TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - After winning both of its matches Saturday, the Western Illinois volleyball team (3-3) downed Drury Inn Jessica Barkman Memorial Classic hosts Indiana State Sunday (Sept 2) to earn the tournament crown for the second consecutive year.
"Indiana State is a great team and brought their "A" game today. Today's match was quite the battle and I'm so glad we came out on top," said head coach April Hall. "The tournament overall was a success as we had great individual performances, but we won as a collective unit in the end."
Three Leathernecks earned all-tournament honors, including Samantha Fournier (pictured left) who was tabbed tournament MVP. Seniors Katie Hosteng and Bridget Murphy also earned all-tournament honors.
The Fighting Leathernecks opened the match with a pair of set victories, downing the Sycamores 25-14 and 25-23 before dropping sets three and four (25-16, 25-19), forcing a fifth set. The fifth set wouldn't be easy for Western as the two teams battled back-and-forth until the set was eventually knotted up 15-15. Back-to-back kills courtesy of Hosteng and freshman Jordan Jackson for points 16 and 17 would lift the Leathernecks to an exciting 17-15 victory.
Fournier led the team, tying her career-high which she set in yesterday's first match versus SIU-Edwardsville, killing 21 hits with a .302 hitting percentage. The sophomore also had nine digs, two blocks and a service ace.
Hosteng continued to attack the net, putting down 15 kills in the match with a .303 hitting percentage. She also tallied five total blocks in the contest. Junior Sarah Fetter was effective in setting up her teammates again, posting 44 assists, and adding 12 digs on the defensive side of the court.
Bridget Murphy and Molly Murphy led Western in service aces, each finishing with two, while Bridget posted a team-best 17 digs in her all-tournament team effort, while Molly finished with 10 digs.
On the weekend: Fournier and Hosteng led Western with 51 and 41 kills, respectively, while each being efficient with their hits, each finishing with a .280 hitting percentage or higher.
Sarah Fetter finished the weekend with 118 assists, while Molly Murphy (4) and Fournier (3) led the team in service aces.
Bridget Murphy led the team in digs with a total of 61, and Hosteng finished with a team-high nine blocks.
Season Leaders: Fournier (78) and Hosteng (72) lead Western in the kills category, with Hosteng posting a team-best .291 hitting percentage. Sarah Fetter leads the team in assists with 247. Molly Murphy (6) and Bailey Kaloupek (5) lead the Leathernecks in service aces. Bridget Murphy has racked up 114 digs on the season, a team-best. Three Leathernecks have tallied 10-plus blocks on the year in Mallory Gibson (13), Hosteng (13) and Fournier (10).
