Volleyball regular season ends with victory at home
Senior night for the University of Indianapolis women’s volleyball team displayed the tenured talent of three record-setting senior players in opposite hitter Kourtney Crawford, defensive specialist Amy Oldenburg and outside hitter Kristina Kerrigan. The Greyhounds hosted McKendree University for their final regular season game on Nov. 10, and defeated the Bearcats 3-0.
The win snapped a three-match losing streak and gave UIndy their second consecutive Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division championship.
Kerrigan led in kills with 17, while Oldenburg led the team with 20 digs and Crawford tied for a match-high five blocks. Crawford said that while senior night was a sad moment, she is focused on what will happen next to the team.
“It is sad that this was my last home game here. It’s bittersweet. I’m sad that we’ll be done, but I’m excited to see where we go,” Crawford said.
Head Volleyball Coach Jody Rogers said that she also was sad to be losing three players that have had a great impact on her life.
“It’s going to be huge next September when we’re playing and I need Kristina to put the ball away, or Amy out there on defense, or Kourtney with her leadership,” Rogers said. “You definitely lose something special from a four-year player.”
The Greyhounds hosted conference opponent Bellarmine University on Nov. 9, losing to the Knights, 3-0.
Kerrigan led the Greyhounds with 11 kills and a match-high 20 digs, while sophomore setter Meghan Binkerd added 33 assists, four digs and two aces.
Belarmine was able to defeat UIndy by hitting .316 with 48 kills, while the Greyhounds only hit .198 with 38 kills. Bellarmine also topped UIndy in digs with 59, compared to the Greyhounds who had 45.
The Greyhounds kicked off the month of November the week before, with two close losses. The Greyhounds played at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on Nov. 3, losing 3-2.
The Rangers took the first two matches, which inspired a lineup change from Rogers. The lineup change produced two wins from the Greyhounds, but they were unable to capture the final set. Crawford led UIndy with a season-high 14 kills, Oldenburg led all players with 27 digs and Binkerd finished the game with 50 assists.
The Greyhounds were handed their first conference loss from the Lewis University Flyers on Nov. 2, 3-2. The Flyers went into the game at 11-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
The teams traded back and forth in the first four sets. UIndy took the first and the third, and the Flyers captured the second and fourth. The pattern did not continue in the fifth set, however, as the Flyers were able to take the momentum from the fourth set into the final one.
Kerrigan recorded her second 20-20 of the season, with 22 kills and 22 digs. Junior outside hitter Kenzie Bruggeman led all players with a personal career-high 23 digs. Binkerd had 63 assists and 16 digs.
According to Rogers, the Greyhounds were not happy with their performance over the two-loss stretch, but they will use the losses to re-evaluate and build before the conference tournament.
“From my perspective, the losses keep us humble. It shows us that we can be beaten and that we need to play our A-game every single game we play,” Crawford said.
Crawford said that she thinks a lot of teams might be brought down by the losses but that she sees them as a good thing. She said the team talked about them and that it helped to show them the little things they can work on and improve.
“Losing is contagious. Luckily we have girls who are self-motivated and hate to lose,” Rogers said. “Usually we have these two or three games where we go out and forget to play volleyball, but I’m not worried. We step it up when we have to.”
The Greyhounds will play in the GLVC tournament at the Indiana South Sports Academy in Indianapolis as the East’s No. 1 seed on Nov. 16 against No. 4 Wisconsin-Parkside.
“Our biggest challenge is going to be ourselves. If we come out to play and do all the little things, play hard and communicate then we should be fine,” Crawford said. “No team will be able to stop us. If we aren’t UIndy, the team we normally are, then they can take that away from us.”
