing the set to an end with a block by Kersting and Mackinson ending the score 25-19. 

In the third set the score was tied 12 times and had seven lead changes.  The Sycamores began to pull away following a 5-0 run bringing the score to 22-17.  The Sycamores went on to win the set 25-18.

"Saturday's match against UCONN, we came out with energy and fight.  Every game started off close in scores.   We pulled away late in each set, we let UCONN make the mistakes, and we executed our plays," said Dahl.