UIndy volleyball team breaks losing streak with two consecutive wins
The University of Indianapolis volleyball team won their second match of the season against Missouri St. Louis in a four set match on Sept. 25 at The University of Indianapolis.
During the Missouri St. Louis match the loss of the first set did not make the Hounds back down as they proceeded to win the next three sets. The Greyhounds were led by sophomore middle hitter, Kristina Kerrigan, with 14 kills and senior Lyndsay Callahan, an outside hitter, with 23 digs.
Also senior setter, Cheneta Morrison, had 38 recorded assists, and nine kills to help the Greyhounds to their second victory.
In addition to the gaining their second win of the regular season the lady greyhounds also had a season high of nine blocks against Missouri St. Louis.
During UIndy’s first home match against Missouri S&T on Sept. 24 ended quickly in three sets with Kerrigan leading the hounds offense with eleven kills. While senior Callahan had 14 digs to lead the hounds’ defense.
Previous to the Missouri S&T match the lady hounds had the longest losing streak since 2001, with four consecutive losses most recently to Ashland University in a four set match.
Even middle hitter Courtney Anglemyer and outside hitter Kristina Hefferan combined hitting percentage of .444, and 23 kills could not beat Ashland who is now tied for sixth in the GLIAC.
According to coach Jody Butera the team was put into a tougher preseason in order to gain experience against nationally ranked teams.
Also that the preseason games were a learning experience; the team works hard, therefore adding more nationally ranked teams to the preseason has better prepared them.
UIndy’s Kristina Hefferan, an outside hitter, sets up a serve on Sept. 24 during the Missouri S&T game. Photo by Chris Hartley.
Butera also mentioned that it’s been hard for the five new freshmen to get acquainted with the way things are ran on the volleyball courts of UIndy.
However, Jaymee Reynolds,setter, Brianna Gannon, libero and Hannah Kirk, middle hitter, are all freshman that have acquired significant playing time thus far in the matches this season.
“So far this season, we’re still adapting as a team. We’re just having a problem clicking with each other… I fully believe that we will get better as the season goes on. We’re just still learning how to play with different people,” sophomore middle hitter Amber Lucas said.
Coach Butera feels as if they have marks on their backs, considering the UIndy volleyball team was ranked sixth last season and is currently ranked seventeenth.
Despite this, Butera is confident that they will take care of things on their side of the court.
The Lady Greyhounds are set to play Quincy University in Illinois on Oct. 1.
