FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Western Illinois volleyball team dropped its Summit League road match at Fort Wayne Monday evening (Oct. 8) in four sets, 3-1.
"Fort Wayne is a tough team and played a great match," said head coach April Hall. "We let momentum shifting moments slip away and hurt us in the end. I'm so proud of our efforts tonight, but know that we need to push ourselves even harder going into round two of conference play."
The Fighting Leathernecks (8-11, 2-6) battled to force extra points in the first set, but fell 27-25, before cruising to a 25-18 set two victory. The Mastodons (17-3, 7-1), who entered the match atop The Summit League standings, would go on to down the Leathernecks in sets three and four by scores of 25-15 and 25-22.
Ann Miller and Samantha Fournier led the Leathernecks offensively, finishing with 15 and 12 kills, respectively, while Katie Hosteng (8), Heather Smith (5) and Sarah Fetter (5) each added five-plus kills. Fetter also continued to setup her teammates, tallying 38 assists.
Three Leathernecks finished with 10-plus digs in the match, led by Bridget Murphy (12) and Fournier (12), while Fetter also recorded 10 digs. Miller and Bailey Kaloupek also added to the digging effort, finishing with seven and six, respectively.
Mallory Gibson and Fournier led the Leathernecks in blocks, with Gibson stuffing seven and Fournier blocking six. As a team, the Leathernecks finished with 11 blocks, the third time this season they have tallied 10-plus in a match.
Emily Spencer led Fort Wayne in kills, recording a game-high 20, while Megan Steenhuysen tallied 55 assists. Defensively for IPFW, Tessa McGill had 24 digs.
The Leathernecks continue their road swing this weekend, playing matches at Kansas City, Friday (Oct. 12) and at South Dakota, Sunday (Oct. 14).
