Four Indiana State players have
career nights in heart-breaking loss
KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
DES MOINES, IOWA ? The Indiana State volleyball team came close to picking up their second conference win of the season on the road Saturday night but fell just short, losing a five-set game to the host Drake Bulldogs 3-2 (25-22, 14-25, 25-20, 17-25, 14-16).
Indiana State falls to 9-17 overall and 1-12 in the conference. The Sycamores will close out the home portion of their schedule next weekend when they host the Evansville Aces on Friday and the Southern Illinois Salukis on Saturday. Senior Ana Maira Charun will be honored on Saturday night. Both games start at 7 p.m. (ET) in the ISU Arena. Drake improved to 21-7 overall and 7-7 in the Valley with the win.
Sophomore Morgan Dall recorded a career high 25 kills and tied her career high with 67 attempts in the loss. The 25 kills is the fifth most in a single game by a Sycamore and is shared by four other players including Kylee Osborne who did it twice in 2003, JoAnn Koinitys in 1990, MK Bahnaman in 1989, and Cheryl Berg in 1999. The 67 attempts is the seventh best single game performance in school history.
Junior Stacy Qualizza had 18 kills on 37 attempts and scored 19.5 points in the contest, all career highs. Sophomore Shea Doran had a career high 10 kills and scored a career high 11.0 points while junior Shelbi Fouty had a career high 62 assists along with a career high 21 digs, her fifth double-double of the season.
The Sycamores used a 7-0 run to rally from an 8-5 deficit and take a 12-8 lead in the opening set. Qualizza had three kills in the run with Charun and freshman Monique Morris each knocking down one. Indiana State was able to keep the advantage the rest of the set and held off a late Drake rally to win the opener 25-22.
The tables turned in the second set. Indiana State had an early 3-1 lead but couldn't hang on as Drake rallied with five straight points to go up 6-3. The Bulldogs pulled away late and even the game at one set each at the intermission with a 25-14 victory.
The third set was a tight battle most of the way although Indiana State broke away from a 13-all tie with a 3-0 run to take the lead for good. Drake came back to within one point at 19-18 but, after an ISU time out, the Sycamores went on a 4-0 run on the strength of three Dall kills and one from Charun to go up 23-18. Kills by Qualizza and Dall sealed the 25-20 win for Indiana State and gave ISU a 2-1 lead in the game.
Indiana State and Drake were tied three times in the fourth set but the Sycamores were never able to gain the advantage as the Bulldogs sent the game to a fifth set with a 25-17 win.
Indiana State jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the deciding set on three kills by Dall and one from Auriel Armstrong along with a Drake error. However, the Bulldogs came back with a 5-0 run of their own that put Drake up 7-6. A Dall kill tied the set at seven and then, after Drake retook the lead, a kill by Shea Doran tied the score at eight. The Sycamores would not be able to get in front again but did rally to tie the set at 12 and again at 14. The Bulldogs scored the final two points of the set to take the 16-14 win and earn a 3-2 victory in the game.
The Sycamores and Bulldogs each had 71 kills in the game with Indiana State hitting at .286 in the game and Drake at .348.
NOTES: Sophomore Morgan Dall (Aviston, Ill.) moved into the top 10 of single season kills at Indiana State Saturday night as she now has 391 kills this season with six games remaining. She passed Julie Meshberger who had 389 kills during the 1984 campaign ... Dall moved into sixth on the single season total attack list with 1,181 attempts this season, moving past Lindsay Rust (1,180 in 1997), Jodilynne Stoker (1,138 in 2008), Julie Kovacs (1,126 in 1990), and Cheryl Berg (1,111 in 2001) ... Junior Kiya James (Indianapolis, Ind.) moved into fifth place on the Sycamore career dig list as she now has 1,096 career digs, passing Stacy Stanton who had 1,091 from 1991-1994.
