SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Four-seeded Indiana University South Bend volleyball earned its second consecutive trip to the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals with a nail-biting, come-from-behind, five-set victory over No. 5 St. Ambrose Tuesday evening, April 6.
The Titans clipped the Fighting Bees 25-20, 22-25, 18-25, 25-20 and 16-14 in the CCAC quarterfinals, revenging its 3-1 loss in the season-opener that occurred at home back on Feb. 24. With the win, IUSB moves to 13-5 overall and 8-1 inside the
Student Activities Center.
FOLLLOW US: @IUSBVB
CCAC Attacker of the Week,
Hannah Marchand led the Titans attack, notching 17 kills while
Julie Brown and
Alexis Issette added 11 and 10, respectively. As a team, IUSB knocked 51 kills off 193 attempts that saw just 17 errors (.176) while the Fighting Bees attacked at a .189 clip with 78 kills off 228 attempts with 35 total errors.
St. Ambrose led in assists, 74-50, and digs, 106-97, while both teams added eight blocks on Tuesday.
Brown added a game-high five blocks while Marchand and freshman
Addison Fella added three. Junior
McKenzie Powell dished out a team-high 44 assists while sophomore
Whitney Gessinger tied a game-high 24 digs.
IUSB got things started early with a 25-20 first set frame victory before St. Ambrose evened the match at one all with a 25-22 victory in the second. The Fighting Bees went ahead 2-1 after outscoring the Titans 8-4 down the stretch to help seal the third frame. IUSB bounced back with another 25-20 fourth set win to force a deciding fifth set.
The Titans led by as many as three, 10-7, in the final set before SAU rallied to even the score at 14-14. Marchand's last kill of the game pushed the Titans to match point, 15-14, that was followed by an attacking error from St. Ambrose.
The No. 4 IU South Bend volleyball team now prepares for the CCAC semifinals at top-seed Olivet Nazarene after the Tigers snuck past St. Francis in five-sets, Tuesday. ONU defeated the Titans back on March 18 by a score of 3-1 in Bourbonnais, Ill. as the semis are set for Thursday, April 8 in Bourbonnais.
